A full golf course renovation and a little rain didn’t stop the San Antonio (Texas) Country Club from taking part in this year’s Fiesta Event.
Eduardo Castillo, Executive Chef of San Antonio Country Club, says the team was watching the weather radar all day to see if the rain would hold off for the almost 3,000-person event. With a plan on what to do if the rain came, Castillo and his team were prepared for anything.
This preparation is a skill that Castillo believes every club should walk through before hosting an event to save resources, expectations and—most importantly—avoid headaches.
Fiesta at San Antonio Country Club
The Fiesta Event is a San Antonio tradition that has been celebrated in the city for more than 100 years, honoring the heroes of the Alamo and the Battle of San Jacinto. It has grown into a citywide cultural celebration that includes parades, live music, and supports local fundraisers and non-profits.
San Antonio CC helps members kick off the annual tradition with its own Sunday event, featuring 12 food stations, four dessert stations, and more—all outdoors.
Having close to 3,000 members attend the event, Castillo says he and his team started preparations two weeks in advance by freezing some food items to serve.
The Southwest Mexican/Texas influenced menu featured items like brisket, braised shredded chicken, refried beans, pork barbacoa and more.
“It’s a simple menu because we are serving a high-volume crowd, but we always try to keep everything as fresh as possible,” says Castillo.
The pastry team featured items like funnel cake fries, coconut sorbet, paletas and more.
With the event being outside, Castillo and his team used a refrigerated truck to store ingredients and cooked the meat on blackstone grills so everything the team needed would be reachable because, with the high-volume of members fitting everyone inside the clubhouse would not be possible.
This reality forced the San Antonio CC team to talk through and prepare what they would do if a rain storm would come through during the event.
Walking through worse case scenarios
Castillo says that he and his team thought of everything when it came to adjusting the event for rain.
“We went over all the questions: How can we come inside? Are we going to come inside? What will it take to come inside?” says Castillo. “No matter how hard you try, 3,000 people are not going to be able to fit in the clubhouse.”
Thankfully, the rain remained manageable.
“It rained enough to be a nuisance, but not enough to be a problem,” he says.
The club had tents ready if the rain started coming down harder, but Castillo says the family-friendly event wasn’t impacted too much. Members didn’t seem to mind and the children kept playing, so the team decided to push through and remain outside.
Still, preparation for a worst-case scenario was thorough. Two days before the event, the city received six inches of rain.
“The plan was to turn one of the ballrooms and set up buffets inside and move furniture and things around to make room,” he says. “We had conversations at the beginning of the week around placement of the buffets inside if it came to that.”
During event preparation Castillo and the team did a double floor—one for outdoor service and one for indoors—to be ready for whatever the weather looked like on the day of the event. The call was made to keep the event outside on Sunday morning.
From there, the conversation moved to how much time was needed to switch the event from outside to inside if the weather became worse. The team mapped out how they would bring food inside from the golf course, what food was left at the clubhouse that could be used, what resources or equipment was going to need moved inside.
Castillo says this ongoing conversation and planning was discussed within the leadership team—the sous chef, chef de partie, front of house staff, and managers.
“At this point, I did not want to clutter my cooks with this information,” he says. “I want to give them very simple instructions if it comes down to it.”
Walking through worse case scenarios is a negative experience, so choosing who you bring into the conversation is important to Castillo in order to keep fears and worries down from team members who are actively keeping the event running.
Form relationships and be adaptable
Castillo advises other clubs to be adaptable when they host an event.
“Know what’s going to happen if it rains or know what’s going to happen if it’s 100 degrees outside like it was for last year’s Fiesta Event,” he says.
Understanding timing on how long it will take your team to execute the backup plan is important as well.
Castillo says members are not going to wait on you if they’re hungry. It’s up to you and your team to understand timing and pacing of tearing down and setting back up in a different location.
However, being in the club business means forming relationships with members which can be a positive during situations where things don’t go as planned.
Castillo encourages his team to get out in front of members and build those relationships for numerous reasons: it makes the experience better for everyone, it allows new ideas to spark, and it provides a space for grace when a team member makes a mistake or is in a situation that can’t be controlled.
“In clubs you actually get to know people and cater to them in a personal way,” he says. “So you can have some flexibility. You can tell a member, ‘Hey, give me 10 minutes and I will run and grab you a plate and bring it back to you.’ And they respect that.”
Castillo says member feedback during the Fiesta Event was great and members expressed appreciation for Castillo and his team remaining outside cooking and working in the rain.
“They appreciate the fact that we are not stopping and we’re servicing them,” he says.
