Some people are great chefs. Some are great leaders. Matt Gilbert is both.
As the Executive Chef at Medinah Country Club, Matt isn’t just running one of the most well-known kitchens in private clubs—he’s leading a team, creating unforgettable dining experiences, and setting a new standard for club cuisine.
But beyond the accolades, the high-pressure events, and the five-star menus, Matt is just a genuinely great person. He leads with humility, passion, and a deep respect for his team, knowing that the best food comes from a kitchen where people feel valued.
In this episode, we talk about:
*How he went from fine dining and Michelin-starred restaurants to private clubs.
*What it really takes to run a high-volume, high-expectation club kitchen.
*The biggest lessons he’s learned about leadership, teamwork, and keeping a cool head under pressure.
*How Medinah balances tradition with innovation in its food & beverage program.
Matt is the kind of leader who gives credit before he takes it and builds people up while delivering world-class experiences. If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to run an elite club kitchen—or just want to hear from one of the best in the business—this is an episode you won’t want to miss.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey everybody, welcome to the Private Club
Radio Show, where we give youthe scoop on all things private
golf and country clubs, frommastering leadership and
management, food and beverageexcellence, member engagement
secrets, board governance andeverything in between, all while
keeping it fun and light.
Whether you're a club veteranjust getting your feet wet or
somewhere in the middle, you arein the right place.
(00:20):
I'm your host, denny Corby.
Welcome to the show.
In this episode, I am chattingwith the executive chef and
director of food and beverageoperations at one of the most
top tier clubs in the worldMedina Country Club, because
there's club dining and thenthere's Medina Club Dining and
(00:40):
we chat with Matt Gilbert, whogives us the behind-the-scenes
look at showing what it takes tomake sure Medina's F&B program
lives up to the club's legendaryreputation.
We go over Matt's background,coming from a very small town in
the middle of nowhere toworking with Michelin star
(01:00):
restaurants and top-tier chefsfrom Hong Kong to Cairo, all
over the world, and now bringingall of that to Medina.
He's bringing that experienceinto private clubs, creating
menus that balance fine dining,casual favorites and large scale
event production.
I mean, this episode is so, sogood and he is such a good human
(01:23):
.
I got to meet him as well.
We connected more in person atCMA, a world conference, and oh,
this is so good.
I hope we get to have a couplemore conversations, but we
talked just about how hetransitioned from restaurants to
private clubs, the biggestchallenges of running a high
volumeexpectation club kitchenand what members really want
(01:46):
from their club diningexperience.
So if you want to hear aboutsome next-level food and
beverage at top-tier clubs, thisis the episode for you.
Before we get into the episode,a quick thanks, a quick
shout-out to some of our showpartners, who you're going to
hear about a little bit later.
We have Members First Kennes,member Vetting and Golf Life
Navigators, concert GolfPartners, as well as myself.
(02:09):
The Denny Corby Experience.
There's excitement, there'smystery.
Also there's magic,mind-reading, comedy and a ton
of crowd work.
If you or your club is lookingfor one of the most fun member
event nights, head on over todennycorbycom to learn a little
bit more.
Enough about that, though.
Let's get to the episode.
I'm super stoked All the wayfrom Medina Country Club, the
(02:30):
executive chef and director offood and beverage operations.
Let's welcome to the show,matthew Gilbert.
How's Medina been?
You've been there how manyyears now?
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Yeah, so I started just before Thanksgiving in 2019
.
And I love it.
I love it.
I started as their, their chefuh, at that time, just executive
chef, and then in my career,until really 16 months ago, um
hadn't done uh, F and B directorstuff.
It was all just chef for 32years, Um, but my first four
(03:02):
years there, four and a halfyears, were as the chef, and my
predecessor was awesome.
Uh, chef Michael Ponzio.
He did a great job, Um, butdefinitely he and I have
different styles and so takingthe club in the direction that,
um, I felt I wanted to do or wewanted to do, uh, took a long
time.
It took a few years to get theteam built.
Um, right after I got there,COVID started.
(03:24):
You know, which is everyone hastheir COVID story.
For me it was very interesting,like landing there and it was
like the fanfare of the holidaysand I was just learning the
ropes and all of a sudden it waskind of like show us what you
can do.
And then we closed, you know,for a long time, but we took
advantage of that time.
You know, my belief is, nomatter what's going on in the
(03:44):
world tough things or easythings we got to do cool stuff.
I'll talk a little bit todayabout my philosophy about clubs
as a chef and the things that weshould do, but we took
advantage of that period of timeto do some really awesome stuff
that defined somewhat of whatour future became with regard to
like a butcher to go program,which was very strong.
(04:05):
We had a food truck program, asmoker program that started
during that period of time.
So by the time, you know, COVIDended, everyone was.
We didn't even really know eachother as well as I wanted to on
a personal level becauseeverybody was stuck at home or
whatever, or we were outdoors,you know, because of the
restrictions of being indoors,but we had established a lot
(04:25):
during that time.
So, even though that was kindof a period that was weird for
everybody, like for me at Medina, it was awesome.
So Medina is an awesome club,Like I love being there.
I feel very honored to be apart of that.
We have a fantastic membership,so yeah, all things are good.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
I got to come visit when the NCA show was in Chicago
.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Okay, what was when the ncaa show was in chicago?
Speaker 1 (04:48):
okay, what was that three years ago, two years ago,
yeah, two, two years ago,something like that.
It's all blended together nowat this point, but um, yeah, no,
um.
So yeah, it was a, it wasawesome.
You guys went out of your way.
I mean, there was just like it.
There was, you know, nothingheld back, it was stations.
It was so good.
When the bus was leaving, I waslike no stuff in my pocket,
shrimp and stuff.
It was no.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Yeah, no, we do.
That's one of the things atMedina and probably a lot of
clubs are like this.
But everything is very you know, and I was listening to,
actually I think his name wasNicholas Gora, it was a GM you
had on at one point.
I was enjoying that episodebecause he was.
You all were talking about thechallenges of, you know, getting
a chef to work in a clubenvironment.
I've been through all thestages of of like the chef.
(05:31):
You know, you're, you're youngand like my 20 year old self,
wouldn't have dreamed of workingin a club.
You know, just that's where acreative chef goes goes to die.
Basically is what I thought.
And then did you know it wasall freestanding restaurants and
Michelin stuff that I wasaiming for at the time and then
got into hotels and eventuallyclubs and what I'd say now,
definitively in my 40s.
(05:52):
You know, to be a club chef isthe hardest of any kind of chef
because you just really need tobe well-rounded.
It's not about you at thatpoint.
So you have to really overcomeyour ego and I think that's kind
of what he was saying.
There is a lot of times chefscoming in to really overcome
your ego and I think that's kindof what he was saying there.
A lot of times chefs come inand it's about you most of the
time as a chef right, like youridentity and your personality
are what sells stuff, but in theclub that's not what it is.
(06:15):
So I think finding your footingin a club has a lot to do with
understanding your membership,developing a rapport, taking the
time to meet everybody andunderstand what they like before
you start to build things, thetime to meet everybody and
understand what they like beforeyou start to build things.
So what I've learned as along-winded answer to your
question at Medina we lovebespoke menus, like we have a
great banquet book.
In my third year here, I redidall the banquet menus.
(06:35):
I feel like it's awesome andit's totally like what our
members love.
But, that said, we designalmost everything not almost
everything, but a largepercentage of what we do is
custom, and so what youexperienced that day was
certainly a one-off.
Our banquet team is so versed indoing different things
literally every day and buildingthat takes time, but once you
(06:57):
have it, it's awesome, becausewhat you experienced was a bunch
of different stations and livecook stuff.
