Country Club Chefs

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Comment by Peter E. Fontiane on March 5, 2009 at 1:46pm

where do I start... membership is down 40+ members and we are a small club. we are doing well beecause our gm watches every penny which wasnt always good back when times were good, but now its quite beneficial. we are evaluating need over want. membership we have started a legacy program which brought in two families. bassicaly get in for lower dues upfront but quarterly dues come in as usual. these are children of members. we just did an open house and went over well, incredibly well. 12 prospective members. we had all our offerings, dindin, raquet sports, kids camp, social events, swim team, health and fitness director and anything we could have to sell our club to the friends of members they brought in. board of directors as well
as for what are we doing to keep cash flowing, we are giving the best service, best food, and whatever esle we can to keep members comming in. we started a lobster night at 20 bucks fully cleaned and all the trimmmings. yeah costly but we are bringing in members with guests. accomlplishing two things. covering fixed costs and other people seeing the club and acts as great pr. prime rib and oyster night. yeop once agian loose money food cost wias but bringing people in as well, covering fixed costs again. we can explain high food cost to the board adn they understand it since we are accomplishing a very costly expence coverage. rather bring in 80 ppl and covering lights, salary payroll and hourly cooks, servers, etc than 25 ppl and loose money exponentialy.
i asked the gm whats the highest we could go on food cost just to bring them in? i said 60-65 he said too high...food cost was 65% last month. it is justifyable.
Yo need to communicate all your costs to the board, communicate the rising cost of product to members even though they "know already" . its always beneficial so you dont get hung by your *#@&!!
in a nut shell we are making the members feel and know that they are getting something for their money spent, real value, think how you go shopping for your groceries at home. value for what you are getting.
on the chefs end, we are making sausages with bits of fish trim and herbs etc. Remember your comfort foods, we actually didi a comfort food cooking demo and garden planning as part of a 3 par series throughou the year. went over well, did a chefs table at 100 bucks pp. but they went for it knowing they were going to get the BEST dinner around WITH WINE. Good luck guys, tighten your belt and if you arent working behind the line, put an apron on! cut a guy 2-3 hours early, or bring him in late and prep his station then do another guys tomorrow. get creative, dont even give your gm a chance to think you arent doing your part. dont live high on the hog. Primadonnas dont make ith in this economy right now, get your hands dirty!

Comment by James P. Campbell C.E.C. on March 5, 2009 at 1:16pm

How are your Businesses surviving? Are you lossing members? What are you doing to get members in for business? Are your clubs making up new membership catagorys? Where are your food cost settiling, how bad of a hit have you taken in this ecomnoy?

Comment by Russell L. Neff, CEC on March 5, 2009 at 9:26am

Hello Chefs, I'm glad to see there is a website where we can discuss trends within our clubs and network great ideas on how we can improve our food and excite the membership within our clubs.

Comment by Robert Marilla on March 4, 2009 at 2:55pm

Yes, everyday.

Comment by James P. Campbell C.E.C. on March 4, 2009 at 12:52pm

Have you tried the ACF job postings?

Comment by Robert Marilla on March 3, 2009 at 3:21pm

Does anyone know of any clubs in the Charlotte Area that are looking for and Executive Chef?

Comment by Peter E. Fontiane on March 3, 2009 at 9:29am

welcome! its been a good site so far! with more members we can get more discussions and input to everyones questions and help inspirwe everyone in the tough economy!

Comment by Chef Jason Klueckman on March 1, 2009 at 2:41pm

Hello Fellow Club Chefs... I am Jason Klueckman the Executive Chef at the Capital Club Of Jackson Ms. I have been here for just over a year now and loving it. Just signed up with this web site this week. and am looking forward to sharing ideas with everyone.

Comment by Jason Talcott on March 1, 2009 at 2:54am

Welcome Keith. Looks like this little group I have started is getting quite popular. Just wanted to thank all you for joining. Also want to give Master Chef Leonard another plug...check out www.gigachef.com. There are some great tools and info on that site.

Comment by Keith T. Foster on February 28, 2009 at 2:26pm

Hello fellow country club chefs! My name is Keith Foster and I am going into my third season as the Executive Chef at the Minocqua Country Club in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. Prior to that I was working the country club scene in Arizona for many years from Carefree and Scottsdale to Tucson and Tubac.
Did anyone attend the Central Regional Conference in Schaumberg recently? Just wondering what somebody elses opinion of the conference was. I was disappointed with the Small Plates, Big Presentations seminar. A couple of nice dessert selections but absolutely nothing to do with the current trend of bite size dessert portions or combinations. Also the Strategic Leadership Career Developement was geared mostly towards educators. Suspecting this from reading the course description, I called the ACF office in Florida and they told me it was a management course. Nonetheless it was interesting to be a fly on the wall and learn about the priorities and challenges of educators in the culinary training programs right now. I guess I have one thing to say to them: Let these kids learn about management through continued education as they develop their careers, while they are in Culinary School teach them to cook.
Mostly though it was a great opportunity to earn CEHs towards certification and to see some highly respected chefs perform demos, give lectures on important subjects and network.
As of the Club Cuisine book, I love it. Chef's new book, You Eat with Your Eyes is also very good. He is a true inspiration to the professional culinarian. I am looking forward to Team USA's new cookbook as well.
Hoping to hear more opinions of this year's regional conferences.
Thanks all!

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