For many clubs and resorts, kitchen renovations often end up on the back burner. It’s not that an efficient, top-of-the-line kitchen isn’t nice to have; it’s just that when there isn’t enough money to go around, resources tend to be distributed to the areas that are most visible to members and guests.
As a result, major F&B-related renovations tend to occur in the front of the house, with back-of-the-house improvements often limited to basic maintenance, or bringing things up to code.
But if neglected, eventually the workability of a kitchen will reach a tipping point where something has to give. Often this occurs when banquet revenue is capped by an inability to prepare enough food efficiently for attendees at larger events. Clubs can try to work around these limitations, but they’re only cheating their own bottom lines—and putting undue strain on their staff, equipment and facilities—when they do.
The real answer for clubs that are serious about being in the banquet business is to upgrade their kitchens accordingly. Not only will space that’s more conducive to banquet preparation allow the staff to handle those events with greater ease, but word will get around that your club is well-equipped, and that will put you top-of-mind as people look for places to handle their crowds.
The Changing Face of Kitchen Staffs
The Country Club, located in Pepper Pike, Ohio, recently completed a kitchen overhaul as part of a club-wide renovation. The clubhouse had its grand opening in 1930 and prior to this major renovation, the kitchen hadn’t been touched since the day it was built. The original kitchen had high ceilings and natural light—two elements that helped give the area a touch of comfort and were retained in the new design—but it was built in a far different era. Decades ago, labor was fairly cheap to come by. Kitchens operated in compartmentalized departments. Butchers, bakers, etc., all had their own small staffs to lord over.
Those days are long gone. Today’s kitchens are not nearly as partitioned, partly because labor costs have risen and an easy way to reduce operating costs is to reduce staff. But also, the culture of how kitchens operate has evolved.
The Country Club saw that it needed a space better suited to its staff and that a major rebuild was the only effective solution. Of roughly $7.7 million in club-wide renovations, about $1 million was dedicated to the kitchen.
The space was shut down for four months and completely gutted for a fresh start. While members had to forego The Country Club’s cuisine for that period, reciprocal agreements with other clubs kept them well-fed in the downtime. The closing also served to build anticipation for the reopening; eager members were actually known to drop by for tours of the work-in-progress.
Go With the Flow
Those who have never put in hard time in a kitchen may not fully understand why the flow of traffic is so important. Not only does it prevent spills and dangerous run-ins with extremely hot items (a key reason cited by Laurel Oak Country Club, Sarasota, Fla., for reworking flow as it embarked on a $1.4 million kitchen renovation), it also affects food preparation efficiencies and overall service speed.
The fewer the number of steps between different areas, the faster dishes can come together, and the fewer cooks are needed on the line. This is reason enough to hire a designer or architect with extensive kitchen-related experience or, at the very least, ensure that the executive chef is involved step-by-step in the process.
For most clubs and resorts, à la carte dining is an important day-to-day service, but banquets and events are the real moneymakers. And even if there is enough dining space to hold hordes of guests, if a kitchen can’t effectively serve them, the event is a wash.
Flow was also a very important element of The Country Club’s project, and the club’s ability to host larger banquets with greater ease was a driving force in the effort. In fact, Executive Chef Carmen Mauceri said of the renovation, “The most challenging and important thing was the flow between the back-of-house and front-of-house staff.”
The club’s new kitchen is laid out so there are now two main corridors of traffic, each dedicated to a different “lane” of service. Everything banquet-related stays on the right-hand side while à la carte service is conducted in the left-hand lane. In this way, confusion is kept to a minimum, and each member of the kitchen staff has a pretty good idea of where they should be, and when.
Banquet Bred
While The Country Club’s renovation doubled the size of its kitchen, sheer size isn’t necessarily the most important factor in preparing the back of the house to handle large events. Versatility is perhaps even more critical.
To accommodate the need to set up various events with different menus, almost everything in the kitchen at The Country Club is now on wheels. This makes it easy to reconfigure the staging area, based on the needs of the event. There are also outlets built into the ceiling, so appliances can be moved to where they will be used most efficiently and still plugged in close to where they will be used, without having to drag cords along the ground or across work areas—an important safety feature that older kitchens aren’t likely to have.
Refrigeration space is also a necessity. It does no good to prepare items ahead of time if there isn’t enough space to safely store them until they are needed. The Country Club added a walk-in refrigeration unit that is dedicated to banquet preparation. If budget allows, a blast-chiller is also a good investment. It boosts food safety by chilling foods so quickly that bacteria doesn’t have enough time to grow, and also can be used to stop the cooking process, so foods can be partially cooked ahead of time and then “re-thermalized” just before serving.
Showing It Off
What happens in the kitchen isn’t as secretive as it used to be. Restaurants around the world, both private and public, are facing a trend of more open walls. People enjoy watching their entrees come to life—although some just want reassurance that everything’s sanitary—and the explosion of television cooking shows has also kept interest on the rise.
The Granite Club in Toronto now has a space called the “Kitchen Gallery” where members can dine while catching glimpses of the behind-the-scenes action. The Country Club’s version is called “The Chef’s Table.” Like most club executive chefs, Mau-ceri enjoys teaching. That’s what he did, in fact, when the club’s kitchen closed down for four months, and now that it’s reopened, that’s what he continues to do everyday in his new space. “One of my favorite things to do is to teach culinary,” he says.
The Chef’s Table grew out of Mauceri’s love for teaching and the desire for home gourmets to increase their knowledge. Tucked away in a cozy nook to the side of the kitchen is a small dining “room” for four. The table and its four chairs sit atop a rug, and there are curtains for ambiance. Of course, anyone requesting this table isn’t looking for an intimate dinner. The table must be booked with a reservation, but larger groups wanting the kitchen experience can be accommodated by utilizing the versatile banquet preparation area of the kitchen. And dinner in the back of the house has more allure than the environment. Chef Mauceri integrates cooking demonstrations into the evening, so his guests don’t have to stare in bewilderment trying to decipher things on their own.
Sometimes, though, hiding things from diners is just as important. Laurel Oak CC moved it
s dishwasher (previously on a wall shared with the dining room) so the noise no longer filtered into the dining area. No diner, no matter how interested she is in how a kitchen works, wants to hear the rumble of a commercial dishwasher as she nibbles on her amuse bouche. C&RB
Summing It Up
• Banquet-ready kitchens need ample cold storage space. A dedicated walk-in refrigerated unit is ideal.
• Versatility is the watchword. As much as possible, put all equipment on wheels and bring in an electrician to add outlets in the ceiling.
• A good kitchen flow makes the space not only more efficient, but also safer.
• Show off the kitchen. It’s an easy way to build member interest and give F&B revenues a boost.
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