Food & Beverage

Elevating Food & Beverage Excellence

Elevating-Food-&-Beverage-Excellence

People often ask me, “Why should we bring in an outside trainer for our club’s food and beverage team?”

It’s a fair question, since most clubs already do internal training. But here’s the thing…

Club training programs usually focus on reinforcing skills and day-to-day operations, whereas an outside trainer can help inspire investment in long-term excellence, alignment and continuous improvement.

Internal training is always valuable, but balancing it with fresh perspectives from experienced industry professionals can provide advantages that enhance your club’s operations.

Outside experts bring something unique to the table: a fresh voice and a broad understanding of what’s happening across top clubs, hotels and restaurants around the world. They’re not focused on one environment; they’re out there seeing what’s working, spotting trends and helping teams adapt in real time.

Training through a different lens adds value in key areas, like modern best practices, updated service techniques and operational efficiencies. Plenty of relatable, real-life stories reinforce learning. They connect the dots and make lessons memorable. Additionally, sometimes the message must come from someone new to stick. It’s like when a coach says the same thing a parent’s been saying for weeks and suddenly the light goes on. Sound familiar?

And let’s be clear. Effective training isn’t about PowerPoint presentations and policy manuals. It’s active. It’s hands-on. It’s built around real-world service moments: the good, the challenging and the unexpected.

Humorous, poignant and powerful videos help strike a chord. Activities are intentionally designed to help the message sink in differently. The best sessions create the right mix of reflection, fun and forward motion, and leave people feeling energized, not drained.

It’s important to recognize that the steps of service are universal. The fundamentals remain the same whether in a club, hotel or restaurant. But a great trainer goes further. A great trainer takes time to understand your club’s culture and customize the approach used during training accordingly. Because consistency is one of the biggest challenges in food and beverage. And alignment, not just repetition, ensures every member has a great experience.

But here’s where it comes together…follow-through.

A strong training session doesn’t end with a round of applause. It ends with clarity, clear goals and meaningful actions the team can implement right away. And then you follow up. That’s how the investment becomes a habit, not just a feel-good moment.

And don’t forget to share the learning. A quick recap or summary ensures that even those who weren’t in the room benefit. Spread the message. Keep the momentum going. Build something sustainable.

When done right, collaborating with an expert trainer isn’t just about improving service. It’s about energizing the team, supporting leadership and setting the tone for the kind of hospitality culture you want to build.

Because at the end of the day, it’s not just about what gets taught. It’s about how people feel when they walk out of the room. Well-trained staff are more confident, engaged and likely to stay, contributing to an overall positive environment. Fostering excellence, alignment and continuous growth allows you to cultivate a team that delivers extraordinary hospitality, strengthens member satisfaction and builds lasting success.

THE BOARDROOM MAGAZINE – May/June 2025

Annette Whittley is a food and beverage training consultant and search executive with KOPPLIN KUEBLER & WALLACE, a consulting firm providing executive search, strategic planning and data analysis services to the private club and hospitality industries. Annette can be reached at 833-KKW-HIRE (559-4473) ext. 721 and at annette@kkandw.com.

Elevating Food & Beverage Excellence2025-06-11T17:35:07+00:00

Let’s Talk Club Management Podcast – Wine and Leadership

Let's-Talk-Club-Management-Podcast-Wine-and-Leadership

The world of wine is constantly evolving, and staying updated with the latest trends is essential for enthusiasts and professionals alike. In this episode, we welcome back to the podcast Sam Lindsley and Chris DeChillo. Sam and Chris each have extensive experience in food and beverage and bring their perspectives to how you can enhance your members’ wine experiences at your clubs.

Let’s Talk Club Management Podcast – Wine and Leadership2025-04-30T19:58:36+00:00

Strategies for Ongoing Team Training

Strategies-for-Ongoing-Team-Training-in-Hospitality

Whether you realize it or not, you are always paying for training. You could be paying for it through turnover or mistakes or, preferably, by planning ahead and investing intentionally.

As former operational executives, we understand better than most how “You can’t see the forest for the trees” ties directly into why many operations can’t find the time to properly plan and execute effective ongoing training programs. Here are some strategies to help simplify the process:

Consistent, Daily Pre-Shifts for F&B Teams:
The best in our industry set aside 30 minutes per day to do this. We climb a mountain one step at a time — so why not start with 10 minutes a day, at the same time and in the same place, so your team can connect and train. Break your conversation into equal parts food, beverage and service.

  • Food:
    The best experiences are driven by employees who have tried the food and can talk about it confidently. Taste food, and not just specials! Encourage the team to describe the specials, core menu items, and highlights from the culinary team.
  • Beverage:
    Taste tea, coffee and non-alcoholic beverages — and of course, discuss wines and how they pair with various dishes, rotating beer tap changes, and seasonal cocktail updates.
  • Service:
    Highlight VIPs, special requests, and update the team on upcoming events.
  • Key Takeaways:
    Set the stage, ask open-ended questions, and let your team do most of the talking when it comes to describing product. If they stumble, keep encouraging them and always model what good looks like.
  • Make it yours!:
    Build in your club culture, make it interactive, give demonstrations, do role plays, bring in guest stars, require participation from every team member, and get their full attention. Great pre-shifts are something the team should look forward to; they build morale, relationships, and strengthen your unique club culture.

