Good News York by Growth Mode Content - GNY EP.79 | Tammy Ly's, The Society, in Syracuse, NY!

Episode Date: August 13, 2025

Society Social Club: A New Third Space in Syracuse In this episode, Matt from Growth Mode Content features an engaging interview with Tammy Lee, founder of the newly opened Society Social Club in downtown Syracuse. Tammy Lee discusses her extensive background as a real estate agent and insurance broker, along with her passion for creating connections in a unique 'third space.' The club operates as a luxury coffee shop and juice bar, prioritizing health-conscious options without alcohol. Tammy also shares her inspiration from global travels and major cities, aiming to fill a niche in Syracuse for meaningful social interactions and community events. The challenges of launching the business, the importance of fresh and local ingredients, and her vision for future events are candidly explored. 00:00 Welcome to Growth Mode Content 00:19 Introducing the Society Social Club 00:39 Meet Tammy Lee: Founder and Visionary 01:30 The Concept of a Third Space 02:12 Creating Meaningful Connections 04:19 A Health-Conscious Social Club 06:58 Why Syracuse? 08:32 Challenges and Triumphs 09:50 Exclusive Events and Community Engagement 11:01 A Reality Star with a Business Mindset 11:26 The Unique Space and Its Community Impact 11:50 Balancing Personal Brand and Community Focus 12:50 Operating Hours and New Offerings 13:39 Challenges of Inventory Management 15:08 Comparing East Coast and West Coast Clientele 16:01 Real Estate Market Insights 17:23 Syracuse's Growth and Future Prospects 18:26 Favorite Menu Items and Quality Assurance 20:26 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Instagram teen accounts have built-in protections for who can contact teens and what they see. Learn more about teen accounts at Instagram.com slash teen accounts. I earned my degree online at Arizona State University. I chose to get my degree at ASU because I knew that I'd get a quality education. They were recognized for excellence and that I would be prepared for the workforce upon graduating. To be associated with ASU, both as a student and a student. alum, it makes me extremely proud and having experienced the program, I know now that I'm set up for success. Learn more at ASUonline.asu.org. Hey folks, I'm Matt from Growth Mode content. And if you

haven't noticed, this is a very special good news. York, we are not in our studio. As fancy as it is. I wish we, I wish this was our studio. We can't make it look like this. We are at the coolest new spot in downtown Syracuse. It's called the Society Social Club. It just opened. We love it. It's gorgeous. And we're joined by the founder. Is that, what's your official title? I mean, I think I am the founder, right? Yeah, you found it. Tammy Lee. Go ahead and tell us a little bit about yourself in this place, if you would mind. Okay, hi guys. I'm Tammy Lee. Born and raised in Syracuse. I now am based in Los Angeles, but I am a real estate agent. I sell real estate here in Syracuse, in Florida, and also in L.A.

I'm also an insurance broker, and now I own the society. So that's a wide-ranging resume. We also sort of left off TV star, but we'll set that part aside for a moment. I hear you. I understand. Why, out of all those things, did you make your latest venture? club like this in our place like this. It's because I'm insane.

That's why. Because I didn't have enough on my plate. I decided to add another something into the mix. And honestly, it's just something that I'm really passionate about. Traveling all over the world and being in these big cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, Manhattan, I felt like people really were loving this concept of a third space. So what is that, right? That's what the social club is.

And I feel like it's very new to our city. But I know it's a demand that needs to be met. because all of the people that I talk to and the clients that I sell houses to are yearning for this kind of connection. So let me explain to you what a third space is. A third space is not your house, not your office. Where can you congregate with your people and still be in public? You know, so I can still be here and hang out with you guys, but everyone is still also

here. If you happen to meet someone along the way and connect to people, that's the beauty of this space. You kind of met with a higher caliber of person in a space like this. And listen, I think I love, we all love to get a drink and go to the club and go to the bar sometimes, but it's hard to build those really meaningful relationships in that kind of environment. There's a time and place for everything, you know? So I created the space. We are a luxury coffee shop and juice bar on a day-to-day basis,

but what I really love and passionate about are the connections and the events that we're going to be having here. Our logo is subtly all throughout the club. It's actually a Venn diagram. So as you can see. Oh, wow. Yeah. I wanted that to really represent that there's two different ideas, two different types of people, two whole beings that could be so different but still find common ground somewhere.

