Club Management - January/February 2008 - (Page 24) Food & Beverage Operations Member Tastes, They Are a-Changin’ A look at club food and beverage trends By Charles D. Dorn, CCM W hen interviewing club managers on culinary trends, I was confronted with a different picture. Clubs have to keep up with member food and beverage expectations because club demographics and member desires are changing so quickly. When asked about emerging trends in F&B, Thomas E. Gaston, Jr., CCM, general manager of the Pacific Union Club in San Francisco, spoke about the problem and how he has seen a profound change in the past seven to eight years. Tastes “Club dining was the last bastion of formal dining,” Gaston said. “Fine dining in San Francisco is now bistro dining.” Gaston said one of the fi nest restaurants in San Francisco is Restaurant Gary Danko. Members frequent the restaurant often and are using it and others as models of what they would like to see at their club. For many years, The Pacific Union Club purchased custom glassware – even going as far as owning molds to have these unique glasses produced. Recent requests for oversized wine glasses have altered the club’s thinking, and the club now owns large-bowl wine glasses. Changing Demographics Tracy Kaufman, director of catering for New York’s Princeton Club, addressed the rapidly changing demographic issue from a different perspective. “In most weeks, five to eight of our catering clients have been here before and therefore represent our largest challenge.” Kaufman reports the club is changing menus more frequently to accommodate these guests and is customizing at least 30 percent of its menus to keep the food exciting and members happy. If there was any question club F&B has changed, all one has to do is look at the composition of the American Culinary Federation Culinary National Team USA. Edward G. Leonard, CMC, AAC, is the team manager and executive chef at Westchester Country Club in Rye, New York. Of the remaining five members, three are with clubs. Joachim Buchner, CMC, is executive chef at Chevy Chase Club in Chevy Chase, Maryland; Daniel Scannell, CMC, is executive chef at Carnegie Abbey Club in Portsmouth, Rhode Island; and Patricia Nash is pastry chef at Westchester Country Club. C.J. “Joe” Bendy, Jr., CCM, general manager of River Oaks Country Club in Houston, has seen a remarkable change in the club’s F&B culture during the past five years. Bendy and his staff have taken a proactive approach to F&B and are producing some of the fi nest F&B seen in any club. Bendy said, “We reinvent ourselves continually. We fi nd out who’s doing what and then adapt it for the club.” At a recent dinner held in honor of club management legends, W.R. “Red” Steger, CCM, Joan Brecunier, CCM, and Robert G. Southwell, CCM, Bendy’s staff produced a unique dessert display. Using unusual glass shelving units, the culinary team offered more than a dozen desserts, each individually presented. Many were in different-shaped small glasses and were inviting to the eye. This ©iStockphoto.com 24 • CLUB MANAGEMENT
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