Steven Leviton
CHEF PROFILE Current Position: Executive Chef, Exmoor Country Linked Recipes: Fall Beet Salad, Exmoor “Classic” Steak Frites, |
Exmoor Country Club, in Highland Park, Ill., has been known as one of the Chicago area’s most prestigious private clubs for over 100 years. The golf course, designed by Donald Ross and opened in 1896, has hosted many important tournaments during its rich history, and will be the site of a Western Golf Association tournament in 2012.
Exmoor’s culinary operation has been directed since this spring by Executive Chef Steven Leviton, who has already made his mark at the club during the short time he’s been in charge. A veteran of resort dining, hotels, business and industry accounts, and other well-known private clubs (including Briarwood CC and the Ocean Reef Club), Steven’s vast experience has allowed him to draw ideas and knowledge from many diverse areas. Exmoor has a nice balance of regular dining for its 550 members, along with outside catering and club events, and Chef Leviton is well on his way to expanding the existing food and beverage offer with many innovative new concepts.
It is interesting to have such a veteran chef who is relatively new at such an established club provide his spin on the best way to go about learning the operation and making an immediate impact. I’d like to thank Steven for taking the time to share some of his insights with C&RB.
Q Chef, my feeling is that entertainment event calendars should contain popular and previously well-attended functions, and those that just look good in the newsletters and have no member interest should be eliminated. You say that your General Manager, Alan Slatin, challenges his management team constantly in this area. What have you and your fellow managers done to create a buzz about events and boost sales?
A One thing that I am attached to is that I send out a weekly Food & Beverage Newsletter to the membership. It highlights the food trends in the industry and I use that information to showcase new menu selling points, as well as upcoming club events. I also participate, along with our other chefs, in membership receptions that show our F&B ability and food reputation.
Q A priority upon your arrival at Exmoor was to create a stable environment for what sounds like a very talented and loyal staff. What advice can you offer chefs or managers who come into a new position and want to integrate their management style the right way?
A Be patient! The first thing that became necessary was for me to learn about Exmoor and embrace what the staff had to offer. After a period of time, that allowed me to work with the management team to integrate my style of managing into the club and bring another dimension forward.
Q One goal of yours is to implement a profitable takeout program. You did this at another club, adding revenues in excess of $40,000 annually. Where were you most able to exploit carryout opportunities?
A In looking at a “carryout” program, there are many things to consider. First, I look at the physical makeup of the facility, especially on the a la carte side, since this is where the most pressure will come from. Next, I look at the compression of the banquet business and whether it would collide with our private dining and a la carte operations; at this time at Exmoor, it does not. Lastly, I look at implementing the opportunity for Food to Go, Catering to Go, and Special Events to Go. All three will be predicated on special menus, all designed to offer a complete solution for dining on levels that can be added to substantiate the value of food and beverage as part of membership at Exmoor Country Club.
Q You have files that include a ton of tasting photos, and over 400 recipes in a MasterCook program. What can you tell other chefs about how essential these records have been for you over the past 15 years?
A Going back several years ago, I was able to work at a large property that included 9 outlets and 44 events per day, and where we were in the process of making many changes to the menus. The task of being dead on target with this level of activity was a major challenge. So I started a process where I worked with a program called MasterCooks Suite. It’s a program that’s designed mostly for in-home use, but it includes a recipe component that has unlimited storage use and recipe scaling for sizing the recipes, at any range from 2 to 1000. I needed that for the size of our operation; I could quickly develop my recipes for the outlets, and set the recipe size at 24, but then set banquets at 350 with just a mouse click! I found this to be invaluable, and over the past 15 years and four jobs, I have now used it to store over 3,500 recipes. And I’ve always made sure that we’ve had plenty of photos to go with the package as well.
Q Chef, another challenge for you since coming to Exmoor has been to communicate with the membership and better address their needs and desires for food choices. You also talk about “reading” the membership. How do you go about this and determine what’s feasible?
A In addition to the weekly newsletter mentioned earlier, I also attend the monthly House Committee meetings, which allow me to not only comment first-hand on our food and beverage business, but also hear from the members themselves about what they feel, hear and might want to have happen in the near future. I also try to go through the reporting features of our point-of-sale system, to break down the sales of the food outlets and what the members are eating, and how often. This tells me whether we are successful at listening to their wants and needs, and how we sell it! I also use a menu engineering tool to determine the sales path of the dishes and see how successful the menu really is, in all categories.
Exmoor Country Club, in Highland Park, Ill., has been known as one of the Chicago area’s most prestigious private clubs for over 100 years. The golf course, designed by Donald Ross and opened in 1896, has hosted many important tournaments during its rich history, and will be the site of a Western Golf Association tournament in 2012.
Exmoor’s culinary operation has been directed since this spring by Executive Chef Steven Leviton, who has already made his mark at the club during the short time he’s been in charge. A veteran of resort dining, hotels, business and industry accounts, and other well-known private clubs (including Briarwood CC and the Ocean Reef Club), Steven’s vast experience has allowed him to draw ideas and knowledge from many diverse areas. Exmoor has a nice balance of regular dining for its 550 members, along with outside catering and club events, and Chef Leviton is well on his way to expanding the existing food and beverage offer with many innovative new concepts.
