Daniel Kozawick, Executive Chef of Vanderbilt Country Club, says the club has exceeded its projections over the past three months and so he and his team are planning for an even busier 2022.
During the last 18 months, we’ve all have had to do more with less. Tightening up payrolls, fewer employees, keeping food costs in line with a compromised supply chain, staying laser-focused on safety, while taking member satisfaction into account.
For a time, events that normally could have been performed with 3-4 cooks (pre-COVID) now took 7-8 to ensure safety and functionality. Fortunately, we’ve been able to figure out how to work more efficiently and safely.
I’m thankful for the wonderful team I have at Vanderbilt Country Club. They’ve come to work each day and done whatever it has taken to accomplish our goals. It’s been challenging, but we have become stronger and even more resourceful as a result.
Planning the 2021 budget was fiscally conservative, to say the least, due to the state of the world at the time. I find there’s a lot more optimism in planning for 2022.
During these challenging times, one thing has become very clear, despite the hardships and the uncertainty we face (even during a global pandemic) everyone still longs for community.
Probably more now than ever we can appreciate time with family, friends, and teams. The same goes for our members.
Our members have also shown us that they are more confident about the future, too—and so are we.
We have bounced back during the slowest months here in Naples. We have exceeded budgeted F&B sales for the last 3 months beating some of our best summer months before COVID. We want to keep the momentum going.
This greater demand for F&B in conjunction with the enthusiasm from membership and our team has led me to believe that we need to prepare for a busy and successful 2022.
While I was preparing my budget for capital expenditures, I decided to reach out to a couple of local club chefs to tour their facilities. I wanted to see firsthand what other club chefs were doing to prepare for next year. I soon found out these clubs share the same optimism and they weren’t holding back either.
I am so grateful to those club chefs for allowing me to see their operations. I left those properties even more encouraged and inspired.
With a new variant out there one can become pessimistic. But I encourage you to refuse to take on this mindset. Instead, embrace the future and all the good things that can come if we continue to persevere, focus our efforts, rally our team and connect with other club chefs.
