A new Clubhouse Manager and Executive Chef have joined the staff of the 109-year-old club in the past year, and helped to send food sales “through the roof” by featuring a complete scratch-made menu. The 450-member club also features an A.W. Tillinghast-designed golf course.
Over the last year, Williamsport (Pa.) Country Club has added a new club manager and a new executive chef to bring some expertise and new features to spruce up the club, the Williamsport Sun-Gazette reported.
Clubhouse Manager John Sheedy, CCM, started in April 2017 and Executive Chef Matthew Wood started in September, the Sun-Gazette reported.
“I’ve been in private clubs for 28 years,” Sheedy told the Sun-Gazette. “For the last 18 years, I’ve done what they call rescues for clubs that are struggling. In almost every case, I go in and turn the food-and-beverage operation around.”
Williamsport CC was already transitioning to a family-friendly club before he arrived, Sheedy said, and he was excited to come to a place that already understood that concept.
“It really appealed to me,” he told the Sun-Gazette. “And, it’s just 90 minutes from where I grew up. I wanted to come get closer to home.
“[The club] hired me because of what I could do with food operations, and of course, I hired a talented chef,” Sheedy added. “[Wood] has really turned things around—our food sales are through the roof.”
Wood’s menus feature only scratch-made food, Sheedy told the Sun-Gazette. “He makes every sauce. He makes every dessert. He doesn’t buy anything premade,” Sheedy said. “A lot of people will buy bases or sauces. He makes everything from scratch.”
Cooks are now coming from all over, including graduates from local culinary schools, to learn Wood’s techniques, the Sun-Gazette reported.
Wood is originally from Louisiana and his first professional job was at Antoine’s in New Orleans’ French Quarter. “[Being a chef] is all I’ve ever wanted to do, literally since I was about six years old,” he told the Sun-Gazette. “It’s a big thing in New Orleans.”
Wood then owned his own restaurant in Tennessee for over a decade, but felt he wasn’t having as much fun because he wasn’t cooking himself, the Sun-Gazette reported. Rather than spend his time worrying about the bills or paperwork, he wanted to get back in the kitchen.
Wood then worked at Coosa Country Club in Rome, Ga., for 10 years, which made him learn to enjoy the country-club atmosphere, the Sun-Gazette reported. He then came to Pennsylvania to be closer to his wife’s family, and the city of Williamsport quickly felt like home, he said.
“This club really attracted me. Mr. Sheedy had just gotten on board, and he was very excited about the potential of this club,” Wood said. “They brought me up, and I just fell in love with this club. The Williamsport area is very nice as well. It’s such a nice, small town. I have two small girls, so it’s nice to bring them up here.
“I like the fact that you’re giving a lot to the families,” Wood added about being a club chef. “You do have a set clientele, but once you get to know your [them], you can really cater to everything they like. It makes it a lot of fun, [because you] feel like you’re giving back to the members and their guests.”
The 450 members of Williamsport CC enjoy an open and friendly atmosphere, the managers told the Sun-Gazette.
“A lot of people think of country clubs as uppity, but it’s very welcoming and very warm here,” Wood said. “From a cuisine standpoint, you get to enjoy cuisine here in Williamsport that you’d typically have to go to Philadelphia or Pittsburgh to get the quality of meals. You can expect fresh, everything made in-house, seasonal cuisine.”
The club has areas meant for families and children to play games and hang out in the pub downstairs or the full-service swimming pool, Sheedy told the Sun-Gazette, as well as quiet areas upstairs that members can enjoy by themselves.
“The club has something for everyone,” Sheedy said. “Once people come here and see the fun that everyone has and how comfortable everyone is, it’s a home away from home.”
Williamsport CC was established in 1909 and boasts an A.W. Tillinghast-designed golf course. Chris Macdonald, Head Golf Professional, has been with the club for 16 years and Paul Krout, CGCS, the club’s Golf Course Superintendent, for 19.
“It’s a fair but challenging course. We don’t haze a lot of hazards, a lot of water or things like that,” Macdonald told the Sun-Gazette. “We have small, tilted greens that are quick. It’s a fun course for people to play. You can play it multiple times and not get bored.”
The club prides itself on offering one of the “longest short courses” that people can play, MacDonald added. “It does play long because of the elevated greens we have, and our conditions are always in top shape,” he said. “It makes you have to play your best.”
To read the Sun-Gazette’s entire article, go to http://www.sungazette.com/news/the-chamber-connection/2018/07/fresh-efforts-at-the-williamsport-country-club/
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