We have what I refer to as thefleet, which is all just fire
powered equipment.
You know that we can movearound and do awesome stuff
grills and smokers and SantaMaria grills and pizza ovens and
stuff like that.
So, yeah, that's what Medina isall about.
You know, my lens is doingawesome stuff for our members.
(07:18):
What they want to do is what webuild programs based off of,
and then when folks like you oryou know, club managers or
whoever visit the club, we wantto show that part of our
identity to you too, because, uh, you know we're peers and we're
all out there doing doing coolstuff.
So I'm glad to experience that.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Are you getting into conference?
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Uh, wednesday midday.
Okay, I'm missing your party.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
I only brought that.
It was one of those.
I just wanted to make sure,because tomorrow Nick Gore is
joining us for dinner also.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Oh, is he really?
Oh man, yeah, I would love tomeet him.
I would love to meet him.
I love what he was sayingbecause certainly, like you know
, we're like these mythicalcreatures that you're trying to
tame.
You know chefs are such weirdand I probably pissed a lot of
chefs off by saying this, butyou know there's a lot of ego
involved, usually in my way orthe highway, and so, for a club
(08:09):
environment, you know you'rebuilding something for the
membership, you have to reallyget beyond.
You know what you want to doand the way I think about it is
like tailoring our skills towhat they want to have.
And so it's fun to listen tohim.
You know there's so many thingsthat I like hear him wanting to
say that he can't really saybut yeah, fine, and I'm glad
that they did.
I think they promoted frominside and that's.
(08:31):
That's a pretty good move ifyou're having a hard time
finding people from outside anda lot of times, like, you'll
bring in big names or like bigyou know awesome people from
other parts of the industry andit's and it's a tough fit like
if they can adapt.
My, my, when I adapted was Iwas in cairo at um, and I like
the most important thing and Ithink to be well-rounded, like I
(08:52):
said, as a chef in a club notlike egypt, okay, okay, yeah,
yeah, I was like I was there forthree years with with the, the
fairmont raffles group, rightand getting out of freestanding
restaurant into into um hotelworld too.
That was a big shift.
So I started with the MandarinOriental in San Francisco and I
got in there and I wanted tojust work for this like kind of
(09:13):
star chef.
I was doing Pacific roomcuisine in San Francisco and the
deal that their executive souschef made with me when I was
getting in the door he's likeall right, I'll let you work
with that guy, but you also haveto agree to work in banquets
when we need you and young chefslike, especially when you're an
a la carte or a Michelin person, you're like F banquets all the
way, like I'm not interested inthat stuff at all and so I
(09:34):
remember hating it.
You know, from an a la cartestandpoint, I think that chefs,
the ultimate in Michelin stylecuisine or like really high-end
cuisine, is just doingperfection in the moment and it
takes like maybe days you know alot of cases, days to get
everything prepared just rightfor literally a moment that I'm
(09:55):
going to say lasts for 10seconds or 15 seconds and then
begins to diminish.
So that's why you see thesechefs yelling at waiters like
get this to the table.
You want the person who's goingto eat it to have it right when
it's perfect, and every secondthat passes it's diminishing in
quality and you've worked sohard to get that perfection
there right.
So a la carte is sort of thepinnacle of that and the
(10:16):
Michelin stuff I did in France,the three-star, you know.
It was 40 cooks serving 90customers per meal.
So if you think about how muchlabor goes into creating
perfection, like that's reallyhard.
So going from that into abuffet, you know I think a lot
of chefs perceive buffets aslike food trough kind of thing,
you know, like a feeding trough,and so when I was in San
(10:36):
Francisco, like I didn't doanything creative with bangles,
I just helped them out and I gotwhat I wanted.
I got to work for that chef,but it was the introduction.
It was that guy who made thatdeal with me, chef Ryan Sansan,
who's a good friend, and weended up working together in
Egypt.
He ended up over there.
It was an opening of a property, fairmont Nile City, on the
Nile, literally on the Corniche,and I got to be a chef de
(10:59):
cuisine of a California cuisinerestaurant in there and part of
the deal I had with that chef isI'd have to have a buffet and I
just like hated it.
You know, just, oh, you know,this is not what I and he was
like.
You know, matthew, he's aFrench speaking Swiss guy,
actually a great mentor of mine,philippe Bischoff.
Matthew, you know, your a lacarte is very good, but this
(11:21):
buffet it looks your standard.
So I was struggling and thestory that I tell it was right
before the Arab Spring kickedoff.
We were actually in Syria andwe had a friend at the Four
Seasons in Damascus, and so Ryanand I were there with our wives
, who are both Latinas, and wewere in Aleppo, hamahoms, like
places that have just beenabsolutely destroyed since,
(11:42):
unfortunately, we were someprobably the last tourists in
the country.
Wow, but we got to go to thathotel and I'll never forget like
walking in there with theexecutive chef, who was a friend
of his and Western, and wewalked into their buffet and it
was like there was food therethat was beautiful, but what it
was was artifacts from, likeSyrian history.
You know, that's this cradle ofcivilization.
(12:03):
So these giant like tea urnsand everything's like copper and
like stone and stuff.
And I looked at the guy and I'mlike they let you put all this
stuff like on your buffet.
And he's like what do you mean?
This is our culture framing thefood.
And that just completelychanged my way of thinking.
Getting to Hong Kong, which wasmy first chef job in a club, I
(12:26):
thought, oh, how hard can a clubbe?
And honestly, I was there forjust under six years, three
years.
I just got my ass kicked likedaily and it was very humbling
because after you do Michelin,after you work in five-star
hotels, you think you're good,and that club kicked my ass.
It was such a big club, twolocations, and then really in
(12:46):
clubs the point I'm getting tois you have to understand buffet
dining.
In Hong Kong they have a phrasethe camera eats first.
And when I came to understandthat it was going to, you know,
the Ritz-Carlton or the MandarinOriental, there, four Seasons,
the food displays were thingsthat people would go take their
family photos in front of.
You know what I mean.
(13:07):
And so if the camera eats firstmeans beans as a chef, if
people don't want to takepictures of your food, even if
it tastes really good, you'vefailed on some level.
And you know that's we with oureyes like we have things in
America that we say too.
But I brought that mentalityafter six years there at amazing
chief steward who helped mecatalog so much cool decor.
(13:27):
Um, and we had the hair.
We called it the harry pottercloset of decor.
It's just a giant room.
We had to get up on ladders toget things down, had gardeners
that took care of bonsai plantsfor me, bamboo all over the
place.
Of course everything grows inhong kong and so the buffets
were able to pull off over there.
I embraced that.
As a person who always hated it, I was like dude.
So if we can just do anythingwe want as a chef to frame our
(13:48):
food Like I'm going nuts, andthat club had a lot of funds to
support us getting decor, andthat's what happened.
After a few years people weretaking their family pictures in
front of the buffet.
I was like really I love that,and so that's what I brought to
Medina.
I think most chefs you know in aclub environment, like if
you're an a la carte only guyand you come in the door with
(14:09):
that, you know Gordon Ramsaymentality of like you all suck,
that's going to be hard for you,you know you have to be able to
feed people in large.
Like our.
Easter is 1,200 people,mother's Day is 1,100 people.
Thanksgiving, we feed 1,700,1,800 meals.
Fourth of July, forget about it,right?
So, yeah, I can do foie grasand truffles and all that stuff.
(14:31):
A lot of chefs can, but in aclub environment a chicken
nugget is just important, asimportant as a piece of foie
gras, right?
Like, being able to talk withchildren is a great chef skill.
Um, that you'd think youprobably never need.
But the family aspect of mostclubs is just as important as,
like, what you think the finedining aspect of clubs should be
.
