- Damon Lawner, the founder of the sex club Snctm, is launching a new venture.
- Puzzle is a members-only dining club that costs as much as $10,000 per year.
- Members must apply to join, and share their occupation and net worth.
The founder of the sex club Snctm is launching a new venture: a members-only restaurant and night club that costs as much as $10,000 per year to join.
The restaurant, called Puzzle, is opening next month in West Hollywood. The club is described on its website as a “sensual utopia for fine dining.”
Puzzle’s owner, Damon Lawner, is best known for founding Snctm, a high-end, members-only sex club frequented by A-listers. He said Puzzle won’t be focused on sex, however.
“Puzzle is a totally different experience,” he told Insider over email. “Puzzle is a fine dining French restaurant. It’s foreplay for what’s to come after you leave the club.”
Puzzle is the latest in a string of members-only social clubs that have cropped up around the US over the past five years, as the wealthy flock to exclusive social experiences.
Lawner said Puzzle members will be asked to place their phones in a silk bag upon entry. The restaurant will feature “thick jewel-toned velvet curtains” around five of the venue’s 15 dining tables that members can draw shut for privacy, The Los Angeles Times reported.
“I have to tell people they cannot have sex. Like, I have to tell them that,” Lawner told the The Los Angeles Times. “Then the question becomes, well, what happens behind those curtains and what are grown-ups allowed to do in their own little private space? Am I going to peek my head in? No.”
Puzzle will charge members $2,500 to $10,000 annually
Members who pay a $10,000 annual fee get Emerald status, which guarantees a dinner reservation within 24 hours and lets members jump to the front of the venue’s line.
This status is open to just 13 people per year — and only one slot remains available, Lawner told Insider. The club will have 111 total members.
Other tiers cost $2,500 and $5,000 per year. A “Single Lady” membership is free but “limited to pre-approved ladies only” who will receive drinks on the house and access to Puzzle’s club nights.
Members must apply to join and share their occupation and net worth, as well as answer prompts, like “describe a dream night at Puzzle.” Single Lady applicants must provide their Instagram handles.
With only 26 slots still available as of the end of June, according to Lawner, it seems there’s a market for the club — and members-only experiences, in general.
Soho House, perhaps the most well-known of these private social clubs, has been around since the 90s, but has experienced increased growth since 2018. Out of the London-based company’s 41 locations, 22 have opened in the last five years, a spokesperson for Soho House told Insider.
The waitlist for membership to the clubs — which costs an average of $4,500 a year — is currently sitting at 89,000, an all-time high, the spokesperson said.
Other clubs, like the San Vicente Bungalows and The Britely, have also opened up in the last five years, commanding sky-high fees in exchange for exclusivity.
Lawner said he isn’t too worried about the competition: “It’s my forte. It’s what I was born to do,” he told Insider.
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