People have asked me beyond seeing a void in the bar, restaurant, and nightclub community, was there any outside inspiration to creating this? I say well that's just it, there was an unbelievable void. For me and often still is, a baptism by fire culture in many venues when you join the team. For me it was problem after problem with only my best judgement on how to handle each situation, that's where it began. When I sat down and put pen to paper, I realized there were countless contributing factors to maintaining a safe environment while attempting to entertain people. For years I wanted to create a comprehensive and authentic training program, a view from the trenches if you will. I started out as a doorman, then became a barback, a bartender, a sales manager, a general manager, and then an owner and a partner -- let's just say I never "need" to go out anymore.
My final inspiration came after a phone call I received on New Year's Eve in 2007 (around 4pm I'll never forget). I was stocking the bar at Morgan St. Brewery, in St. Louis, getting ready for the biggest bar night of the year when my phone rang. The call was from my cousin, "Hey man, I've got really bad news about Tommy," or something of that nature. "Tom was killed this morning." I about fell over in shock and now I had to call my immediate family because no one knew yet -- I remember that call like it was yesterday. Tom died in a Breckenridge, Colorado steakhouse (that had nightlife) during an altercation with two customers and an employee at approximately 1:18am that morning. There were a quite a few articles about it: https://www.vaildaily.com/news/man-killed-by-attackers-breckenridge-police-say/.
After the funeral I became obsessed with what happened because by this point in my career, I had already been through thousands of verbal and physical altercations. How is that possible you say? I cut my teeth in this business on Laclede's Landing in St. Louis. The Landing was at one time the premiere entertainment district in St. Louis. Every Friday and Saturday there were a sea of spirited people in both the streets and in the bars -- let's just say it was never a dull moment and I'll leave it at that. So, for me, Tom's death really hit home because this tragedy was what I dealt with (bars, altercations, and emergencies) every week. When Tom died I was moonlighting as a bartender on the weekends while I was concurrently helping build and operate an upscale hospitality group. So, I had this unique perspective of the business being able to live on both sides of the fence at the same time. I was teaching, coaching, planning, managing, and helping grow a professional bar and nightclub group during the week. But, come Friday night, the circus came to town and I went back to living life as a bartender and security. It was this simultaneous perspective that gave me remarkable insights to be able to create C.A.L.M. Bar Safety. I spent the next six or so years writing and testing out ideas on myself and my teams. Thousands of notes and pieces of paper later, in 2014, I turned these thoughts into nearly a thousand page e-course . In 2016, C.A.L.M. Legal Consulting LLC was formed after I was recruited by The Expert Institute out of New York City to join their roster so that I may start examining bar, restaurant, and nightclub lawsuits. I got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to speak with attorneys who represented the plaintiff, to read depositions, and go through the early motions as an expert. Lightbulbs began to go off and I was now convinced that C.A.L.M. was going to be something special.
In December 2019, I recruited additional experts because I wanted to offer classes like active shooter training, medical emergencies, and more. The pandemic hit and I had to hit the pause button for nearly two years. When I resurfaced in 2022, I began something called The Coaching Program where I combined my e-course with virtual coaching, and worked with teams via Zoom. The Coaching Program saved my first client $10,000 when they renewed their insurance premiums, C.A.L.M. had arrived but I wasn't satisfied. I decided to take what I had learned and make this program even better, so I decided to The Coaching Program wasn't the path forward. In 2024, C.A.L.M. will release a weekly video series based entirely The Coaching Program, called MANTRA52. MANTRA52 will change how we train staff forever -- you heard it here first. Stay tuned!
(from left to right) Buddy Coy, Steve Guidry, DJ Big D, & Pete Ferretti
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