So, again, that's why you gotto really get to know your
(14:52):
environment.
But you know, back to the point, that he was making hard to
find that fit.
When somebody kicks the doordown and thinks they're going to
redefine the club based on whatthey think is cool, as a chef
you know, yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
And that episode with Nick started a well, it was a
conversation before that he andI had cause I performed at his,
his club a few times and we werejust chatting.
We were just like shooting thecrap one day and I was like, oh,
what's going on?
He started like telling meabout the chef stuff and I I
think I understood and knew somemaybe I don't want to say
issues, but chefs and clubs andtrying to find a good one.
But like when he was tellinglike, oh my goodness, I didn't
(15:23):
even think of and I can'tremember if he said it in the
episode or off the episode, butit was like, oh, if you can get
a chef that could, uh, bepresentable and talk to the talk
to the members, who can alsocook, who is, for the most part,
sober.
And he was like, and I was like, oh my goodness, I even start
like like you're right and justtaking the ego, putting it down
and going like, yes, you canhave these ideas and we can try
(15:44):
them.
But really it's about that.
It was just like eye-openingand from there it's it's just
been like now I'm like, oh, likethat makes total sense.
And then now it's just likeopened up my eyes to just the
appreciation I have for clubsand the food like much, much,
much, much more.
In the beginning you mentionedkind of changing styles a bit
(16:05):
from, you know, from the formerchef to your chef.
Was that what the club wanted?
Is that what you were?
Is that what you were?
Is that what you wanted to do?
Like, what was?
What was that shift like andwhy was that shift happening?
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Yeah, no, that's an awesome question.
I think always as a chef againwith your ego in check you have
to say things that were donebefore me that members love and
want to keep doing.
We just have to keep doing them.
You know like we have to keepthat going for them because
those are beloved things andthere were certainly things that
Chef Ponzio was doing that werelike that.
I think, stylistically, I callmy style of cooking global
(16:39):
eclectic.
You know, after all this traveland living in different places
and just really like admiringall the different chef styles
around the world and food stylesaround the world, you know
that's the direction that I, youknow I always want to go in,
depending on where I'm at.
But, like I said, you got to,you got to meet the members and
really what he said abouttalking to the membership, I
(17:00):
think the chef has to be, youhave to develop a rapport with
the members and, in my opinion,your first year in any club as a
chef, you should spend a lot oftime out talking to people and
listening to them.
You know hearing what they want.
A lot of times, what they wantisn't what you want, but that's
very important to know, and so Iwas really thankful, with our
1,100 plus members and thentheir families and guests, it's
(17:23):
a club community of, let's say,3,500 diners and then, plus
they're entertaining if they'redoing business or whatever.
So that's a great sizedemographic to be able to do
different things.
And what I was hearing from alot of people were yes, we do
want sort of like, not so spicy,like, not non-authentic, but
also not like rip your head off.
You know fish sauce in a Thaicurry or you know like a lot of
(17:47):
the spice, I think spice we callit Medina, spicy, right, like,
so that means two on a scale of10 is spicy.
There we go.
Yeah, you know, it's just oneof those things where, again, as
a chef, you're like no, itneeds to be authentic, and so
I'm using habaneros or whatever,and everyone's out there crying
and like chugging milk andpounding pieces of bread to try
to recover, right, like that'snot good and so making that
(18:11):
shift.
And also, I think COVID helpedto have a clean break on certain
items, because we weren't openfor a long time and so the
things that we were doing duringCOVID were things that were
like really, in my wheelhouse, Ilove barbecue, I've done it for
decades.
I bought this giant it'sFrontiersman II, yoder Smoker,
which is enormous competitiongrade, you know item and
(18:33):
different grills, and so we hada food truck during COVID and
then we had that as outdoorrestaurants that were centered
around that, and those were alljust menus that I thought were
cool, that members seemed to bedigging.
Sometimes you're a little liketwo, they call it here, they
call it chef.
You know, you're getting alittle cute with the menu.
There are certain times wherethat's a cue that it's like a
little too pinkies out maybe,and so it's about finding the
(18:56):
balance.
I would also say one of thethings I learned in Hong Kong
that every chef in a bit largerclub you got to figure out is
the demographics of themembership right.
So in Hong Kong what wasinteresting was we had an entire
Chinese kitchen.
That team was probably 105cooks and the Chinese kitchen
was probably nine, and so themenu there was hilarious because
(19:17):
in a lot of cases as the chef Iwas like guys, you know, like,
help me out here.
A lot of times the food for theHong Kong Chinese, chinese,
chinese was not authentic enough, and then we would go in that
direction and then a lot of themembership.
Even some like what they callABC American born Chinese were
like we want PF Changs, like allthis fricking authentic, you
(19:40):
know bird's beak claw in the,you know stock stuff.
We hate that, we want Americanstyle Chinese.
And so like I felt like Icouldn't win, almost you know.
And so you get to a point inclubs of this size, and that was
, you know, we had as manymemberships there as we have in
our entire club community here.
So, and that was a reciprocalclub with lots of other Asian
clubs and so just so many peoplecoming and going.
(20:01):
You know that menu was also big, which is good, cause I could,
I could take like half theChinese section in one direction
and half in the more authenticdirection.
So here it's the same.
Like in our restaurants.
You know, there's certain stuffthat we we feel like we're
hitting the pocket for thisgroup, like they just love it
and like we're like all right,we finally got it dialed and
then within a week I'll havelike two people that are like
(20:22):
this is too.
You know, da, da, da, da.
So I think, as a chef also, youalways have to know that you're
never going to please 100% ofthe people.
You're certainly trying toplease the majority plus, but
you have to just keep it allmoving.
So I think that's another thingthat we did in my time there.
We change our menus a lot andthings that need to stay the
(20:42):
same always do.
There are certain items thatwill never leave our menus
banquets or all the cartrestaurants but we change our
menus very frequently and that,I think, in this club, is good.
It keeps people because theyeat there a lot.
You know, in summer it's somemembers are 10, 12, 15 meals in
a week in the club and theydon't even look at the menu at
that point, like they know themenu by heart.
(21:04):
So what's your role?
How do you make the switch fromone chef to another?
Get to know the membership andhave a rapport?
What he said about being ableto speak to the members like a
lot of chefs are like I'm akitchen chef, you know, like I
stay back here, that's what I do.
Yeah, if that's all you do, Imean not all right, like you
could do that very well andthat's good.
But in a club it requires ofyou to get to know the
(21:25):
membership and then cool thingshappen, like when the bear came
out.
Have you seen the show the bear?
Yeah, all right.
So when that first came out,every member just wanted to talk
about it.
I mean it really captivated,certainly people in the industry
, I think thought that show waswas like pretty legit and a lot
of shows are not right.
So it was like oh sweet, likeit's kind of a true version of
us.
There's dramatization of somestuff, but it's pretty authentic
(21:47):
.
And then also like normalpeople you know, non-culinary
people out there were captivatedby it and so our members, I
would say, for like a year, mostof the conversations that I had
at tables or with members atsome point would delve into like
chef, what do you think aboutthe bear?
You know.
And then we talk, we talk, wetalk, you know.
So I love that, you know.
That's I think, think, andthat's how you get to know
(22:08):
members is figuring out, justlistening to them.
You know what do they think iscool in the bear?
It's that in Chicago, so thathelps.
But you know what I mean.
Like chef tables, episodes,like what are they watching?
What do they think is cool?
Build your program around whatthe members are talking about
liking.
That's kind of my philosophy.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
So, going back quick to when you were in Hong Kong
and you had the members who youknow, from the PF Changs up to
the you know not, you knowtraditional enough, how did you
find that balance?
What was, what was that middleground and how did you make it?
