A conversation with Alain Miroux about Alea Nightclub
/Alain Miroux
Yesterday EDM Canada unveiled exclusive photos of Alea Nightclub, the brand new VIP club in the National Capital region. If you want to know more, then this conversation with Alain Miroux, the general manager of Alea Nightclub, is a must-read, enjoy:
1. Before visiting Alea I described the nightclub as a “super club”, how would you describe Alea?
Alea is an intimate, exclusive club for the young professional, and we are looking at a market for 25 years old and up. It's a club of only 219 capacity, so we're not looking to be the 2,000 seat club that you see in Vegas or other places. We're really aiming Alea at the young professional by giving them an intimate and exclusive experience.
2. Did Alea find inspiration from what's going on in Las Vegas?
Yes, we did. We obviously looked at different regions and of course we looked at our local market. We looked at New York and then we looked at Vegas, and looked at how they were doing things. When we looked at the tendency of all casino's, it was their increase in offers of
entertainment. You notice that theatres are being built, hotels, restaurants, great bars, and nightclubs are the new channels. So we need to follow-up those trends and ensure that we up to the needs of what our future clientele is.
3. What is your vision for Alea Nightclub in terms of music? How many nights a week will Alea be open?
Right now we're looking at being open two nights a week. We looked at our market, the population, and how many fit the age group that we wanted to have and because most people worked the next morning we wanted to keep Alea open on Friday and Saturday. We feel at 200 capacity that we should be full every night. For the opening we wanted to get two big names, Erick Morillo and Bob Sinclar, but when you look at the other DJ's booked in November, they are emergent DJs. We are looking to bring emergent DJs and sometimes we'll bring somebody with a bigger international reputation.
4. So what kind of emergent DJs are you looking for? Are you looking regionally based DJs in Ottawa/Gatineau, Montreal, and Toronto, or elsewhere?
Honestly we are looking to get them from anywhere. It's a 200 seat nightclub so obviously there is a budget related to the capacity of the nightclub. We want to make the nightclub a source of entertainment but also a source of revenue. So we have agents looking to book DJs
who have connections in that world, because it is a world by itself, and we don't pretend to be experts in it. So we associate ourselves with people that know the business to ensure that we book the right DJs.
5. Speaking of partnerships, it seems that Alea has a partnership with Playground, the makers of Bal en Blanc and co-owners of New City Gas in Montreal. Can you tell me a little bit about that partnership?
We hired them as consultants for the opening and to help us for the first and second year of operation. This is to ensure that we are doing things right and that we are giving the right product to our client. When we were looking for a partner, we looked around and noticed that they were the best. So we felt comfortable working with them and they have been extremely resourceful and helpful in making sure that we don't have too many learning curves.
"The service received at Alea will be the same in the casino and in the hotel, first class."
6. How important are the VIP tables (banquette) and table service to the success of Alea?
It is very important. These banquette's are not for 20-30 people, but really for only 2-4 couples that is very close to the dancefloor, and close to the DJ. People love that because they are stars. The service received at Alea will be the same in the casino and in the hotel, first class.
7. People from the Ottawa region might not be used to this type of VIP club, so what kind of dress code is expected from people who visit Alea?
I think the product by itself will dictate that. If you go to a 5 diamond restaurant, people usually know when they're going to a high-end restaurant and will dress accordingly. So we expect young professionals to dress accordingly and we'll have a clientele that will fit in quite nicely for what we have.
8. Do you have a last message to give before this interview is a wrap?
Alea is a new product that would offer something unique in the National Capital region that should enhance the entertainment world of the region.
My thanks to Alain Miroux for the interview.
Tonight is the big grand opening of Alea Nightclub and will feature the legendary Erick Morillo. Unfortunately almost all of the tickets are sold out except for a few VIP tables. However, there are still general admission tickets available for Bob Sinclar on November 15th, so grab them quick before they are sold out. For more ticket information, click below:
