I am Meni Troupakis and I have been running VIP Entertainment Inc. since 1992. When you call VIP you get me — not Anthony, not PJ, not a call center, not an answering service. Me.
I book every show, answer every call, build every website, update every page, and have been doing all of it since before most of my clients were born. I am a one man show and I would not have it any other way.
1992How It Started — Macs Two, Billerica, MA
I was 22 years old and going to Macs Two in Billerica, Massachusetts on amateur night — mostly to meet dancers, if I am being honest. One night I saw Amber dance to U2's "So Cruel" and went over to talk to her. She came back with "hey, you want to be my driver for parties?" I said yes. That was my introduction to the business.
My first party was in Hollis, New Hampshire — summer, a barn at a house. Amber told me to park facing out in case we needed to leave quickly. She also asked if I had a jacket. I said no, why? She said you need to look like you carry a gun. That was 1992. The party went great. Nobody needed a jacket.
After shows we would stop at Yero's Pizza on Union Street in Manchester — my brother's place — grab a slice and debrief on the night.
GrowthPagers, Pizza, and Yellow Pages
I got a pager so Amber could reach me. Then an 800 number. Then a local Manchester number — 603-627-0007, which still works today. A couple of years in I bought a pizza shop in Suncook with my brother and put a VIP phone line in the back kitchen. Old Geno from next door would hear me answer it so much, he would mock me — "VIP!" — very loudly every single time the phone rang.
I advertised in the Yellow Pages. I also registered AAA Aaron Entertainment as a second agency name — purely so I would appear first in the Entertainment Bureaus category alphabetically. A little hustle never hurt.
In 1995 I sat across from my Yellow Pages salesman in that booth and told him I would not be advertising next year. People would use the internet to find strippers. He looked at me like I had two heads. I was right.
Portland, MaineOn the Road and the VIP Shirt
The original VIP Entertainment t-shirt — teal, hand-drawn illustration, 1-800-4-HOT-VIP. We still have it.
In the early 1990s I was making regular trips up to Mark's Showplace in Portland, Maine. I met the DJ there and his girlfriend — a gorgeous dancer — let us use her likeness for the back of our first VIP Entertainment t-shirts. She never did parties, just gave us the image.
I stopped making the Portland run around 1996. I got married.
1995 to 2010The Internet
Missy, VIP Entertainment, 1997.
I registered my first domain in 1995. I used to hang out in Bedford, NH at XTDL, a service provider, and uploaded my polaroids with feature dancers to my personal space on xtdl.com/~meni. One of the earliest adult entertainment booking sites on the internet.
I was telling dancers from Matthews in Tyngsboro, Massachusetts — French girls from Quebec and Montreal — about the internet in 1995 and they were completely clueless. The industry had no idea what was coming.
In August 1998, Interface Monthly — Northern New England's Business Technology Magazine — featured me in an article titled "Sex On-Line." The pull quote: "How could anyone not want to work as an adult Web master?" — the self-described Porn King of New Hampshire asks. "You get to look through pictures all day." I still have that magazine.
From 2000 to approximately 2007 I worked for Club Jenna — Jenna Jameson's company — managing web operations. When Playboy acquired Club Jenna they kept me on for about 18 months before moving support in-house to Chicago.
With Jill Kelly at Jenna Jameson and Jay Grdina's wedding in Paradise Valley, Arizona. Jill twisted her ankle at the afterparty the night before — hence the crutches.
By 2010 Pornhub collapsed the free-site traffic model I had built overnight. Nobody needed thumbnail galleries and banner sites anymore. That was the end of my internet empire and the full return to my first love — VIP Entertainment.
June 2010Hustler Magazine
Writer Scott Fayner reached out to book our dancers for the ultimate Nantucket bachelor party article. We sent Lexi, Christina, and Lacie. My driver's car broke down on the way so I gave him my Jeep Cherokee. He met Scott near Route 128, they got in a limo to Hyannis, and flew by private plane to Nantucket. The photo ran in Hustler magazine June 2010. We have the magazine.
NowVIP Today
I build my own sites. I host my own sites. I update my own pages. I answer my own phone. I book my own parties. I have been doing all of it for over 30 years — from Manchester, New Hampshire to Pompano Beach, Florida where I am based now.
I see other agents charging $800 a party. I charge about half that. I am probably underpaid. But I have been doing this long enough to know that quality and honesty keep customers coming back better than any price ever could. Over 646 reviews across New England spanning three decades. That is the VIP record.