I don't say everybody happy,but did you, did you find that?
Did you find a place or a lanethat kind of fulfilled
(22:45):
everybody's needs and wants?
Speaker 2 (22:48):
We did, but it took time.
I think so much of it is thatin life.
One of my philosophies isyou've got to adjust
expectations for people.
It starts with yourself.
But really in the kitchen as achef, you have to in a club
environment versus an a la carteor hotel environment.
Those are places where you cankind of tell people no, back in
(23:09):
the day as a chef, if somebodywas like I'm gluten-free, you'd
be like get the fuck out of myrestaurant.
You know, you just kick themout In hotels and you know those
freestanding restaurants.
Still you can kind of be likeoh, I'm the chef, this is what I
do.
If you want that, you can go toone of these places In a club.
You can't say no, you justdon't.
There are certain things thatmaybe you don't have in-house
(23:30):
and so you're like well, I don'thave Mongolian yak meat, but I
could do Mongolian beef orsomething like that.
So you're always trying tofigure that out.
But getting the team.
So my point here is gettingyour team, especially if it's a
big team, Like in Hong Kong wehad 100 plus people In summer at
Medina we have 80 plus peoplein the kitchen and so they at
(23:52):
nine o'clock a cook, you knowwe're supposed to be closed and
in a club at 9.15 or 9.20, ifthere's still people there and a
member walks in, you're cookingfor them, you know.
So even just getting thoseexpectations adjusted for cooks
takes time and maybe you losesome cooks.
They're like screw this man.
Like I want to go to the bar atnine o'clock and it's like well
, you can work at a hundredother places and do that, but
just not here.
So building that team in HongKong, that took a lot of
(24:15):
patience from them to roll withme on the feedback we'd get, and
so it took a while to buildthat but, like I said, it helped
that our menu was pretty big.
Another cool thing that I thinkthat some again chefs are going
to kill me for saying this,like on air type of deal, but I
think your Nicholas Gore mightappreciate it.
On air type of deal, but in Ithink your Nicholas Gore might
appreciate it.
(24:36):
So what we called it, we havethis at Medina too.
We have what's called the offmenu menu and that drives cooks
crazy and drives chefs crazybecause your mise en place, like
the amount of, like the foodyou are using you have to keep
certain things around that youwish you didn't, right, and
space is always limited orergonomically, blah, blah, blah.
But what we did was we founddishes that people really loved
and it was more than could be onour menu.
(24:58):
So we had the menu that wasworking in both those directions
.
But then when someone came inand was like I just want Hainan
chicken, you know we could dothat, it wasn't on the menu.
In the POS, the price was there, you know.
So the servers were trained tojust bring that in.
And then the cooks, you know,in their mind it's like instead
of 22 dishes, we actually haveto be prepared to make 36 at any
(25:18):
time.
So that's where you have toadjust.
But again, what are we there for?
We're there to serve ourmembers, right, and so there are
reality, the realistic limitson that.
Like you couldn't keep mise enplace for a hundred dishes, but
you certainly want to just makesure that you can dial it in for
people.
So, yeah, I think in the end wegot there and we've done a
(25:40):
pretty good job of that atMedina.
But yeah, we also have everyclub has its own spatial
challenges.
Here it's walk-in space, so wehave to do a lot of running.
Let's just say so.
Then we just tell the memberhey, listen, I can do that for
you, but I need 50 minutes, or Ineed 40 minutes or something.
And then they can decide oh, Igot a round, I need to get out
there.
I got to golf right now I can'tdo it.
I also tell people hey, if youwant to do that, just let me
(26:01):
know in an email and we'llprepare it for you for sure,
just give us a.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
My opinion, our job, so what was it like going there
to hong kong and working with ateam from hong kong because,
like, how was their english, howwas the?
I mean, that had to be a littlebit of a shift.
Like, did you, did you preparefor that?
Like, is there, is there like a, you know, a us guide to chefs
going to hong kong, to to workwith no?
No it's got to be hard then,not speaking their language, not
(26:33):
being from there, and nowyou're leading their team.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
That's got to be hard .
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Because aren't they a very?
But also maybe and I could bekicking myself in the foot
they're a very hierarchical.
I don't know if that's even aright word, but they take well
to levels and respect and stuffthe structure.
There we go.
So was it a little bit easier?
Because they have that like yes, sir, because now you are the
boss, what was that?
Speaker 2 (26:56):
like, yeah, yeah, that's an awesome question.
Growing up, I grew up inMontana, in the middle of
nowhere, didn't go almostanywhere until I went to
culinary school.
I was 19 when I went out toVermont from Montana, left my
girlfriend, all my friends.
I was scared, just justshitless, you know, to leave.
But I had a great mentor whohelped me do that.
Um, my second great mentor wasa French guy and he was the one
(27:19):
who helped me get set up in in aMichelin restaurant in France,
which led to the two and thethree later.
Um, and being a little kid fromthe middle of nowhere in
Montana, experiencing France,you know, and then Europe,
traveling around, I was like,dude, there's all this stuff out
here, you know, like you'reblind, as a little white kid in
in somewhat rural Montana atthat time, to like what actually
(27:39):
happens in the world and allthe differences and cool things
that are happening out there.
So I like, well, as soon as Iwent and did that, I knew in my
mind I got to do.
This is my life now.
And so I traveled a lot, workeda lot abroad, ended up marrying
a Peruvian.
Our kids were born in Lima.
Our daughter was born thereright as the Arab Spring was
happening, and then our son wasborn in Hong Kong.
So you know, I think a certainelement of your mindset is just
(28:01):
being open to situations likethat.
As a chef, I think you also kindof have to be ready for
whatever you know.
So in Egypt and this is leadingto Hong Kong in Egypt, people
are like literally the nicestpeople in the world that I've
ever met, like are Egyptian.
They're just the nicest folksand it's a hospitality culture.
It's awesome, but it's alsovery, very chill.
(28:24):
Like the work ethic is not whatwe may be used to, and so,
working with those guys to getthem to do stuff, it was
required finesse versus force.
Getting to Hong Kong, whoa,that was such a very different
experience culturally, becauseexternally these folks are not
do not seem warm at first.
They're just as warm as anybody.
(28:45):
But you have to get in, and so,as a chef there you said the
hierarchy and I totally agreewith that, but they do not want
to be told what to do by aforeigner, right.
And so in order to get thelegitimacy and that's why that
club kicked my ass, or part ofit was you got to earn the
respect right and as a chef,respect is like other things,
(29:05):
like the military and there'sall these hierarchy structures
where respect is reallyimportant.
You have to earn the respect ofyour staff, which means working
more than them, working harderthan them and being able to
answer any question that theyhave.
So getting my feet under methere took a long time, and it
wasn't that I didn't have theright skills, I just wasn't.
(29:25):
I couldn't put it all together,and then the communication
challenge was huge.
So in Hong Kong, you know theBritish occupation during that
whole period of time.
Most Hong Kongers speak withthe British accent and the folks
that speak English are educatedmore than most cooks are.
So, like bankers, officeworkers, you know they're going
to be able to speak with you inEnglish.
(29:46):
Most cooks know, and so I spokefor a long time.
I spoke through my sous chefsand chefs pretty much only so
when I would do a whole teammeeting, I'd have everyone
together and I'd be talking andthen I was at the mercy of that
person's understanding me andtranslating.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
You know, and so Hopefully you didn't take
anybody off or they're sayingthe wrong stuff yes, exactly.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
And Robert Serecci, who I think you, I'm sure you've
heard of him, he was over there.
Mark, yes, exactly, and RobertSerecci, who I think you, I'm
sure you've heard of him, he wasover there.