In-Person Training:
Setting aside scheduled time for internal and external training sessions is vital to the longevity and sustainability of any training program. Consider these commitments:

  • Monthly Internal Training:
    Extended sessions of 60 to 90 minutes with a focus on role playing, product knowledge, and service excellence.
  • Quarterly or Biannual External Training:
    Two to three days of team building that focus on fundamentals refreshers, the sequence of service adjustments, leadership development, and the importance of emotional intelligence as it relates to serving your members and your colleagues.
  • Create a Club University:
    Reward and recognize your team for attendance. Use this as a developmental tool for future leaders within your organization.

Ask your team:
Instead of simply assigning training topics, consider engaging with your team by asking what areas they would like additional training in and how you can support their professional growth. This approach encourages open communication and empowers them to take ownership of their development. This could be as simple as creating a suggestion box or question box, where people can ask things they have always wanted to know but are too afraid to ask.

While training does not have to be complicated, creating consistency in your training plan is hard. Set a small goal and build out a plan. As it has been said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.”

CLUB TRENDS – Fall 2024

Chris DeChillo and Annette Whittley are food and beverage training consultants with KOPPLIN KUEBLER & WALLACE. Chris can be contacted at: chris@kkandw.com or (720) 258-5937. Annette Whittley can be contacted at annette@kkandw.com or (561) 827-1945.

Strategies for Ongoing Team Training2025-02-05T20:59:57+00:00

Elevating the Dining Game

Elevating the Dining Game at Private Clubs

When people choose to dine outside of their homes these days, they do so with the goal of seeking out more than just a meal. They’re craving an experience, a story on a plate, something they can share with their friends and family around the table in the moment, or even later, regaling them with details of “The Best Meal They’ve Ever Had.”

Over the past few years, the restaurant industry has undergone revisions and reshaping as customers eagerly ride the wave of innovative and evolving food trends. The restaurants and dining features offered by private clubs are included in that mix, attentive to what their members want to see on menus and what is going to keep them coming back to dine again and again.

Like any trend, food trends can come and go, and some last longer than others, but their common denominator is that they can’t, or rather shouldn’t, be ignored. One such food trend that is rising quickly in popularity at private clubs, and rightfully has moved from a trend to simply the way restaurants are doing business, is focusing menus on seasonality.

Read the full article by Molly Olson in the 2024 September/October issue of Club Management Magazine.

Elevating the Dining Game2024-09-30T19:34:20+00:00

Planning for Imperfections

Planning for Imperfections in Hospitality

Hospitality is an imperfect business and while you can plan to deliver the highest levels of product and service consistently, even the world’s best service providers have breakdowns.

Planning for inevitable mistakes separates the best businesses from the average ones. Making every effort to win the customer back after an incident transcends the negative event, elevates the experience and solidifies member loyalty. This is a goal hospitality professionals strive to achieve.

Producing flawless hospitality experiences consistently is complex. Take serving a steak, for example. While a club can have the highest standards for meat quality, selection, preparation and service, numerous factors come into play, each of which can dramatically alter the outcome:

• What did the cow eat?
• How was the meat processed/packaged?
• How was it stored and aged?
• Who prepared the meat?
• Who cooked it?
• Who ordered it and what is their version of medium rare?
• How long did it sit in the kitchen window waiting to be delivered to the table?
• Who prepared the sauce and sides that accompanied the steak?

Even if all of the above are impeccably answered and the steak is perfection on a plate headed out of the kitchen for delivery to the table, the server could slip and send the dish flying into the air. The steak in all its glory ends up a monstrosity on the dining room floor. Now the 18-minute ticket time has turned into a 36-minute ticket time, and the member is furious.

You can do everything right: hire the right people, train them well, have the highest standards for quality and preparation, develop your people with ongoing education, evaluate your service standards regularly, and yet things still happen. It’s a human business with endless variables that result in an experience that tends to be entirely subjective.

We all want to surprise and delight our members on the front end, but service recovery is how to win loyalty. Recognize that no matter how good you may be, mistakes will happen. That’s why developing and implementing a service recovery plan is critical. Have the standard to reconcile the situation, plus one. This means you fix the problem and more.

For example, The Club at Mediterra designates an “Oops Plate” every shift. The chef identifies one or two small dishes, such as a salad, appetizer or intermezzo, and lists them on the whiteboard in the kitchen. Should an incident happen where a meal was cooked improperly or ordered incorrectly, the server can request and deliver the most appropriate “Oops Plate” to the guest.

The server explains that the item is for the guest to enjoy while the meal is being corrected and apologizes for the inconvenience. Once the meal has been rectified and enjoyed, the server brings a complimentary plate of small indulgence desserts to the table before offering dessert (the plus one). When a problem occurs, the staff person notifies the manager on duty and records what happened, with the member’s name, the date and time on the Winning Them Back List.

