Belleair CC’s main kitchen (pictured) underwent a full renovation in 2020 under Executive Chef Paul Liptak’s leadership.
During his four-year tenure as Executive Chef of Florida’s Belleair Country Club, Paul Liptak, CEC, has spearheaded multiple renovations and upgrades to the culinary facilities. Under his leadership, the main kitchen, largely untouched since 1976, underwent a comprehensive renovation in 2020. A year later, Belleair revitalized ‘The 19th Hole’ restaurant’s kitchen. And most recently, the club added a banquet production space and completed a renovation of one of its two snack shacks with plans to renovate the second shack later this summer.
Paul Liptak, CEC, Executive Chef of Belleair Country Club
While Liptak has done kitchen renovations at clubs in the past, the work done at Belleair, in its main kitchen in particular, was “by far the biggest.”
The primary goal of the renovation was to improve flow and efficiency and to better serve the club’s 3,000 members. This also meant investing in new equipment, such as a 1400°F infrared broiler.
“We do a fair amount of prime steaks a la carte,” says Liptak. “[The broiler] took our steaks to a whole other level. We could add a nicely seared crust and improve overall texture and cook time.”
The club also invested in a “high-end, programmable Italian pressure cooker (pictured below) [for] pressure-cooking meats, short ribs, stocks for sauces,” he adds, which has drastically improved consistency, as well as a pressure braising pan and combi ovens with built-in hood systems.
Executive Chef Paul Liptak says Belleair CC’s new pressure cooker has “drastically improved consistency” when it comes to pressure-cooking meats, short ribs, stocks for sauces and more.
Perfecting Pizza
Among the most notable equipment additions is Belleair CC’s countertop pizza ovens (pictured below), which enables the culinary team to “cook a pizza from raw to ready to serve in about two-and-a-half minutes,” Liptak says.
The club’s main menu now features artisan pizzas crafted with a signature sourdough crust. Current options include ‘pizza bianco,’ featuring stracciatella, pickled Bermuda onions, toasted pistachios, and rosemary sourced directly from the club’s on-site herb garden, and ‘pizza burrata’ with heirloom tomatoes, burrata, fresh basil pesto and extra virgin olive oil.
“I try to keep it down to three or four pizzas, but we do take care of special requests,” Liptak adds. “We’ll get a member that asks for a Hawaiian pizza with fresh pineapple, or a vegetarian or mushroom pizza. We’re happy to accommodate.”
Ultimately, Liptak says he saw a need for more casual food, and pizza is a “natural fit.”
“We went from no pizzas on the menu to about 300 [pies] a week,” he notes.
Executive Chef Paul Liptak with his signature sourdough pizzas and two pizza ovens
Bettering Banquet
Belleair CC also added a banquet production area, converted from a back-bar, front-of-house storage area.
“That was a big effort,” Liptak says, “to really squeeze all of that equipment and make it a fully production-driven line.”
But it was necessary for Belleair CC’s culinary team. Prior to this addition, the culinary team would have to stop production of a la carte if there were a banquet or event.
“That was our biggest struggle,” says Liptak. “We do in excess easily of 200-300 a la carte dinners a night; between 6:30 and 8 pm is the high-volume time. If we were to push out a wine dinner or any event, even if it were 150 people, we would do it off the same production line.”
Belleair CC’s combi ovens
Now, Belleair CC’s banquet space includes the two combi ovens, four hot boxes, ample refrigeration, four hot wells that can also be chilled, induction heating and infrared heating. “We can plate up in a totally separate area,” Liptak says. “It’s seamless.”
Since then, he says, banquet business has dramatically improved. It’s also impacted Belleair CC’s pastry department, which consists of three pastry chefs who now use that space, as well as equipment like the combi ovens.
“Most of the pastry production is done during the day, and most of the banquet events are evening,” Liptak notes. “Although we do shuffle around a little bit as necessary.”
Most importantly, Liptak says he was fortunate to have full support from Belleair CC’s leadership team and members throughout each renovation.
“I am very comfortable moving through the dining room and meeting with the members,” he notes, an element of the job he says is “instrumental, especially in a club environment.”
“It’s great to have that one-on-one communication with them,” Liptak says. “It’s rewarding to exceed their expectations.”
Belleair Country Club at a Glance:
- Executive Chef: Paul Liptak, CEC
- Number of members: 3,000
- Annual F&B revenue: $5.4M
- Food-and-beverage minimum: None
- Average weekly covers: 1,600
- Main a la carte kitchen: 2,100 sq. ft
- Breakfast and lunch a la carte kitchen: 865 sq. ft
- Banquet production kitchen: 500 sq. ft.
- East Snack Shack: 150 sq. ft.
- West Snack Shack: 150 sq. ft.
- Number of back-of-house employees: 42
- Number of front-of-house employees: 53
- Food costs: 44%