Mark Galladet, who was the GMof CC at the DC Ranch in Arizona
.
He's a longtime chef too.
We worked together for 14 yearsin a row 12 years in a row and
worked together there.
And so us and a couple otheryou know Guailo, that's the
white devil, white Westerners wetook Cantonese classes and
(30:32):
that's a very difficult languageto learn, but boy did that open
the door, like us sounding likechildren in their language in
front of them and just puttingourselves out there.
In that way, we made theseconnections with those guys.
That were incredible, incredibleconnections, and so my
Cantonese is very poor, but Ican make them laugh.
(30:54):
They can understand a lot ofwhat I'm trying to say.
It's just like as though asix-year-old was talking to them
, right?
So it was a combination of allthat stuff, and I think that I
did learn Spanish well and, atthe time, french.
I took three years of Arabic,and so my philosophy in terms of
connecting with people aroundthe world has to do with trying
to do it on their terms, right?
Like not just kicking the doorin and being like do you speak
(31:15):
English?
It's like I'm going to try tospeak your language with you,
even if I don't sound good.
And so that results in someconnections that I cried for
days leaving Hong Kong, like sosad to leave that team.
Like there was one meeting wehad where like 30 people were
crying Like we're all justcrying, you know they were leave
that team Like we.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
there was one meeting we had where like 30 people
were crying like we're all justcrying, you know, um, so those
deep connections.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
They were like, finally this yeah, exactly, this
bastard is out of here, um, butwe really set up for six years.
We set up a culture there with,like the last two or three
years there was almost zeroturnover, and Mark had a lot to
do with that.
So did Robert.
It was very, very cool and ithad a lot to do with just us all
trying to communicate but alsokicking ass and like working
really hard in the kitchen,streamlining things for them.
I think as a chef, you alwayshave to work for your employees,
(31:59):
right, like I'm there to servethem.
They work, we work together,but my role is to serve them.
So we worked hard everywhereI've been to make conditions
work well for them and likefavor them and then guess what?
They do awesome things fortheir food.
Is that much better for themembership or the customers, you
know?
So it was a challenge to yourpoint, but, wow, really well
(32:20):
worth going through it.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Yeah, Now you mentioned in the beginning also
that you know you're executivechef and also director of food
and beverage operations and,like I said, it's one of those I
know enough to be dangerous, soI might be shooting myself in
the foot also, but the times Ithink I have seen or heard of
(32:42):
that, it's usually because it'sa smaller operation and they
just need a chef to doeverything, and that's sometimes
not even the best scenario.
How did this come about and howdo you have the focus of both
to make sure both go effectivelyor run effectively?
Speaker 2 (33:01):
Yeah, that's such a good question and I would not
have said yes to this had theconditions not been just right
for it to work out.
Yeah, chef and bee you knowthat's the industry term for it.
You're right like sometimesends up pretty bad In this case.
So our GM, robert Cerecci hehad left, he's at Colton River
(33:22):
in South Carolina now he'sawesome doing his thing down
there.
We were blessed.
You know, anytime you have agood GM and you switch GMs,
you're like, oh God, it's likethe roulette wheel, you know
like where are we going to land?
And so we were very lucky toget yeah like literally
everyone's like really quietduring that period.
It's like praying Um.
(33:42):
And we got an incredible GM, soI'm so thankful.
His name is Dave Schneider.
A lot of people in the industryare going to know him, but he's
awesome and I feel very blessedto be working with him because
I'm learning a lot with him too.
Great mentor, awesome, awesomeguy and then just extremely high
energy, super positive dude,which is kind of my style too.
So we talked about it.
He assessed for quite a whileand approached me.
(34:05):
There had been some members whomade that suggestion and I was
kind of just nervous about it,not because I don't know what to
do, but it's a time thing,right?
And am I going to dodisservices to people by
spreading myself even thinner?
As a chef, you're always busyin a club.
There was, you know, I'mworking 70, 80 hours a week as
the chef anyway, so how do youadd to that?
Right?
(34:25):
And so he helps, as did thedirector of human resources and
other people who were involvedin that really helped.
And then I'm just incrediblyblessed on the kitchen side to
have created a team.
I have seven leaders in thatgroup as chefs, chef de cuisines
, and then a gentleman who isrunning our banquet program that
I promoted to be our executivesous chef.
His name is Chef Chris Tatarand he's the dream dude to do
(34:50):
this with.
So at this point in time,really, he's running kind of the
day-to-day operations in ourkitchen.
And then I told Dave, I need tohave I refer to them as pillars
right, so like to keep the roofup, you need the proper number
of pillars, and so we createdour org chart to suit your point
exactly, which is how do we notgo backwards with the food,
(35:11):
first and foremost, but then howdo we, how do we tackle so much
territory?
Right, and so I have sixreports and then they have a
bunch of reports.
Our structure is, like, veryintentionally created to make
this work.
But yeah, you know, hiring Igot to hire a front of the house
manager who runs all of all thecart service awesome guy named
(35:31):
Michael Boschert, from St Louisbut spent a long time in fine
dining here in Chicago.
He comes from the restaurantsour members go eat in downtown,
so that was awesome.
So, creating a spread ofresponsibility in a way that's
possible to work down throughthose pillars Do I feel like I
have enough time to do it aswell as I'd like to right now.
(35:52):
No, like I'm still working onand I told Dave, give me three
years to really have this pegged.
It's been a year and a half, soI feel pretty good about where
we're going, but to create thestructure to be as efficient and
, you know, operate on the levelthat we want to, we still have
a little ways to go, if I'mhonest.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
That's a trust thing and a ballsy.
Just give me three years, likethat's give me three years bud,
Like that's, because it's a lotof time, but it's also not so.
So to say that like that's,that's, that's, that's a lot of
trust there too.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
So yeah, it is.
And I also said you know, judgeme at any moment.
You know, like assess and thething with him, that's awesome.
And our assistant generalmanager, like they're around a
lot, right, and so I'm like youguys, just like you see what's
going on.
I'm an open book, like there'snothing hidden at all.
So at any time if you'reunhappy or whatever, let me know
.
But you know we're going topush forward and we are, but
(36:47):
there's a lot to do.
It had been two years since thelast food and beverage director
before me, and so when thathappens in the front of the
house, you can imagine, likewithout stable leadership, there
was a lot of turnover therewere.
There were folks who who likemaybe they're good at the job
but they don't have the culturalaspect that you want, like the,
the buy-in team wise, or vibewise.
You know those are the thingsthat I want to provide for them.
(37:09):
Again, I'm there to serve them.
So I got to get you stableleadership on three different
levels between them and me andthen make them happy and that
again, that turns around to makethe membership happy.
But teaching the culture oflike we're there to create a
feeling for our members, likethat takes time Right.
So, yeah, he, I do believe thathe trusts in me.
(37:29):
You could have him on and askhim, but you know, at any time,
like those guys can, can tell mehow they think I'm doing and
how they think we're doing.
I'm an open book and open tofeedback, but it's a team effort
and that's what Dave does is hecreates the feeling that we're
all doing this together, acrossour leadership team and across
our entire team, which is, inseason, 400 and whatever 30
(37:50):
people.
So, yeah, it's a good vibe.
I'm really happy, I'm proud towork for him, I'm proud to be at
this club.
Like I said, it's an awesomeproject and I do feel confident
that we're going to get to wherewe want to, but it's a, you
know, month to month deal.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
So now, what's so?
Now, what's the plan withMedina?
What you guys got cooking,what's the long-term vision?
What's the plan there?
Speaker 2 (38:12):
Thank you for asking.
Yeah, so for our membership,definitely for our team as well.