And that's that little sliver in the middle. That's why my little slogan is, let's meet in the middle. You know? How is it that you and I can be so different in the way we grew up, your upbringing, your job, and still have some sort of common ground somewhere. And let's build on that. I think humans are so cool. I think it's really beautiful that we live in this lifetime at the same time.

and I think we lost somewhere in translation after COVID that connection. 100% I'm a people person. I'm a certified yapper, okay? I need to be around people all the time. And I just meet so many cool people in L.A. and we just are given those opportunities

to meet cool, new people. So I brought that idea here and I think that it's going to do well. I really want that for my community. And on top of that, I'm going to be helping small businesses as well with partnerships with us. I really want to host like events here to just bring their brand forward

and let me help them with the marketing. I got my marketing degree at SUNYoswego, business marketing, and that's what I love to do. So I have so many partnerships lined up here with other small businesses to kind of elevate the middle ground of our consumer, the same person who likes my product will most like to like their product.

So let's try to push both of our businesses up, you know? I love that. So I'm so excited for it. Let me ask you, you touched on this a little, bit, talking about going to the club and things like that. Could you talk about a little bit why there's no alcohol here? Why is this not a bar, so to speak? Why did you choose to go this rock? So the design looks like a bar. So the round shape bars, it looks like a cocktail bar. But I've been super self, like super health conscious lately, especially living in L.A. The drinking habits

honestly have shifted. All of my friends that work at the clubs in Vegas, like they say this last two years has been the lowest they've ever seen people in Vegas. Now, are still people going to Vegas? Absolutely. Sure. But I think, you know, I'm a millennial, and we used to drink heavier in our early 20s. The Gen Z year is just, one, can't really afford to do that anymore in this economy,

and two, don't really want to. So, listen, I love a drink. I love to shake my ass at a club sometimes. But, again, there's a time and place for everything, and I think I really wanted to be very conscious of what we're all putting in our bodies. I'm not going to lie to you guys. I've been away now for four years from Syracuse.

The food here, is heavy on oils. I am not big on oils. I'm not big on gums and high refined sugars. Wait, are you saying there's nothing deep fried here? We can get you a deep fried coffee if you'd like, right? I'll do anything for you. But it's just, it makes you feel good.

And the reason why everyone in California is happy, hot, and sexy is because of the lifestyle that they live. I can throw a rock from my house and 10 different juice bars and coffee bars are around. You know, if you notice, I like to brag about my product because I took a whole entire year traveling all over. California and New York City to try to find the best ingredients of what we put in our drinks. All of our syrups on the coffee side are natural, has to be refrigerated.

There's no additive sugars. It comes from real ingredients. And if you notice when you taste it, it's high, deep in flavor, but it's not as sweet as like a mowning or a tarani, you know? Same with our smoothie side. I love superfoods. So we have al-glutamine. We have really high quality protein.

We also have collagen in there, sea moss, all these things that I've been gaining from being in L.A. I'm bringing it here because it's winter and gloomy seven months out of the year here. And when you're eating these high oil foods and this lifestyle, it kind of just weighs you down. That's why we feel so gloomy in the winter. And listen, the snow is going to be snow. That's not going to stop, right? But I think if we can boost our health and serotonin and dopamine a little bit for when that time does come, I think it'll just make the winters a little bit more palatable.

I think you're on to something there, and I love to see it. It's so cool. One of the questions I've really wanted to ask you, and especially as you talk about, you know, you're in all these different cities, you're selling real estate, which means you're tied into that community, right? You can't sell real estate in any town you don't know. So why out of all these places did you decide Syracuse is the spot for this venture? I just felt a need for it selfishly. So I work for Acropolis, Realty Group here. I run a team of two wonderful girls. And we manage. the apartments upstairs. I was showing this commercial space to actually another client of mine who wanted to put a Mexican restaurant in here because we need more of those, right? Where can I find? But it didn't work out because they wouldn't subdivide the space. It's almost 3,000 square feet. Gotcha. So when I was showing the space, I was looking at the lobby all over the lobby table. Uber eats from Starbucks, McDonald's, you know, everything. And people want to get food and coffee, but they are getting it delivered. Sure. And delivery is expensive.

