There’s a moment in every Hollywood blockbuster when the underdog suddenly finds itself flush with cash, backed by a mysterious patron, and primed for world domination. For The h.wood Group, the Los Angeles nightlife empire serving champagne, celebrity sightings, and carefully curated exclusivity since 2008, that moment has arrived courtesy of a nine-figure cheque from a brand-new Abu Dhabi investment house called DIAFA.
Now, before you picture oil-rich sheikhs flinging petrodollars across West Hollywood’s velvet ropes, let’s be clear: this is serious business. DIAFA’s investment gives The h.wood Group a majority boost and propels the company into the valuation range where accountants start whispering about “half a billion”. In hospitality circles, that’s rarified air indeed.
From Booty Bellows to boardrooms
Founded by longtime pals and consummate hosts John Terzian and Brian Toll, The h.wood Group has always danced to its own beat. What began as a Los Angeles experiment in 2008, blending dinner, drinks and just enough intrigue to keep the A-list intrigued, has since ballooned into a global brand with Delilah, The Nice Guy, and The Bird Streets Club among its crown jewels.
The pair have mastered the art of making nightlife feel like theatre. One doesn’t simply walk into Delilah; one makes an entrance. At The Nice Guy, the booth you’re seated in says more about your cultural standing than your Instagram follower count. And now, with Abu Dhabi’s blessing, that theatre will get a bigger stage.
Dallas gets a Delilah.
Top of the expansion hit list? Dallas, which will welcome its first Delilah this October. Forget your Tex-Mex clichés, this will be all velvet banquettes, vintage glamour, and cocktails so stylish they deserve their own agents. The Dallas opening will join Delilah’s West Hollywood flagship, its Miami hotspot, and the neon-kissed Las Vegas outpost, proving the brand travels well beyond California cool.
And the rollout won’t stop there. In 2025, Delilah will debut in New York City, while The Nice Guy, a restaurant-club hybrid that turns “just a dinner” into “a story worth telling,” will expand into Miami and Newport Beach. The expansion is ambitious for a company that built its reputation on intimacy. Yet Terzian and Toll insist that DNA exclusivity without arrogance and atmosphere without artifice will remain intact.
Goodbye Booty Bellows, hello Japan
Back home in Los Angeles, The h.wood Group isn’t neglecting its roots. Booty Bellows, that cheeky nightclub which managed to be both a Hollywood mainstay and an insider’s joke, finally shuttered earlier this year after 13 years of antics. In its place on Sunset Boulevard, a Japanese dining concept will be created that promises to be more Kyoto chic than karaoke kitsch.
Brentwood, too, will get its own h.wood brainchild, while existing stalwarts like Delilah and Poppy (an opulent nightclub that lives up to its floral namesake in excess) will undergo fresh upgrades. The message? Evolution matters as much as expansion.
DIAFA enters stage left
For DIAFA, this marks its first official foray into hospitality. The Abu Dhabi-based newcomer wanted to arrive with a splash, and backing one of the world’s most talked-about nightlife groups is a surefire way to do it. “When you think of The h.wood Group, you think of true luxury,” Terzian and Toll declared in a joint statement, brimming with the confidence of men who know precisely how many celebrities will queue for their next launch party.
The alliance is more than money. It’s about crafting experiences that are, in the founders’ words, “architecturally, atmospherically and gastronomically unparalleled”. Lofty? Yes. Achievable? If anyone can make dining feel like cultural capital, it’s The h.wood Group.
The cultural currency of velvet ropes
What makes this partnership fascinating isn’t just the scale of investment. It’s the recognition that hospitality is more than food and drink in today’s world. It’s cultural currency. Getting a table at The Nice Guy or being spotted at Delilah isn’t merely about appetite but identity.
DIAFA understands that. It’s not buying into a restaurant group; it’s buying into a brand at the intersection of celebrity culture, architecture, gastronomy, and social aspiration. It’s investing in a lifestyle that commands headlines as easily as it serves martinis.
The financial choreography
Behind the glamour and the gossip are the necessary suits. Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC handled the financial advice, while Allen Matkins and Dechert took care of the legalese. Every empire needs its backroom cast, and this nine-figure production had no shortage.
With a valuation now firmly in the nine-digit league and a clear path to half a billion, The h.wood Group is positioned to become more than a hospitality brand. It’s on its way to becoming a global taste, status, and aspiration marker.
Curtain up on Act II
For a company born in Los Angeles, the city of reinvention, this feels like Act II of a Hollywood story. Only now, the stage is bigger, the budget larger, and the ambitions sharper. Dallas is first, New York is next, and the rest is still under wraps, but expect the brand to pop up wherever cultural tastemakers gather.
As for Terzian and Toll? They’re still firmly at the helm, ensuring that expansion doesn’t dilute the essence that made h.wood a household name among the glitterati. With DIAFA’s deep pockets, they’re betting big that the next decade will cement h.wood as a nightlife operator and a luxury cultural institution.
So, next time you see paparazzi flashes outside a velvet rope, or overhear whispers about an impossible-to-book table, chances are it’ll be at a h.wood venue. You’ll know DIAFA’s nine-figure gamble is already paying off.
By Bridget Gomez
