Aesthetically please décor will attract members and guests to bar areas-but service and efficiency count, too.
From soft seating and an open, airy décor to the masculine appeal of dark wood and leather, properties have endless options when it comes to designing a bar. However, good design is more than meets the eye. Staff personalities and efficiency of operations are equally important to ensuring that a property’s bar is the top destination of choice for its members and guests.
SUMMING IT UP
• The design of a bar might set the mood, but functionality is the key to running a successful operation. |
Double the Fun
Biltmore Forest Country Club in Asheville, N.C., has two bars—a main bar that is attached to the dining room and a men’s grill bar. Coziness and consistency are the primary design elements in the décor of the men’s grill bar.
This bar features dark wood, dark leather, indirect lighting and wrought-iron chandeliers. Paintings and vintage 1920s-era photographs from the property’s carefully preserved archives accent the walls.
“Everything that is on the wall is related to the history of our club,” notes General Manager George Schwab.
The bar, which measures about 1,000 square feet, holds 50 to 60 people. Its intimate atmosphere adheres to the mission of the club, which is to emphasize the social aspects of membership, Schwab says.
“Even the ladies prefer the masculine look in the bar. It fits in with the clubhouse décor,” he adds. “It’s cozy. In a mountain, historic type of way, it makes the place feel more inviting.”
The right design is critical to setting the right mood for Wausau CC’s multi-purpose bar settings. |
At Biltmore Forest, a bar also opens onto a patio, which overlooks the first, ninth and 18th holes on the golf course. Members frequently retreat to the patio in the summertime, Schwab notes.
Make It a Double
A double-sided bar, divided by a wall, is adjacent to the dining room on the main level of the clubhouse at Wausau Country Club in Schofield, Wis.
The main side of the bar boasts a traditional design with dark wood, neutral colors and a “Northwoods feel” that reflects the northern Wisconsin pine and hardwood trees that line the golf course fairways. A stone fireplace is a focal point in the room, and the bar also features a granite mantel and granite bar top.
No smoking is allowed in one of the bars, but smoking is permitted in the main side of the bar. The main bar, which also features a popcorn machine, is the more popular of the two, says General Manager Michael Rodriguez.
“In that part of the bar, you can see who’s coming and going. It’s definitely the heart of the club,” he notes.
The gathering spot also features chandeliers and accent lights under the bar, and adjustable lighting that can help set the mood. The rounded chairs on wheels feature burgundy leather and wood trim. Stools surround the bar, and small, round-topped tables seat about three people to create an intimate, yet casual, atmosphere.
“Members come here to meet with friends and trade stories after a round on the golf course,” Rodriguez says.
The nonsmoking bar overlooks the tributaries of nearby Lake Wausau and a large deck, where members can enjoy northern Wisconsin summers at tables with umbrellas, is accessible through the back door of the main bar.
“The design elements put the staff up front—and that eye-level interaction makes our club special from a service component.” —Tom DeLozier, General Manager, Quail Hollow Club |
Four to Pour
Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, N.C., boasts four bars—three in the main dining area and a fourth bar in a separate pavilion. Eighty percent of the club’s bar business, says General Manager Tom DeLozier, comes from the men’s locker room bar. This bar has masculine appeal with dark wood, leather and a highly visible staff.
“The staff is more a part of the equation in the locker room bar,” notes DeLozier. “The others are more aesthetically pleasing and eye-appealing.”
Of the two bars in the dining area, one is formal and one is casual. The bar in the formal setting boasts soft seating and a semi-circular bar to add visual appeal. The bar faces the golf course, and doors lead out onto a terrace.
“Aesthetically and operationally, it hits the mark because it’s right there, and it’s visible,” notes DeLozier.
The casual bar features a fireplace, soft seating and flat-screen TVs. The bar in the pavilion, located behind the 18th hole, has a casual, “hunting lodge“ feel.
“For a small club [with fewer than 500 members], we offer a great variety to meet different needs, which I think is important,” DeLozier says.
Creating a Buzz
Wausau CC celebrated its 100th anniversary last year, and Rodriguez says the members naturally think of the property first when they want to go out for the evening.
