From a Small Room in the East Village to a National Brand

In 2006, Death & Co opened in Manhattan's East Village, an intimate room built on a simple conviction: that hospitality could be both artful and rigorous, and that the details mattered.

Founder and CEO David Kaplan didn't come up through traditional restaurant tracks. He had studied fine art in New York, and he entered hospitality the way many great concepts do: with ambition, intuition, and a willingness to learn fast, sometimes in public.

Within days, Death & Co found itself in the spotlight. Demand surged. The early years were equal parts craft and chaos, no modern systems, limited infrastructure, and a team building the plane while flying it. What emerged from that pressure was not just a busy bar, but a point of view: a standard for technique, service, and the kind of atmosphere people still try to replicate.

"When you're 24, ignorance is one of the driving factors that allows you to accomplish things that otherwise don't particularly make sense. I thought it was completely rational to open a business in which I had no experience."
— David Kaplan, CEO and Founder (featured on CNN's Quest Means Business)

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Nearly two decades later, Death & Co, operating under parent company Gin & Luck, has grown from a single bar into a multi-vertical hospitality company. When it came time to fund expansion, the team made a deliberate choice: raise capital with the community that helped build the brand in the first place.

Through community raises powered by DealMaker, Gin & Luck raised $9.3M+ from 2,764 investors, turning loyal guests into long-term stakeholders.

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A Legacy Built on Craft (and Proof)

Death & Co's reputation wasn't manufactured. It was earned over years of consistent execution. The brand's bars and books have been recognized across the industry, including major honors within cocktail culture and culinary publishing.

But the story has never been just volume. Death & Co became influential because it built a repeatable experience: training, technique, hospitality language, and a culture of precision that traveled well.

*As reported by the company. **Company projections.

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The Challenge: Growth Without Dilution

For founder-led hospitality brands, the tradeoffs are real. Traditional capital can come with expectations, speed, uniformity, control, that may conflict with craft-first execution.

Kaplan and co-founder Alex Day believed the best long-term partners weren't necessarily the ones with the biggest checks. They were the ones aligned with the mission and the customer experience. Community capital offered a different path: one where growth could be funded by the people most invested in the brand's integrity.

"I was wary at first and quickly understood the incredible power that crowdfunding could have, and how aligned it is with how we've grown our business. In 2018, we did our first crowdfund and raised almost $3 million."
— David Kaplan, CEO and Founder (CNN)

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• Maintain creative control and brand integrity
• Expand thoughtfully into new markets and hospitality verticals
• Build a long-term investor community aligned with the mission
• Develop revenue streams beyond brick-and-mortar venues
• Pursue partnerships (developer, licensing, and management) that reduce capital intensity

Community capital wasn't positioned as "easy money." It was a decision to build a different kind of cap table, one rooted in brand affinity, repeat engagement, and long-term belief.

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Why DealMaker: Infrastructure, Not Just a Platform

Gin & Luck chose DealMaker because the goal wasn't a one-time campaign. It was to build repeatable capital formation inside the brand's ecosystem, with the operational rigor and compliance support required at scale.

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What DealMaker Provided

• Self-hosted experience: Investors stayed in Gin & Luck's world from discovery to investment, preserving brand voice and strengthening trust
• Flexible offering structures: Multiple tiers from accessible entry points to larger commitments, with priority reservations and engagement mechanics
• Investor management at scale: Campaign analytics, segmented communications, and secure document workflows for thousands of investors
• Compliance support: SEC and process expertise across applicable exemptions, with systems for compliant communications and reporting
• Repeat capital formation: Rolling close capabilities, repeat investor engagement tools, and platform durability as complexity grows

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Results: $9.3M+ Raised, and 2,764 Stakeholders in the Brand

Across campaigns, DealMaker processed $9.3M+ in commitments, helping Gin & Luck add a meaningful base of aligned, long-term supporters.

• $3,071 average investment - accessibility beyond ultra-wealthy participation
• 2,764 investors who also function as guests, advocates, and ambassadors
• Notable investors included William Spurgeon ($1M) and Willy Schlacks ($1.5M)*
• Community demand helped inform future market interest and expansion conversations

"When your investors are also your customers, you create a different kind of flywheel. It's not just capital, it's frequency, advocacy, and long-term alignment."
— David Kaplan, CEO and Founder (CNN)

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*As reported by the company. As with any private investment, ownership in a hospitality business is illiquid, returns are not guaranteed, and outcomes depend on execution, market conditions, and time.

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The 2025-2026 Expansion Blueprint

With community capital secured, Gin & Luck is pursuing growth via a mix of ownership, licensing, and developer/partner-funded models designed to reduce capital intensity.

• Partner-funded buildouts can reduce upfront capital requirements
• Multiple revenue models diversify risk (management, licensing, ownership)
• Brand architecture allows segmentation across premium and broader-access concepts
• Geographic diversification spreads exposure across markets

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A Global Spotlight: CNN International

When CNN International's Quest Means Business explored community-first approaches to hospitality funding, they featured David Kaplan and the company's community-first approach.

During the interview, Richard Quest pressed on the tension many founders face, growth vs. "selling out." Kaplan's response emphasized the underlying thesis: build an outcome that proves craft-first hospitality can deliver real financial returns without compromising what guests come for.

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What This Signals for Hospitality

Death & Co's raise wasn't presented as a shortcut. It's a case study in how premium hospitality brands can pursue expansion while retaining control, by building with the people who already believe.

• Excellence earns permission. Reputation compounds into trust.
• Community can be capital. Guests can become aligned stakeholders.
• Diversification strengthens resilience. Multiple revenue streams matter.
• Partnership models reduce risk. Capital-light growth is powerful when executed well.
• Infrastructure is everything. The right platform enables repeatable capital formation.