Club & Resort Business’ 2009 Chef to Chef Conference

Red Rock Resort, Las Vegas, Feb. 22-24

Ideas for Meeting Today’s Changing Food & Beverage Needs

Planned Agenda (check this site frequently for updates)

Day One (Sunday, Feb. 22)
12:00 – 6:00 PM Arrival/Registration
6:00 PM Opening cocktail reception and buffet dine-around
A full-course buffet menu (appetizers, salads, entrees, desserts) will be built around an international theme, with an emphasis on small plates that can provide “sudden impact” and are easily transferable and applicable to all types of club, resort and golf course settings. Chefs from Las Vegas-area properties will be invited to contribute signature dishes to a specific station. Recipes and photos of all menu items included in the buffet will be made available in Conference materials.

After dinner: Opportunities to explore and use the Red Rock property, including its unique Red Rock Lanes luxury bowling center

Day Two (Monday, Feb. 23)
7:30 – 8:30 AM Continental breakfast in Cyber-café
8:30 – 9:00 AM Keynote address: Emerging Trends No F&B Operation Can Ignore

KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Billy Strynkowski, Executive Chef, Cooking Light magazine
9:00 – 10:00 AM Exemplary F&B Programs
Presentation of the latest survey data from the McMahon Group, Inc., on what distinguishes the best club F&B programs, based on input from over 1 million private club members. Information and in-depth insights will be provided to help you learn what¹s required in menu quality, selection and variety to make members and guests see your dining rooms as a destination of choice, and turn your F&B program into a driver of future growth for your property, even when a strong golf offer is already in place.

CASE HISTORY: Oakmont (Pa.) Country Club
Insights into how this storied club doubled its F&B revenues over a five-year period, more than tripled its annual wine sales—and also served 50,000 meals in one week when hosting the 2007 U.S. Open. Presenters from Oakmont will include General Manager Tom Wallace, Executive Chef Tom Pepka, and others from the club’s F&B team.
10:00 – 10:15 AM Break
10:15 – 11:00 AM Breakout 1: Catering: How to Fully Meet the (Fast-Growing) Need
PRESENTER: Phillippe Reynaud, Executive Director of Culinary Operations, Ocean Reef Club, Key Largo, Fla.

  • Maximizing catering’s potential in all settings (on- and off-premise), without compromising food or service quality
  • Making catering as “regular” a part of your operations as daily dining
  • Optimizing logistics/timing for plated meals
  • Being just as creative with catering menus; making successful “transfers” of a la carte favorites
  • Upcharges: Knowing the limits (they’re much higher than you might think)
11:00 – 11:45 Breakout 2: Bringing the (Back and Front of the) House Together
PRESENTERS: Ted Gillary, Executive Director, and Kevin Brennan, Executive Chef, The Detroit Athletic Club, Detroit, Mich.

  • Motivating both sides of the team to work as one
  • Getting everyone charged up about selling food and dining excitement
  • Setting and pursuing a common goal: member/guest satisfaction
12:00 – 1:15 Lunch – Featuring a light and healthy-oriented menu (recipes will be included in Conference materials), with additional remarks by keynote speaker Chef Billy Strynkowski
1:30 – 2:15 Breakout 3: Kitchen Design: “Your new, or newly renovated, kitchen”
PRESENTER: Jeremy Critchfield, Executive Chef/Director of F&B Operations, Nemacolin Woodlands Resort, Farmington, Pa.

  • How chefs should get involved- before, during and after- with major renovation or new construction projects
  • Kitchen design/layout for maximum functionality
  • Optimal kitchen design: a la carte, banquet, satellite
  • Making the best equipment buys
  • “Chef’s table” setups (in the kitchen and elsewhere) – what to serve, how to market, how to price, what special touches to include
2:15 – 3:00 Breakout 4 : Buffets That Keep Them Coming Back for More
Presenter: Joachim Buchner, CMC, Executive Chef, Chevy Chase Club, Chevy Chase, Md.

  • Breaking away from “straight line” buffet boredom – finding unique ways to make the format fit what’s special about your club by enhancing the “sense of where you are”
  • The latest in efficient serving techniques and equipment
  • How small clubs can learn, and transfer, the buffet excitement that big resorts are known for
3:00 – 3:15 Break
3:15 – 4:00 Breakout 5 : Small Plates
Presenter: Paul O’Toole, Executive Chef, Deerfield Golf & Tennis Club, Newark, Del.

