During the summer of 2021 or the summer of the “great resignation”, I was considering where I wanted to work next. I had loved my 5 years at Kelly Greens, but I felt like I had hit a ceiling. When we put it a kitchen renovation up to a vote, it failed twice in. There was little hope of dramatic change in the next 3-5 years. During my time at Kelly Greens, we drastically enhanced the quality of the food, improved consistency as well as expanded the creativity of the food we produced. Like most clubs, we were attracting younger members which opened the door for us to be more adventurous. With a strong core culinary team that was with me from day one as well as my ever loyal and amazing sous chef, we kept pushing the traditional limitations of what we could do. When I decided to begin working with a recruiter and explore new opportunities, the member satisfaction scores for F&B at Kelly Greens had never been higher. This allowed me to leave the club in a strong position for continued success and development while I began a new challenge at a new property.
I had worked with a recruiter before and enjoyed having a person to shepherd me through the interviewing process while making sure I got a fair offer. As I was considering properties presented to me by the recruiter, I was contacted by a former colleague who is the GM of a high-end club in Naples, Fla. He was looking for an executive chef. I agreed to meet with him to discuss the opportunity while continuing the process with the recruiter.
I was looking for a club with a newly renovated kitchen or plans to renovate within the next year, a higher revenue-producing club, a property with a clear track record of growth, and a plan for continued development.
Two clubs I was considering ticked all these boxes, though both had unique challenges.
As part of the interview process, I met with the GMs of both properties and some of the board members from each club. I completed cooking “tests” for both properties. After the third and final interview, I was officially offered a position at both clubs. The decision was up to me.
I chose to go with The Forest Country Club, a more traditional golf club with a newly renovated clubhouse and kitchen. The membership was similar to my last club but larger with higher F&B revenues, two 18-hole championship golf courses, a full tennis facility, and one of the most beautiful clubhouses I had ever seen. I enjoyed the history as one of the first established premier country clubs in Southwest Florida. The GM seemed like a good person with a positive leadership style, experience, and attributes that would mesh well and complement my own. That was part of the process that I didn’t know was so important to me, but once I found it, I realized it was critical in my final decision.
Since the move nearly eight months ago I have been very happy here at the FCC. The club has its own set of challenges as most clubs do, but we have made a distinct contribution to the improvement of the food quality, consistency, and creativity in a short time. The team and I are spending time focusing on the details of what we do and how we can improve recipes and processes to create the most amazing product possible. I brought a few employees with me from my last club, but we were fortunate to have had a strong team in place that just needed direction and guidance to start bringing things to the next level.
The future here at FCC is bright and exciting with long terms plans to enhance F&B, golf course, tennis and fitness amenities while continuing to evolve our offerings to cater to our amazing members. I am proud of what we have accomplished in the last eight months and I am looking forward to what the future brings.