We are in what we areconsidering the greatest three
years of Medina history, and I'msure that there's been other
great three-year periods that Iwas not born for or whatever,
but right now is incredible.
So last year, in the summermonth of July, we launched
course number three, which isour PGA competition course.
(38:34):
It's the one that Medina pridesitself on.
So that was an 18-month even alittle longer renovation that
was done by OCM out of Australia.
A long process of choosing them, building the plan for the work
.
It was very expensive and thenit took all of the time they
planned.
So the unveiling of that.
That was the ultimate drum roll.
(38:56):
Does it turn out the wayeveryone likes?
And it was a resounding successlast summer, which was awesome.
So so much fanfare leading upto it.
It launched perfectly.
Our grounds team, the guys whodesigned it on our side too just
incredible people involved inthat.
So very, very happy for themand all of us when that launched
.
(39:17):
The second year of that is thisyear, so our centennial was
actually last year, but wedecided to celebrate it in 2025
in order to focus on coursethree in 24.
So this year we're doing alarge centennial celebration
that lasts all year, but it'sgoing to really culminate in a
big party in July and we'regoing to have lots of music.
That everybody knows.
My dream in terms of theculinary there.
(39:37):
I told these guys I'm workingwith a music promoter to do some
believe it or not likepyrotechnic aspects of the food,
and so that's all I'll sayabout that, because we haven't
fully discussed it.
We're going to make this.
This is going to be very coolin a rock and roll food sense
and the goal being like afterthey you know, I said to him I
was like after they forget whowe are, they remember what we
(39:58):
did.
You know what I mean.
So that's going to be supercool and that's in July, and
then we go into 2026.
As a lot of people know, we havethe President's Cup arriving at
the club.
So PGA has been with us forwell over a year now.
They spend like three yearswith you in the lead up, and so
we've gotten to know that teamwell, doing a lot of planning
for that too.
So, from a culinary standpoint,which is really all I can talk
(40:21):
about, all of these things havereally, really fun components
that allow us to show our bestto take what we know our members
love and amp it off the charts.
So I would be remiss to notmention that, as we talk, it's a
great year for our club.
The next year will be too.
We have an awesome presidentright now.
We have an awesome board ofdirectors, an incredible
(40:42):
membership, a great GM, awonderful team.
So, yeah, things are reallygood at Medina and I'm very
proud again to be a part of that.
So thank you for asking.
Awesome man.
Speaker 1 (40:52):
Awesome, awesome, awesome.
Well, hey, thank you, so, so,so much for coming on the show.
This is so good, so many goodnuggets and insights, and your
story is absolutely fantastic,so thank you, thank you, thank
you.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
Yeah, thank you for having me.
It's a pleasure to be with youand an honor.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
Hope you all enjoyed that episode.
So good, so much good, greatvaluable information.
If you did give it a like, ashare on LinkedIn, that's where,
hopefully, you found thisepisode.
Give that post a nice share,comment on the post what your
biggest takeaway was, or you canleave a review, a five star
(41:26):
with a review on it.
Meet the absolute world andcost nothing.
But that is this episode.
I'm your host, denny Corby.
Until next time, catch y'all onthe flippity flip.
Hey everybody, welcome to the Private Club
Radio Show, where we give youthe scoop on all things private
golf and country clubs, frommastering leadership and
management, food and beverageexcellence, member engagement
secrets, board governance andeverything in between, all while
keeping it fun and light.
Whether you're a club veteranjust getting your feet wet or
somewhere in the middle, you arein the right place.
(00:20):
I'm your host, denny Corby.
Welcome to the show.
In this episode, I am chattingwith the executive chef and
director of food and beverageoperations at one of the most
top tier clubs in the worldMedina Country Club, because
there's club dining and thenthere's Medina Club Dining and
(00:40):
we chat with Matt Gilbert, whogives us the behind-the-scenes
look at showing what it takes tomake sure Medina's F&B program
lives up to the club's legendaryreputation.
We go over Matt's background,coming from a very small town in
the middle of nowhere toworking with Michelin star
(01:00):
restaurants and top-tier chefsfrom Hong Kong to Cairo, all
over the world, and now bringingall of that to Medina.
He's bringing that experienceinto private clubs, creating
menus that balance fine dining,casual favorites and large scale
event production.
I mean, this episode is so, sogood and he is such a good human
(01:23):
.
I got to meet him as well.
We connected more in person atCMA, a world conference, and oh,
this is so good.
I hope we get to have a couplemore conversations, but we
talked just about how hetransitioned from restaurants to
private clubs, the biggestchallenges of running a high
volumeexpectation club kitchenand what members really want
(01:46):
from their club diningexperience.
So if you want to hear aboutsome next-level food and
beverage at top-tier clubs, thisis the episode for you.
Before we get into the episode,a quick thanks, a quick
shout-out to some of our showpartners, who you're going to
hear about a little bit later.
We have Members First Kennes,member Vetting and Golf Life
Navigators, concert GolfPartners, as well as myself.
(02:09):
The Denny Corby Experience.
There's excitement, there'smystery.
Also there's magic,mind-reading, comedy and a ton
of crowd work.
If you or your club is lookingfor one of the most fun member
event nights, head on over todennycorbycom to learn a little
bit more.
Enough about that, though.
Let's get to the episode.
I'm super stoked All the wayfrom Medina Country Club, the
(02:30):
executive chef and director offood and beverage operations.
Let's welcome to the show,matthew Gilbert.
How's Medina been?
You've been there how manyyears now?
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Yeah, so I started just before Thanksgiving in 2019
.
And I love it.
I love it.
I started as their, their chefuh, at that time, just executive
chef, and then in my career,until really 16 months ago, um
hadn't done uh, F and B directorstuff.
It was all just chef for 32years, Um, but my first four
(03:02):
years there, four and a halfyears, were as the chef, and my
predecessor was awesome.
Uh, chef Michael Ponzio.
He did a great job, Um, butdefinitely he and I have
different styles and so takingthe club in the direction that,
um, I felt I wanted to do or wewanted to do, uh, took a long
time.
It took a few years to get theteam built.
Um, right after I got there,COVID started.
(03:24):
You know, which is everyone hastheir COVID story.
For me it was very interesting,like landing there and it was
like the fanfare of the holidaysand I was just learning the
ropes and all of a sudden it waskind of like show us what you
can do.
And then we closed, you know,for a long time, but we took
advantage of that time.
You know, my belief is, nomatter what's going on in the
(03:44):
world tough things or easythings we got to do cool stuff.
I'll talk a little bit todayabout my philosophy about clubs
as a chef and the things that weshould do, but we took
advantage of that period of timeto do some really awesome stuff
that defined somewhat of whatour future became with regard to
like a butcher to go program,which was very strong.
(04:05):
We had a food truck program, asmoker program that started
during that period of time.
So by the time, you know, COVIDended, everyone was.
We didn't even really know eachother as well as I wanted to on
a personal level becauseeverybody was stuck at home or
whatever, or we were outdoors,you know, because of the
restrictions of being indoors,but we had established a lot
(04:25):
during that time.
So, even though that was kindof a period that was weird for
everybody, like for me at Medina, it was awesome.
So Medina is an awesome club,Like I love being there.
I feel very honored to be apart of that.
We have a fantastic membership,so yeah, all things are good.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
I got to come visit when the NCA show was in Chicago
.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Okay, what was when the ncaa show was in chicago?
Speaker 1 (04:48):
okay, what was that three years ago, two years ago,
yeah, two, two years ago,something like that.
It's all blended together nowat this point, but um, yeah, no,
um.
So yeah, it was a, it wasawesome.
You guys went out of your way.
I mean, there was just like it.
There was, you know, nothingheld back, it was stations.
It was so good.
