There seems to be special fascination these days with any attempt to put new twists on the traditional club concept.
Judging from the “hit rates” we see for the news items that we post on our website and send out in our daily e-newsletter, there seems to be special fascination these days with any attempt to put a new twist on traditional club concepts.
The past month saw high readership for our report on the growing popularity of “guntry clubs” (high-end firing ranges with additional amenities).
But by far the most highly read item that we posted was about “Betty Danger’s Country Club,” being developed by Leslie Bock, a successful operator of trendy bars and restaurants in Minneapolis.
As reported by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Bock was motivated to open Betty Danger’s, described as “a country club on crack,” because she was denied membership after applying to an (unnamed) country club so she could take golf lessons and have a place to play the game.
Bock told the Star-Tribune that the club where she applied “rejects people because of two reasons: the inability to afford it, and the quality of your character. I decided that wasn’t that cool. I was very confused and didn’t really know what that meant.”
So now Bock is developing a new establishment, on the site of an old car wash, that will have a membership component that will entitle those who join to “unlimited golfing [at an outdoor mini-course lined with plastic animals], butt-the-line privileges and lockers for wine, growlers, expensive cigars or whatever.”
When fully operational later this year, Betty Danger’s will also feature a 65-foot Ferris wheel as a “vertically revolving patio” that will operate year-round (with blankets and hot drinks provided in the winter), and a 200-seat restaurant and bar offering “Mexampton” cuisine (“a whimsical mashup of Mexican cuisine and assorted comfort dishes”).
Bock, and the crowd that her places attract (her other establishments include a tattoo shop and places with names like Psycho Suzi’s and the Zombie Den), certainly don’t come to mind when target markets are identified for the next generation of club members. And it’s clear that a mocking, anti-establishment tone runs through everything she’s planning—the main dining room will be called The Library and have “intentionally tacky equestrian wallpaper,” and servers will wear “prep-school attire” as they provide menus “tucked into preppy lifestyle books.”
Still, the Star-Tribune predicts that Betty Danger’s will soon be Minneapolis’ next in-demand destination gathering point. And as our President, Dan Ramella, wrote in last month’s C&RB when commenting on The Cuckoo’s Nest, another new private social club concept that is being developed for Silicon Valley executives (“Good for the Techies”), the future of the club industry will be bright as long as relevant concepts exist to bring together “like-minded people [who] are inclined to seek out one another in a relaxed, collegial setting.”
So, while the owner of “Betty Danger’s Country Club”—and those her new concept will attract—may not be people you’d want to send your club’s membership application to, it’s good that many of you seem to be at least paying attention to what that especially edgy version of the time-tested club concept will be all about.
And it will be even better if you can pick up any new ideas from all of the new concepts that are now out there, so they can be used to keep expanding, and meeting the needs of, your club’s own particular group of like-minded people.
Tell Us What You Think!
You must be logged in to post a comment.