PartyBuddys help everyday people love the nightlife
By Cathy Poley
Originally Appeared on CNN.com
(CNN) — A limousine pulls up to a trendy New York City nightclub. Photographers flock to the scene as a woman steps out of the limo flanked by a security guard and an entourage.
She walks into the club and is escorted to the swanky VIP section where she can party the night away with her fabulous friends.
Is it Paris Hilton? No. Lindsay Lohan? No.
It’s a PartyBuddys client.
PartyBuddys’ co-founders James King, Jorge Paredes and Jason Roefaro want to give everyday people a peek at what it is like to be a celebrity.
“Andy Warhol once said everybody gets 15 minutes of fame,” says King. “With PartyBuddys you get six hours of fame.”
Their company aims to give clients the VIP treatment for one night complete with paparazzi snapping your photo, the club owners attending to your whims and the bodyguards keeping the public at a distance.
King says they got the idea for their company by doing what they did best — partying.
While the trio had various day jobs, at night they were throwing parties and organizing parties for events.
One night the group was sitting “in a basement with a couple of beers,” King says, and they asked, “hey, how can we amp up this party a little bit more?”
They sat up all night talking about how it would be fun to have normal people walking the red carpet, and by 5 a.m. PartyBuddys was born.
They took their idea to club owners, security companies and photographers.
King says that club owners liked the novelty of the idea and seemed to catch the entrepreneurs’ enthusiasm.
“Everybody seems to love [the idea] when we pitch it to them. So it was really that simple,” King says. “It was basically our personalities saying, ‘Look, we are fun guys. We want to show these people a good time.’ And that’s how it all came to be.”
King adds that having someone who seems like a celebrity in a club can create an atmosphere that club owners like. “To have that buzz in your club is something that also benefits them too,” King says.
PartyBuddys also offers services for those who are not night owls. Clients can be treated like a celebrity at a spa with a day of star-worthy pampering or go on a shopping excursion with an entourage and a personal shopper.
King says one of the challenges of the business is staying on top of the nightlife trends in a business where a club may be hot one week and closed the next.
“You’ve got to keep up with everything that’s going on out there because it moves so fast,” King says, “because people, when it comes to partying, have very short attention spans. You know I want it hot, I want it now.”
The company owners sometimes show their clients how to party, as well as where to party.
“Not only are we with you, but we are there to guide you,” King says. “And we’re there, you know, if you are kind of a quiet guy, and you know you like the idea, and you are timid, that is where the party buddy comes in. They get you out on the dance floor.”
The PartyBuddys not only want their client to have a good time, but they also act as a buffer between the ersatz celebs and the outside world. Clients don’t have to worry about waiting in line or whether they can get into a club. All of that is taken care of for them.
“When they come out with us they are in their celebrity bubble,” King says. “We create that bubble around them so there is nothing else going on.”