When the bus was leaving, I waslike no stuff in my pocket,
shrimp and stuff.
It was no.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Yeah, no, we do.
That's one of the things atMedina and probably a lot of
clubs are like this.
But everything is very you know, and I was listening to,
actually I think his name wasNicholas Gora, it was a GM you
had on at one point.
I was enjoying that episodebecause he was.
You all were talking about thechallenges of, you know, getting
a chef to work in a clubenvironment.
I've been through all thestages of of like the chef.
(05:31):
You know, you're, you're youngand like my 20 year old self,
wouldn't have dreamed of workingin a club.
You know, just that's where acreative chef goes goes to die.
Basically is what I thought.
And then did you know it wasall freestanding restaurants and
Michelin stuff that I wasaiming for at the time and then
got into hotels and eventuallyclubs and what I'd say now,
definitively in my 40s.
(05:52):
You know, to be a club chef isthe hardest of any kind of chef
because you just really need tobe well-rounded.
It's not about you at thatpoint.
So you have to really overcomeyour ego and I think that's kind
of what he was saying.
There is a lot of times chefscoming in to really overcome
your ego and I think that's kindof what he was saying there.
A lot of times chefs come inand it's about you most of the
time as a chef right, like youridentity and your personality
are what sells stuff, but in theclub that's not what it is.
(06:15):
So I think finding your footingin a club has a lot to do with
understanding your membership,developing a rapport, taking the
time to meet everybody andunderstand what they like before
you start to build things, thetime to meet everybody and
understand what they like beforeyou start to build things.
So what I've learned as along-winded answer to your
question at Medina we lovebespoke menus, like we have a
great banquet book.
In my third year here, I redidall the banquet menus.
(06:35):
I feel like it's awesome andit's totally like what our
members love.
But, that said, we designalmost everything not almost
everything, but a largepercentage of what we do is
custom, and so what youexperienced that day was
certainly a one-off.
Our banquet team is so versed indoing different things
literally every day and buildingthat takes time, but once you
(06:57):
have it, it's awesome, becausewhat you experienced was a bunch
of different stations and livecook stuff.
We have what I refer to as thefleet, which is all just fire
powered equipment.
You know that we can movearound and do awesome stuff
grills and smokers and SantaMaria grills and pizza ovens and
stuff like that.
So, yeah, that's what Medina isall about.
You know, my lens is doingawesome stuff for our members.
(07:18):
What they want to do is what webuild programs based off of,
and then when folks like you oryou know, club managers or
whoever visit the club, we wantto show that part of our
identity to you too, because, uh, you know we're peers and we're
all out there doing doing coolstuff.
So I'm glad to experience that.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Are you getting into conference?
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Uh, wednesday midday.
Okay, I'm missing your party.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
I only brought that.
It was one of those.
I just wanted to make sure,because tomorrow Nick Gore is
joining us for dinner also.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Oh, is he really?
Oh man, yeah, I would love tomeet him.
I would love to meet him.
I love what he was sayingbecause certainly, like you know
, we're like these mythicalcreatures that you're trying to
tame.
You know chefs are such weirdand I probably pissed a lot of
chefs off by saying this, butyou know there's a lot of ego
involved, usually in my way orthe highway, and so, for a club
(08:09):
environment, you know you'rebuilding something for the
membership, you have to reallyget beyond.
You know what you want to doand the way I think about it is
like tailoring our skills towhat they want to have.
And so it's fun to listen tohim.
You know there's so many thingsthat I like hear him wanting to
say that he can't really saybut yeah, fine, and I'm glad
that they did.
I think they promoted frominside and that's.
(08:31):
That's a pretty good move ifyou're having a hard time
finding people from outside anda lot of times, like, you'll
bring in big names or like bigyou know awesome people from
other parts of the industry andit's and it's a tough fit like
if they can adapt.
My, my, when I adapted was Iwas in cairo at um, and I like
the most important thing and Ithink to be well-rounded, like I
(08:52):
said, as a chef in a club notlike egypt, okay, okay, yeah,
yeah, I was like I was there forthree years with with the, the
fairmont raffles group, rightand getting out of freestanding
restaurant into into um hotelworld too.
That was a big shift.
So I started with the MandarinOriental in San Francisco and I
got in there and I wanted tojust work for this like kind of
(09:13):
star chef.
I was doing Pacific roomcuisine in San Francisco and the
deal that their executive souschef made with me when I was
getting in the door he's likeall right, I'll let you work
with that guy, but you also haveto agree to work in banquets
when we need you and young chefslike, especially when you're an
a la carte or a Michelin person, you're like F banquets all the
way, like I'm not interested inthat stuff at all and so I
(09:34):
remember hating it.
You know, from an a la cartestandpoint, I think that chefs,
the ultimate in Michelin stylecuisine or like really high-end
cuisine, is just doingperfection in the moment and it
takes like maybe days you know alot of cases, days to get
everything prepared just rightfor literally a moment that I'm
(09:55):
going to say lasts for 10seconds or 15 seconds and then
begins to diminish.
So that's why you see thesechefs yelling at waiters like
get this to the table.
You want the person who's goingto eat it to have it right when
it's perfect, and every secondthat passes it's diminishing in
quality and you've worked sohard to get that perfection
there right.
So a la carte is sort of thepinnacle of that and the
(10:16):
Michelin stuff I did in France,the three-star, you know.
It was 40 cooks serving 90customers per meal.
So if you think about how muchlabor goes into creating
perfection, like that's reallyhard.
So going from that into abuffet, you know I think a lot
of chefs perceive buffets aslike food trough kind of thing,
you know, like a feeding trough,and so when I was in San
(10:36):
Francisco, like I didn't doanything creative with bangles,
I just helped them out and I gotwhat I wanted.
I got to work for that chef,but it was the introduction.
It was that guy who made thatdeal with me, chef Ryan Sansan,
who's a good friend, and weended up working together in
Egypt.
He ended up over there.
It was an opening of a property, fairmont Nile City, on the
Nile, literally on the Corniche,and I got to be a chef de
(10:59):
cuisine of a California cuisinerestaurant in there and part of
the deal I had with that chef isI'd have to have a buffet and I
just like hated it.
You know, just, oh, you know,this is not what I and he was
like.
You know, matthew, he's aFrench speaking Swiss guy,
actually a great mentor of mine,philippe Bischoff.
Matthew, you know, your a lacarte is very good, but this
(11:21):
buffet it looks your standard.
So I was struggling and thestory that I tell it was right
before the Arab Spring kickedoff.
We were actually in Syria andwe had a friend at the Four
Seasons in Damascus, and so Ryanand I were there with our wives
, who are both Latinas, and wewere in Aleppo, hamahoms, like
places that have just beenabsolutely destroyed since,
(11:42):
unfortunately, we were someprobably the last tourists in
the country.
Wow, but we got to go to thathotel and I'll never forget like
walking in there with theexecutive chef, who was a friend
of his and Western, and wewalked into their buffet and it
was like there was food therethat was beautiful, but what it
was was artifacts from, likeSyrian history.
You know, that's this cradle ofcivilization.
(12:03):
So these giant like tea urnsand everything's like copper and
like stone and stuff.
And I looked at the guy and I'mlike they let you put all this
stuff like on your buffet.
And he's like what do you mean?
This is our culture framing thefood.
And that just completelychanged my way of thinking.
Getting to Hong Kong, which wasmy first chef job in a club, I
(12:26):
thought, oh, how hard can a clubbe?
And honestly, I was there forjust under six years, three
years.
I just got my ass kicked likedaily and it was very humbling
because after you do Michelin,after you work in five-star
hotels, you think you're good,and that club kicked my ass.