“This is one of the social gathering points for the community,” he reveals. “Families have been members for 75 years. It’s engrained in the culture here.”
He also says the bars are family-friendly, other than on Wednesday nights, when the bar tends to attract a “raucous guys’ crowd” after the weekly men’s golf league.
“Some people come to our bars specifically to watch TV or to relax with their kids,” notes Rodriguez.
Complimentary Starbucks coffee, which the bar offers before 11 AM during the golf season, contributes to its appeal as well.
“We’re located in an old neighborhood, and people stop on their way to work for coffee,” Rodriguez adds.
Wausau CC also has six televisions in the two bars. This inventory includes two 42-inch, high-definition, flat-screen plasma TVs on the walls of one bar.
“The members expect you to have those now,” notes Rodriguez.
The men’s locker room bar at Quail Hollow boasts three large, flat-screen TVs, and the pavilion bar has a large, flat-screen, high-def TV. Special events in the pavilion bar, such as wine tastings, appeal to different demographics within the membership. Quail Hollow’s neighborhood setting also ensures that the property is the first social gathering stop for members.
“With so many of the members living very close to the property, the men’s bar in particular has become something of a nightly gathering place,” notes DeLozier. “The space has a happy-hour feel—and it attracts a happy-hour crowd.”
The personal nature of the bar business also attracts members to Biltmore Forest, Schwab reports.
“Whatever you’re drinking, we’re going to have it available,” he notes. “Plus everybody knows who everybody is.”
Friendly Faces
Biltmore’s warm, friendly staff attracts members to the bar as well.
“It’s easy to hire a bartender,” explains Schwab. “It’s very difficult to hire someone who has a personality to fit with the mission of the club.”
DeLozier also emphasizes the importance of the staff, which is an integral part of the men’s locker room bar.
Because more beer is consumed in the locker room bar at Quail Hollow, it offers more on-tap and draft varieties than the other bars on the property. |
“The design element works well because it puts the staff up front, and there is that eye-level interaction that makes our club special from a service component,” he explains.
At Biltmore Forest, the social experience is the chief amenity, and Schwab says all of the members use the bars.
“We don’t mind noisy—that is the buzz we always try to achieve,” he says.
However, Biltmore Forest does not schedule special events in the bars. When a property reserves its bars for special functions, Schwab believes, “Inconsistency becomes an issue. We want the bars to be a place that our members can depend on, a place they always know they can go.”
Function with the Fun
The look of a bar is not the only element that makes the space work.
“No matter how nice the bar may be, if it’s not functional, it’s not going to be a proper fit,” says Rodriguez.
At Wausau CC, doors separate the two bars. This feature increases functionality, so that one area can be closed off for private parties or special events.
The locker room bar at Quail Hollow has its own glass washer and chillers. Because more beer is consumed in this bar, it also offers more on-tap and draft varieties than the other bars.
“From our standpoint, the service component at Quail Hollow Club is our number-one asset,” DeLozier says.
Staff input is also critical to ensuring efficient, well-functioning operations.
“When a club decides it wants to renovate or build a casual bar, it’s extremely important to involve the manager and the staff in its design,” advises Schwab.
It doesn’t matter how attractive the décor is if the bar design is totally inefficient, he continues. “Members won’t want to go there if they can’t get served,” he says.
Before Biltmore Forest completed its men’s grill about three years ago, Schwab recalls, the staff mulled over drawings for about a year.
“We were looking at the drawings a year before they broke ground, and we made 30 changes,” says Schwab. “During construction, we made another half-dozen changes.”
With the help of staff, Biltmore Forest ensured that the bar would have good flow, plenty of sinks, ample storage space and a high-quality glass washer. The staff input even ensured that all of the outlets and computer hook-ups were installed in the right places. Anything a bartender needs to serve a customer is now within four steps, Schwab reports.
“We’re not in that space every single day,” he notes. “If you don’t work in it, then you don’t think of it.”
And the attention to detail has clearly paid off. Even though people are drinking less in general, Schwab notes, business at Quail Hollow has tripled with the addition of the new bar.
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