When Coral Bay Club’s clubhouse rebuild—a project four-plus years in the making—is complete later this spring, members will find two stories rather than one, featuring a craft bar, a new fitness space, a revamped locker room, a larger ballroom, and more. Behind the scenes, the culinary team will operate out of one centralized kitchen, stocked with the latest equipment, and optimized for flow and efficiency.
The plan started as a renovation, “but as we moved through this whole process,” says Executive Chef Geneveive Guthrie, who’s been with the club for the past 20 years, “we found that it was better to bulldoze and start brand-new.”
The building was leveled in 2023.
“In the beginning,” Guthrie says, “I bought the biggest graph paper I possibly could … to figure out the best kitchen [layout]. We wanted to make sure, mainly, that the kitchen was very efficient.”
Leadership also aims to entice members to visit outside of the club’s primary season, therefore increasing revenue by 25-30% and retaining additional staff year-round.
The club’s core season is Memorial Day to Labor Day. September onward, the crowd thins, save for Christmas parties and other special functions.
“There are a lot of issues that go along with that,” notes Doug Anderson, CCM, General Manager/COO. “It’s like opening three new restaurants for five months every year, then closing them down. So we are expanding our hours of operation. It might be limited compared the summer, but we will be able to have some consistency, where we’re able to attract members who live in Raleigh or other areas that aren’t local to come down for the weekends, with the new building and the excitement around it.”
Outside of the Box
In contrast to Guthrie and many other long-tenured team members, Anderson joined Coral Bay just last year. But he’d spent the past 18 years managing clubs in Florida, and he’s overseen similar rebuilds.
“A lot of a lot of the legwork was completed before I got here,” he notes. “Chef [Guthrie] has been very involved in the kitchen design, the layout, equipment procurement. … I’ve been doing this a long time, and I have never worked with a chef that has seen the big picture as much as she does. It’s not just about the culinary department; she’s conscious of how everything affects other departments as well. I’ve been extremely impressed.”
Last summer, sans kitchen, Guthrie and her team worked with the local community college to host functions out of their culinary building and to use their kitchen as a commissary for an onsite, 28-foot trailer.
“While construction was going on, we still had our pool open and served membership food out of the trailer,” says Guthrie, “and a couple nights a week, we would do bingo or a seafood buffet for the membership out of the culinary school.”
Off-season, she’s been updating her team with construction progress, involving them in the process in any way she can.
“This has definitely been an eye-opening, learning experience for me. … But it needs to be a learning experience for everybody, not just myself,” she says. “I love hearing their opinions; I’m not the only one who will be working in this space.”
“I joke that I don’t even know if our chef can cook,” says Anderson. “We’ve all been working outside of our roles. … Chef’s doing things don’t really fall under her purview. It’s been a great experience; but we’re ready to get into the building again.”
The New Space
The second level of the new, two-story clubhouse will feature craft bar, Bar 1958.
“We have a very large, oval bar with a deck outside, so our membership can have a nice cocktail, either inside or outside, and be able to see the beautiful ocean and beach,” says Guthrie.
In the future, a small kitchen next to the bar will enable it to serve food, too.
“It’s not going to be a full-on dinner menu; it’s going to be charcuterie boards, tapas, small plates—things like that,” Anderson says.
The new building will also host a dedicated fitness space—something that was not in the original renovation plan—as well as a card room, a larger ballroom with a separate entrance, and new locker rooms.
“The flow of traffic is going to be much more efficient, as far as staff getting food and beverage to members, as well as members getting to and from the different areas of the clubhouse without interrupting other areas,” says Anderson.
The new kitchen, too, is optimized with efficiency and flow top of mind.
“Space [was a major issue], especially in the old casual dining kitchen,” says Guthrie. “You could not have two people back-to-back on the expo side of the line, which made things difficult. In the new kitchen, we will not have that problem.”
In fact, the new kitchen will have about the same footprint as the older two kitchens combined, and it’s dual-line: a la carte on one side, banquet on the other.
“The older, main banquet kitchen—I loved that kitchen, but it was aged,” notes Guthrie. “We’re doubling the equipment we have there, so we’ll be able to pump out more food, especially for our big banquets like Easter and Thanksgiving. Easter, for example, we do around over 700, so the chefs and I would have to come up with a scheduling plan for when we’d cook everything; we just did not have the space otherwise.”
Guthrie and her team took inventory of the existing equipment, deciding what could be salvaged, then determining any equipment that needed to be purchase.
“I’m super excited to have a combitherm for the first time,” she says. “We also brought in a [deck oven] for flatbread pizzas. We are trying to take over all ice cream production, from one scoop at the end of dinner service or ice cream for up to 400 for our bingo buffet. We plan on making all that in-house. We’re trying to start a fresh bread program. And then the usual equipment as well, which will be nice, especially around Thanksgiving. Before, we only had four ovens to cook about 24 turkeys. Now we’ve doubled, if not tripled, that.”
Guthrie advises other chefs embarking on a renovation or rebuild to do their research and make sure they’re keeping track of everything that’s going on day to day.
“My advice” Anderson adds: “Start early, and take your time to get everything planned. And advice for boards: Get operations people involved. … That makes for a successful project—having the people who have boots on the ground involved with the decision-making. Our President [Sam Sugg], the Board and Building committee have been awesome in that regard. They kept the staff involved from the start. That is the way it should work.”
Ultimately, Guthrie says, communication is key, especially in a project of this size, “and there can never be too much of it. Everyone involved has done a great job in that regard, and I’m confident we will continue to do so.”
With construction winding down and equipment being installed, she’s eager to return to the kitchen: “my happy place,” she says, “where I can work alongside the team and bring joy to our members with our food. That’s where I feel most energized and in my element.”