You know? So I'm like, let me put this here. Again, selfishly for, I know that there's a demand for it in this building alone. Yeah. And I want really good coffee. And there's no juice bars in here. There's no juice bars in Syracuse. There's no place that juices everything per cup, every drink, every single time. Yeah.

You know, business 101 is like if there's five steakhouses in a town, don't open up a sixth, you know? And there was a hole in the market, clearly, for this kind of business. And so you're kind of paved in the way for this. this kind of this industry and I think it's wonderful. It's a really change of lifestyle and I really hope that again we all can kind of hop on this bandwagon because it's just good for us. Yeah, totally. I'm trying to be hot forever.

Are we all? I'd like to be hot once. That's the goal. That's the goal, absolutely. This is such an incredible space. I read, you know, in some of your other interviews you talked about it, took a long time to come together and I know you just spoke about finding the ingredients and things. But what were some of the pieces that you had to do? Oh man. What did I not run into, guys? I am never doing this ever again. This was great and this will be my baby forever, but it's a lot to build a brick and mortar business from the opposite end of the country. I was trying to do this from California, flying back and forth as needed to check on my real estate and do this at the same time. The heaps and valleys that I had to go through and the hurdles were some things you wouldn't even believe. One of the bigger things, unfortunately, we lost our dear friend and our

builder, John, from trademark construction halfway through this project. And we didn't know where to go and where to pivot to as we were also grieving this friend of ours. So it was a very, very heavy time and that kind of set us back a year. But I came up with this idea back in 2022. And then we started our LLC in 2023. And it's just been an ongoing process from there. And honestly, I'm religious. I believe in God is always right on his timing. And yes, this took three years. But I feel like it couldn't come at a more perfect time. Sure. Well said. I think it's phenomenal. Talk to us about, you mentioned a little bit about some events that you plan to have. Can you talk a little bit more about what those might be? Yeah. So I know that everyone's like, what is the social club?

It is going to be members only for the really good events that we have. Think of like your favorite influencers. We go to really curated events. Like these are down to the nines of branding, activations, getting people to talk to each other. It's really nice. I want to. I want to, that for our community on just like a little bit of a smaller scale with local businesses and other brands I have relationships with. Those will be for our VIP members. And then we also have a community membership that they'll get discounts to the tickets for these events. And then the public will be able to purchase it if it's not full at that time. We also have public events like book club, run club. I also have something like a Bible study. We'll also have a silent coffee club as well. Some of our VIP events will be like coffee omacase. I want like a coffee club. I want like a coffee club.

club to come in. They do like a coffee omacassi class and then we, they choose the beans that we carry for the drip for the season. I just want the involvement of the community. It feels nice to be like, you know what, I had a little bit of a say of everyone's morning today in their drip coffee. Right. You know, it just feels good. It brings people together and it's just something so small, but it just makes a huge, huge reach and difference. You know, I have to say, as I'm listening to you speak, you know, you hear a lot about reality TV stars that go on to open businesses or go on to do other endeavors. And the main focus is, look at me, I'm a reality star,

so I'm going to try to open something up. It sounds like you're an entrepreneur and a really smart businesswoman who happened to be on reality TV. And that's a compliment. I mean that as a compliment. You have put so much thought into not only the space, the vibe, but when you're talking about letting people choose the ingredients,

this is a time when, as you said, things are going inward. People aren't socializing enough. So not only is it a unique space in Syracuse, but I think there's a huge need for it in society in general. So it's awesome. I know, listen, let's call the big elephant in the room here. I get it.

I've been on three TV shows. I'm working on another one. I get the facade of the TV, the Hollywood lifestyle. Especially with people who are from a small college town. This brand is not about me. And I get people come in here. They come to see me. They want to see me.