The Winning Them Back List lives on the POS, making it visible and accessible to employees across all departments. The list communicates incidents that occur so employees are empowered to extend extra time and effort to ensure a positive experience when that member returns to the club. The Winning Them Back List exists for all club areas, not just food and beverage, and is an exceptional resource for continuing service recovery for weeks after an incident.

As the service industry struggles to find its footing today with a shortage of applicants, increased turnover and an ongoing need for training and development, hiring the right people becomes increasingly more important. Solution-oriented, innovative thinkers who can adapt to problems in real time have ideal qualities that should be drawn out of candidates during the hiring process. These soft skills can be developed and enhanced in those who have them but are harder to train and instill in those who don’t.

Service recovery also requires learning from mistakes. Analyzing what happened and why is a powerful approach to ensuring the incident doesn’t happen again. Having an internal process to eliminate recurring mistakes and update training and development to eradicate the likelihood of future occurrences is a necessary tactic.

Communication may be the most essential ingredient in service recovery. The best-intended processes can fall flat when the communication loop isn’t closed completely. When something goes wrong, the manager(s) should be notified about what happened and why, and the member should be informed that the mistake is being addressed immediately.

Empowering employees to take ownership of a problem can be a game-changer in service recovery. Members who are upset do not want to hear, “My manager or someone else will get back to you soon.” They want the situation solved immediately. Ensuring employees know the importance of following up with members, sometimes more than once, instills confidence in members that they are important and a solution is being worked on.

While you can prepare, plan and predict as much as possible to eliminate mistakes, they are inevitable. When organizations transition from sweeping mistakes under the rug to looking at every glitch as an opportunity to strengthen the relationship, build trust and instill loyalty, magic happens. That is when we achieve a powerful recovery that surprises and delights our members.

THE BOARDROOM MAGAZINE – July/August 2024

Planning for Imperfections2024-08-16T14:00:00+00:00

Focus on the Fundamentals to Improve Your Food & Beverage Operations

Focus-on-the-Fundamentals-to-Improve-Your-Club's-Food-&-Beverage-Operations

It is the most common complaint I hear working with private club board members. “We need to improve the food and beverage service at our club.”

Notice I did not say the “profitability,” although that benefit is sometimes inherent in well-managed club dining facilities.

How can you improve the food and beverage operations at your club? The answer is easier than you might think and begins with the fundamentals.

A few years ago, a national survey of restaurant patrons revealed the three primary reasons customers returned regularly to their favorite restaurant. The results will probably surprise you, but if you consider your dining out experiences, I think your habits will corroborate the data.

Private clubs can certainly find good applications from the survey results. These three fundamental findings should be the basis for every good private club’s food and beverage operations:

A warm greeting. The number one reason people cited for returning to a particular restaurant was a warm greeting upon arrival. This greeting is not the standard “canned approach” from a well-intentioned but robotic host or hostess but a sincere and warm greeting, usually by a senior manager or owner of the establishment.

Additionally, the greeter usually knows the party’s name and will be perspicacious enough to recognize if the regular patron has guests accompanying them. Can we replicate this in the private club business? Absolutely. In spades.

Since most clubs request reservations, the greeter and seater should know not only the members’ names but also if they have guests. What an opportunity to make an impression upon the member with a very warm and engaging greeting which includes the use of the members name; and if done in front of guests…wow!

A fond farewell. The second reason people gave for supporting their favorite restaurant was knowing that their business was appreciated. This is accomplished while the patron is leaving the restaurant and the greeter, manager or owner thanks the customer for visiting the restaurant and expresses the desire to see them again.

This is not the usual “goodbye now” that most of us experience (if we are lucky and catch the hostess on a good day) in the chain restaurants as we fumble for a toothpick and mint. The best restaurateurs take a few minutes while their patrons are leaving to ensure that their experience was enjoyable and sincerely extend the invitation to visit again when their special table will be awaiting them.

Clean restrooms and good food. There was a tie for third in the survey. Customers were adamant about dining in “clean facilities,” and their primary way of evaluating the “housekeeping” in a restaurant is usually a result of a visit to the restroom.

My rule of thumb when frequenting fast-food restaurants during my travels is to walk into the men’s room before I order food. I know that the same person who cleans the restrooms also cleans the kitchen and, more importantly, the “cleanliness philosophy” of the manager who oversees that restaurant is evident in the restroom.

Good food tied for third with clean restrooms. Surprised? Not me. I like good food, and I tend to go to restaurants where I know the quality will be consistent. But I will avoid the establishments whose rankings in our local paper don’t earn an “A” ranking from the city health department.

In the private club environment, consistency and quality will provide a strong magnet to attract members to your club. If you combine consistently good food with the top three fundamentals of a warm welcome, a fond farewell and clean facilities, you can’t help but increase the use of your club dining rooms. This much I know for sure.

THE BOARDROOM MAGAZINE – May/June 2024

“This Much I Know for Sure” is a regular feature in BoardRoom magazine beginning Fall 2022. Dick will share some of his reflections based on his 50-plus years of working in the private club business.

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Focus on the Fundamentals to Improve Your Food & Beverage Operations2025-08-19T22:29:59+00:00
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