It is interesting to have such a veteran chef who is relatively new at such an established club provide his spin on the best way to go about learning the operation and making an immediate impact. I’d like to thank Steven for taking the time to share some of his insights with C&RB.
Q Chef, my feeling is that entertainment event calendars should contain popular and previously well-attended functions, and those that just look good in the newsletters and have no member interest should be eliminated. You say that your General Manager, Alan Slatin, challenges his management team constantly in this area. What have you and your fellow managers done to create a buzz about events and boost sales?
A One thing that I am attached to is that I send out a weekly Food & Beverage Newsletter to the membership. It highlights the food trends in the industry and I use that information to showcase new menu selling points, as well as upcoming club events. I also participate, along with our other chefs, in membership receptions that show our F&B ability and food reputation.
Q A priority upon your arrival at Exmoor was to create a stable environment for what sounds like a very talented and loyal staff. What advice can you offer chefs or managers who come into a new position and want to integrate their management style the right way?
A Be patient! The first thing that became necessary was for me to learn about Exmoor and embrace what the staff had to offer. After a period of time, that allowed me to work with the management team to integrate my style of managing into the club and bring another dimension forward.
Q One goal of yours is to implement a profitable takeout program. You did this at another club, adding revenues in excess of $40,000 annually. Where were you most able to exploit carryout opportunities?
A In looking at a “carryout” program, there are many things to consider. First, I look at the physical makeup of the facility, especially on the a la carte side, since this is where the most pressure will come from. Next, I look at the compression of the banquet business and whether it would collide with our private dining and a la carte operations; at this time at Exmoor, it does not. Lastly, I look at implementing the opportunity for Food to Go, Catering to Go, and Special Events to Go. All three will be predicated on special menus, all designed to offer a complete solution for dining on levels that can be added to substantiate the value of food and beverage as part of membership at Exmoor Country Club.
Q You have files that include a ton of tasting photos, and over 400 recipes in a MasterCook program. What can you tell other chefs about how essential these records have been for you over the past 15 years?
A Going back several years ago, I was able to work at a large property that included 9 outlets and 44 events per day, and where we were in the process of making many changes to the menus. The task of being dead on target with this level of activity was a major challenge. So I started a process where I worked with a program called MasterCooks Suite. It’s a program that’s designed mostly for in-home use, but it includes a recipe component that has unlimited storage use and recipe scaling for sizing the recipes, at any range from 2 to 1000. I needed that for the size of our operation; I could quickly develop my recipes for the outlets, and set the recipe size at 24, but then set banquets at 350 with just a mouse click! I found this to be invaluable, and over the past 15 years and four jobs, I have now used it to store over 3,500 recipes. And I’ve always made sure that we’ve had plenty of photos to go with the package as well.
Q Chef, another challenge for you since coming to Exmoor has been to communicate with the membership and better address their needs and desires for food choices. You also talk about “reading” the membership. How do you go about this and determine what’s feasible?
A In addition to the weekly newsletter mentioned earlier, I also attend the monthly House Committee meetings, which allow me to not only comment first-hand on our food and beverage business, but also hear from the members themselves about what they feel, hear and might want to have happen in the near future. I also try to go through the reporting features of our point-of-sale system, to break down the sales of the food outlets and what the members are eating, and how often. This tells me whether we are successful at listening to their wants and needs, and how we sell it! I also use a menu engineering tool to determine the sales path of the dishes and see how successful the menu really is, in all categories.
Q Exmoor is a busy banquet club, and your ballroom is a floor above the kitchen. This can be a logistical nightmare if you’re not organized. How have you made the situation better in your short time at the helm?
A I have listened to the staff I work with, and used their experience and feedback to make the necessary adjustments to the two walk-in coolers, to maximize space. In the a la carte kitchen on the ground floor, I removed a wall shelving unit and replaced it with five speed racks, to improve inventory use, banquet use and overall storage and handling. It also helps greatly when sanitizing—just roll out and roll in. I can now store 40% more in the same cooler. In the basement cooler, I looked at what we were using, and re-configured a better way to store it and saved another 30% there. Plans are on the table for the rest of the kitchens for another time. C&RB Exmoor is a busy banquet club, and your ballroom is a floor above the kitchen. This can be a logistical nightmare if you’re not organized. How have you made the situation better in your short time at the helm?
A I have listened to the staff I work with, and used their experience and feedback to make the necessary adjustments to the two walk-in coolers, to maximize space. In the a la carte kitchen on the ground floor, I removed a wall shelving unit and replaced it with five speed racks, to improve inventory use, banquet use and overall storage and handling. It also helps greatly when sanitizing—just roll out and roll in. I can now store 40% more in the same cooler. In the basement cooler, I looked at what we were using, and re-configured a better way to store it and saved another 30% there. Plans are on the table for the rest of the kitchens for another time.