But this brand is not about me at all. And I wanted to make sure that was extremely present. that this is for the community. And yes, it's really pretty, really nice, and I am here. But I hired a GM. She's going to probably be the face of this and as I'm doing the background stuff. Sure.

But I'm here all the time, so I'm always popping in. And I want to make sure that I'm always as involved as I am now. You're doing it right. I love that. And I'll tell you what, I wouldn't... I'm sure it's a game that you have to play all the time with that balance, you know? But I think it's an incredible credit. And it's something that you should be incredibly proud of.

Thank you. There's a lot of folks that aspire to do things like that. And like you said, they just keep lining up these projects for you because you're great at it. So that's awesome. We really love to see that. Tell us a little bit about just the basics. So what are the hours of the place? Our hours are going to be 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day.

And then we are going to slowly roll out a mocktail and Kappa menu. Kava is really popular in California. It's a Pacific Island route that mimics a wine drunk feel. And that'll be kind of like our socializing hour. There's kava bars all over Los Angeles. They're packed, guys. I know it's a new concept to us on the East Coast here, but I'm telling you, no hangover, it's not alcohol,

you're not withering your body, and it's still that social part that everyone really wants out of drinking. We had one in Ithaca. Sign me up for that. It was always packed. Always, I'm telling you. I'm going to fly in my partner from Santa Monica, and she's going to help me kind of launch it

because I need to educate people of what it is. Sure. You know, so there's lots of plans for this. I'm very excited. Let me ask it just as an entrepreneur, I'm always thinking about kind of the logistics of some of these things. And as you talk about these incredible ingredients, how challenging is it for you to get those things and keep them fresh and have them in stock for all these different places? I'm learning the inventory thing right now, guys, as we speak. We're on day four of opening.

And the way that I have had to order multiple things and try to get them delivered overnight and running to like different vendors here, it's a goose chase. but we are actually trying to get in the motion of it now, and I feel like we're doing pretty well. We just got a ship into fresh produce today. We use a local farmer, so I just want to make sure that we're always getting the best. Like, there's not pre-frozen things here. Like, we cut everything, we freeze it.

So it's just supporting local farmers because we have really good farms here in New York and just keeping it fresh. We have the best. That's one of the things that I think we're sort of underrated for is, you know, Even our wine, everybody, you know. Some people in California might not think highly of the finger legs one.

Not our red wine. Some of it's incredible. You guys have white wine. You know, all of these fresh things that we have so close. I thought in L.A., the regular drink is like standard oat milk or almond milk. So, I'm like, I've got to get a ton of that. Here, I am running through whole milk. I've never seen before.

But I forget, our farms are really good. We love our cows. If you tell anyone that you're drinking whole milk in L.A., they would throw up. I was going to ask, I know it's early, but you've obviously spent enough time on the West Coast and here growing up. What is the biggest difference you see in the clientele, like, as compared to L.A. to L.A. to skate in New York. Have you noticed one yet? California people are very different breeds, guys. We are New Yorkers. We have grit.

We're straight to the point. You never have to second guess with us, you know. It's a lot for them over there. They're very easygoing. You know, we're like, we'll get to it. And we're, like, trying to go 100 miles an hour over here. I'm not going to lie to you guys. The one thing I miss the most about the East Coast is the people.

East Coast people. I'm trying to get shit done, you know? And everyone in California's like, we'll get to it. Lunch for three hours? Sure. Like, it's a Tuesday. I have things to do. That's right, right?

That's well said. That's incredible. You would think there'd be so many transplants at this point, but they get used to it. They get into that vibe and it's just the way to go. It's a California way, yeah. That's incredible. That's incredible. How does that last couple questions for you, quick.

I'm just interested in so much of the other things that you. have going on. In the real estate market, how does that vary in terms of do you have different approaches in these cities and things to move properties? Every market is so different. Here, it's a little bit coming to, it was going so high for a minute. I couldn't keep a house on for more than 24 hours without people like calling me trying to get in. And now it's kind of like leveling out, you know, just the time of the year as well is going to come natural with that. In Los Angeles, I mean, our team does only luxury, so five million and up. It's, you're not selling a house within in six months. Like, yeah, it's going to be longer. Like, just that kind of, you know, market.

