Instead of offering a rosy look at the road ahead, Eduardo Castillo, CEC, Executive Chef of San Antonio Country Club, used his year-end member communication to share an open letter of appreciation to the club’s culinary team.
Dear SACC Members,
As we close 2020 and look forward to 2021, I am very grateful for the support received from all the membership, we have been extremely fortunate to have such a great community supporting us during these hard, trying times. We are forever grateful for your kindness and unmatched support. My original year-end letter was going to be a look ahead, focusing on the garden and some of the new programs we are developing here at SACC. Instead, I decided to look back and share with you a letter I am sending to my team. I hope you read it and enjoy it and know that I am only a small part of a larger team made up of a great group of people who collectively makes San Antonio Country Club better by the minute.
This has been a very difficult year for all of us, challenging us in ways we never would have imagined. Regardless, we believe it has been one of the years that have taught us the most. We have become better people and we are a stronger team as a result of the unforeseen challenges. I am truly fortunate to have such a great crew and this year has been one of the biggest challenges in my career, managerial skill and team building abilities.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you for your support, backing and, more importantly, patience with all the trial an error that was 2020. We are all looking forward to a great 2021.
An Open Letter to the SACC Culinary Team
By Eduardo Castillo, CEC, Executive Chef of San Antonio Country Club
2020 has been by far the most challenging year of my career as I am sure it was for many of you. Yet this year gave a new meaning to the words “team” and “service.”
As if starting a new position here as Executive Chef was not enough of a challenge, entering into a pandemic before the first anniversary took that challenge to a whole new level. Still, I am proud to say that, thanks to all of you, we managed to adapt, re-adapt and change to provide to our membership, coworkers and SACC with no lapse in services.
It is because of the efforts of each and every one of you that we were able to pull this off and continue to thrive and succeed. During the first months of 2020, we were still getting to know each other. I am now confident we know and understand one another on a much deeper level. We have developed a core crew and a kinship that goes beyond cooks and chefs merely working together.
This was a scary year for all of us. It was loaded with uncertainties, unknowns, challenges and lots of last minute changes. This team managed to keep cool, keep your heads down and push forward each and every day. Your dedication allowed us to deepen the talent pool, develop ideas and charge ahead, advancing all the time even when we had little or no information on what the future would hold.
The members of SACC and I appreciate your continued support, coming to work in uncertain times, staring fear right in the eye and not budging. You moved forward even as coworkers fell ill with COVID. You moved forward while worrying about them and your own safety. Yet you still showed up with a sense of urgency, sense of community and dedication to our craft. You were ready to perform your duties with pride and set your fears aside, knowing that what we do is bigger than each one us as individuals.
During this year, you managed to work as a team, support one another, remain flexible, while providing care to our club members in the quality product we serve daily. You focused on ensuring that all we do reflected a level of attention we have not seen before.
We have received many notes, messages, and comments about the services and food provided to the membership during the pandemic. Members wrote about how the club has become a safe heaven to them and their families and about how they feel safe coming here and dining or ordering to-go from us. This would have not happened without you, without your selflessness and compassion for each other and this membership.
On a more personal level, throughout this year, you have given me the energy, the motivation, and the drive to continue to push forward and look at the future to see a magnificent time ahead. Soon enough all this will be part of our past. We will resume anew and we will continue to make San Antonio Country Club more of what it is right now, the best place to be and work and the best place to call home.
This has only been possible because each of you are at front, pulling, carving a path, and enjoying what you do.
Thank you.