  • Small-plate specialties – sandwiches and salads
  • ½-sized entrees at ¾ the price
  • Making people thank you for providing less
  • Both casual and formal
4:00 – 4:45 PM Breakout 6 : Casual Fare
Presenter: Chef Billy Strynkowski, Executive Chef, Cooking Light Magazine

  • Big favorites for grilles
  • Healthy yet practical cuisine for satellite F&B outlets (spa, fitness, pool)
  • Emphasizing light, low-calorie, but tasty and fun fare (sliders, turkey burgers, etc.)
  • The “blue jeans issue”
(Note: Breakouts 5 and 6 will emphasize actual preparation and presentation of dishes; presenters will have pre-prepared examples on speed racks; attendees will be able to get closeup looks at the dishes and discuss them with presenters; recipes and pictures will also be available in Conference materials)
6:00 – 7:00 PM Cocktail Reception with Heavy Hors D’oeuvres

Day Three (Tuesday, Feb. 24)
7:30 – 8:30 AM Continental breakfast in Cyber-café
8:30 – 10:30 “Chef to Chef Live”

A “live” version of Club & Resort Business’ popular “Chef to Chef” question-and-answer feature, during which Jerry Schreck, Executive Chef of Merion Golf Club, Ardmore, Pa., will interview colleagues from several other leading club and resort properties, in a format that will emphasize audience participation and questions.
Panelists scheduled to participate include:
10:30 – 10:45 Break
10:45 – 11:30 Breakout 7: Takeout: The Next F&B Frontier?
Presenter: Paul Verica, Executive Chef, The Club at Longview, Charlotte, N.C.

  • What’s the full potential?
  • What’s the full scope and definition – does takeout include the “bridge ladies” who want to take home a quart of soup, and members who ask on Monday if you can make a roast for them to pick up on Saturday?
  • Should takeout just be another way to offer convenience, or run as a new and separate profit center?
  • How do you staff it?
  • How does it affect other preparation operations?
  • What about holidays – should you steer more holiday meals to takeout, especially when most of your members have nicer homes than the club?
11:30 – 12:15 Breakout 8: Club F&B Careers
Presenters: Michael Redmond, Assistant General Manager, Food & Beverage, The Metropolitan Club of the City of Washington (D.C.) and David Meyers, Principal, David Meyers Associates, Ltd.

  • Career development issues for club chefs – finding the right environment for your skills/lifestyles, and finding the right balance
  • How to be a successful club chef by establishing a vision and moving to achieve it through interesting and inventive programs
  • How to avoid succumbing to the ever-changing whims of Entertainment Committees
  • How to avoid the status quo, which is the surest way to get fired
  • Internships and developing relationships with culinary schools (international, national and local)
  • Networking with other club chefs
  • Where do you want to be in 10 years?
  • Why you shouldn’t take new jobs just to get out from where you are
  • How to think rationally about the next logical steps
  • How to mold the perfect (or at least a better) job right where you are
12:15 – 1:30 Lunch- Featuring plated signature dishes (recipes will be included in Conference materials) from the upcoming afternoon Breakout sessions
1:45 – 2:30 Breakout 9: Menu Design/Development: Making Everything Special
Jerry Schreck, Executive Chef, Merion (Pa.) Golf Club, will lead a group discussion to explore these areas:

  • How new menu items are conceived, tested, added
  • How often menus should be changed and how (execution issues)
  • Different menus for different purposes (formal, casual, takeout, etc.)
  • Culinary Exploitation: Discovering what you and your club/resort can do particularly well, and making the most of it; making development and successful execution of signature dishes an everyday goal and a key part of your program for daily and dinner specials
  • Ethnic inventiveness
  • Efficient and effective approaches to menu printing needs
  • Attaining cost goals
  • Managing menus in multiple outlets

Also as part of this session, Scott Savlov, producer of the upcoming coffee-table book, The Club Menu, featuring “signature dishes from America’s premier golf clubs,” will present a sneak preview of the book’s contents and also discuss plans for other book projects on signature beverages.
2:30 – 3:15 Breakout 10: Making Events Live Up to Their Name
Presenter: Don Smith, Executive Chef, St. Charles (Ill.) CC

  • Starting with a blank page for maximum creativity (vs. just pulling out last year’s menu and going from there), while still being efficient
  • Calling in useful and needed resources from all corners
  • Pricing techniques that satisfy all “interested parties”