And then in Florida, I mean, it's a hitermous. We have a new one in Jacksonville now. We mainly sell in Tampa, but Tampa's growing really fast. Yeah. These young people are picking up these things really quickly. So it's just different. It just depends. And that's just being on your toes and, like, you know, having the right team to work with you and just knowing the market very well. Yeah. So I've been doing it for almost 10 years now, so. That's great. That's amazing. That's, uh, it's incredible. You know, we've got the big micron boom occurring here. And I think that was that big ramp like you're talking about.

And because they haven't necessarily started yet, I think that, I think that might be part of that chill. And come November the second, the shovel goes in the ground, they think everybody's confidence. And you're going to see that. That's my prediction. And I'm not a real estate guy. But let me tell you something. I know, we're from here. So it's hard to like, be like, is this growing? Because we've only ever seen it for our whole lives. It's growing, guys. There's people on different podcasts that are saying Syracuse is going to be the most rapid growing city in the next five years. Micron's coming in, which is huge for us. That's going to bring in so many new people and jobs. The highway project. I know the highway

project is really annoying. I had the highway of my entire life. And to see it gone is so crazy to me. The same thing happened in San Francisco. It is going to boom this economy so much. I really don't think we're prepared for it. That's awesome. It's really exciting for this. It's a good problem to have. Yeah. And it's cool that we have a nice place to come hang out and talk about it as we're watching them do the construction and everything all the way around. This has been incredible. We really, really appreciate you taking a few minutes of time to show us your incredible place. Anytime that you have something going on, we'd love you to come on Good News York.

That's what our podcast is all about. Every day we talk about good things in New York and try to share that very community-minded mindset. And we love that that's something that you're all about. Yeah, and I've got to finish on this. So it's our first time here. what's your favorite item on the menu? And what is your advice for two first-timers here? It's a great question.

You got to try both something from the coffee and the juice. And honestly, without even me saying it, that's what people have been ordering. Really? Because they want to try both. Sure. So I like the Baclava latte. That one's my favorite one.

If you just love a good black coffee, our coal brew is absolutely killer. Wow. It's amazing. And our juice and coffee, or juice and smoothie side, the strawberry cloud is the most popular. one. I personally like the green thumb. I think that one's a silent killer. People don't like it

because it's green, but it doesn't taste like you're eating a salad. All of these things, I tested out on my boyfriend, who's a venture capital attorney. Have you tried arguing with an attorney? It's impossible, so you have to really impress it for him to be like, this is good. I went through so many different variations of recipes in my kitchen in LA to try to find the best ratios and recipes for the smoothies that I have here. The juices are going to be rotating. As you notice, we only have two juices on the menu right now. I want to make sure I'm always intaking fresh produce for the season, so you're not drinking just like disgusting vegetable water. You know, I want it to be like good.

I wanted to be fresh. I wanted to feel like this is nourishing my body. I love it. I love it. I mean, I think she covered it all. Yeah. This is, this is amazing. She's got me thinking about coffee now.

Yeah, well, that's why I want to end it. I want to get over there. Our coffee is really good. I would like to just do a humble brag about our coffee partner, parlor. When I went to go search for the best roaster, I found this small roastery in Brooklyn. And they were so educational and just welcomed me through everything. I did a full tasting with them on all their beans and learned their machine and their ways. We have a non-compete with them.

So no one in the area is allowed to sell their coffee. I'm telling you, it is the best coffee. It is so smooth. And even if you aren't a black coffee drinker, I suggest you try it because it's good. I will. I'm not a black coffee drinker, but I will. It's good. I am.

I'm going to give it the full test. And I'm looking forward to that. Thank you so much. Mike, Matt, live in downtown Syracuse. Good News, you're sponsored by Ads on the Go, get Ads on the Go.com. Tammy, thank you so much. Thank you guys for having me. I appreciate it.

Thank you so much. I'm excited. You're listening to a podcast right now. Driving, working out, walking the dog. If you're into podcasts, chances are you have something to say too. With RSS.S.com, starting your own is free and easy. upload an episode and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and hundreds more. Track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads like this, even with just 10 listeners a month.

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