It was such a big club, twolocations, and then really in
(12:46):
clubs the point I'm getting tois you have to understand buffet
dining.
In Hong Kong they have a phrasethe camera eats first.
And when I came to understandthat it was going to, you know,
the Ritz-Carlton or the MandarinOriental, there, four Seasons,
the food displays were thingsthat people would go take their
family photos in front of.
You know what I mean.
(13:07):
And so if the camera eats firstmeans beans as a chef, if
people don't want to takepictures of your food, even if
it tastes really good, you'vefailed on some level.
And you know that's we with oureyes like we have things in
America that we say too.
But I brought that mentalityafter six years there at amazing
chief steward who helped mecatalog so much cool decor.
(13:27):
Um, and we had the hair.
We called it the harry pottercloset of decor.
It's just a giant room.
We had to get up on ladders toget things down, had gardeners
that took care of bonsai plantsfor me, bamboo all over the
place.
Of course everything grows inhong kong and so the buffets
were able to pull off over there.
I embraced that.
As a person who always hated it, I was like dude.
So if we can just do anythingwe want as a chef to frame our
(13:48):
food Like I'm going nuts, andthat club had a lot of funds to
support us getting decor, andthat's what happened.
After a few years people weretaking their family pictures in
front of the buffet.
I was like really I love that,and so that's what I brought to
Medina.
I think most chefs you know in aclub environment, like if
you're an a la carte only guyand you come in the door with
(14:09):
that, you know Gordon Ramsaymentality of like you all suck,
that's going to be hard for you,you know you have to be able to
feed people in large.
Like our.
Easter is 1,200 people,mother's Day is 1,100 people.
Thanksgiving, we feed 1,700,1,800 meals.
Fourth of July, forget about it,right?
So, yeah, I can do foie grasand truffles and all that stuff.
(14:31):
A lot of chefs can, but in aclub environment a chicken
nugget is just important, asimportant as a piece of foie
gras, right?
Like, being able to talk withchildren is a great chef skill.
Um, that you'd think youprobably never need.
But the family aspect of mostclubs is just as important as,
like, what you think the finedining aspect of clubs should be
.
So, again, that's why you gotto really get to know your
(14:52):
environment.
But you know, back to the point, that he was making hard to
find that fit.
When somebody kicks the doordown and thinks they're going to
redefine the club based on whatthey think is cool, as a chef
you know, yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
And that episode with Nick started a well, it was a
conversation before that he andI had cause I performed at his,
his club a few times and we werejust chatting.
We were just like shooting thecrap one day and I was like, oh,
what's going on?
He started like telling meabout the chef stuff and I I
think I understood and knew somemaybe I don't want to say
issues, but chefs and clubs andtrying to find a good one.
But like when he was tellinglike, oh my goodness, I didn't
(15:23):
even think of and I can'tremember if he said it in the
episode or off the episode, butit was like, oh, if you can get
a chef that could, uh, bepresentable and talk to the talk
to the members, who can alsocook, who is, for the most part,
sober.
And he was like, and I was like, oh my goodness, I even start
like like you're right and justtaking the ego, putting it down
and going like, yes, you canhave these ideas and we can try
(15:44):
them.
But really it's about that.
It was just like eye-openingand from there it's it's just
been like now I'm like, oh, likethat makes total sense.
And then now it's just likeopened up my eyes to just the
appreciation I have for clubsand the food like much, much,
much, much more.
In the beginning you mentionedkind of changing styles a bit
(16:05):
from, you know, from the formerchef to your chef.
Was that what the club wanted?
Is that what you were?
Is that what you were?
Is that what you wanted to do?
Like, what was?
What was that shift like andwhy was that shift happening?
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Yeah, no, that's an awesome question.
I think always as a chef againwith your ego in check you have
to say things that were donebefore me that members love and
want to keep doing.
We just have to keep doing them.
You know like we have to keepthat going for them because
those are beloved things andthere were certainly things that
Chef Ponzio was doing that werelike that.
I think, stylistically, I callmy style of cooking global
(16:39):
eclectic.
You know, after all this traveland living in different places
and just really like admiringall the different chef styles
around the world and food stylesaround the world, you know
that's the direction that I, youknow I always want to go in,
depending on where I'm at.
But, like I said, you got to,you got to meet the members and
really what he said abouttalking to the membership, I
(17:00):
think the chef has to be, youhave to develop a rapport with
the members and, in my opinion,your first year in any club as a
chef, you should spend a lot oftime out talking to people and
listening to them.
You know hearing what they want.
A lot of times, what they wantisn't what you want, but that's
very important to know, and so Iwas really thankful, with our
1,100 plus members and thentheir families and guests, it's
(17:23):
a club community of, let's say,3,500 diners and then, plus
they're entertaining if they'redoing business or whatever.
So that's a great sizedemographic to be able to do
different things.
And what I was hearing from alot of people were yes, we do
want sort of like, not so spicy,like, not non-authentic, but
also not like rip your head off.
You know fish sauce in a Thaicurry or you know like a lot of
(17:47):
the spice, I think spice we callit Medina, spicy, right, like,
so that means two on a scale of10 is spicy.
There we go.
Yeah, you know, it's just oneof those things where, again, as
a chef, you're like no, itneeds to be authentic, and so
I'm using habaneros or whatever,and everyone's out there crying
and like chugging milk andpounding pieces of bread to try
to recover, right, like that'snot good and so making that
(18:11):
shift.
And also, I think COVID helpedto have a clean break on certain
items, because we weren't openfor a long time and so the
things that we were doing duringCOVID were things that were
like really, in my wheelhouse, Ilove barbecue, I've done it for
decades.
I bought this giant it'sFrontiersman II, yoder Smoker,
which is enormous competitiongrade, you know item and
(18:33):
different grills, and so we hada food truck during COVID and
then we had that as outdoorrestaurants that were centered
around that, and those were alljust menus that I thought were
cool, that members seemed to bedigging.
Sometimes you're a little liketwo, they call it here, they
call it chef.
You know, you're getting alittle cute with the menu.
There are certain times wherethat's a cue that it's like a
little too pinkies out maybe,and so it's about finding the
(18:56):
balance.
I would also say one of thethings I learned in Hong Kong
that every chef in a bit largerclub you got to figure out is
the demographics of themembership right.
So in Hong Kong what wasinteresting was we had an entire
Chinese kitchen.
That team was probably 105cooks and the Chinese kitchen
was probably nine, and so themenu there was hilarious because
(19:17):
in a lot of cases as the chef Iwas like guys, you know, like,
help me out here.
A lot of times the food for theHong Kong Chinese, chinese,
chinese was not authentic enough, and then we would go in that
direction and then a lot of themembership.
Even some like what they callABC American born Chinese were
like we want PF Changs, like allthis fricking authentic, you
(19:40):
know bird's beak claw in the,you know stock stuff.
We hate that, we want Americanstyle Chinese.
And so like I felt like Icouldn't win, almost you know.
And so you get to a point inclubs of this size, and that was
, you know, we had as manymemberships there as we have in
our entire club community here.
So, and that was a reciprocalclub with lots of other Asian
clubs and so just so many peoplecoming and going.
(20:01):
You know that menu was also big, which is good, cause I could,
I could take like half theChinese section in one direction
and half in the more authenticdirection.
So here it's the same.
Like in our restaurants.
You know, there's certain stuffthat we we feel like we're
hitting the pocket for thisgroup, like they just love it
and like we're like all right,we finally got it dialed and
then within a week I'll havelike two people that are like
(20:22):
this is too.
You know, da, da, da, da.
So I think, as a chef also, youalways have to know that you're
never going to please 100% ofthe people.
You're certainly trying toplease the majority plus, but
you have to just keep it allmoving.
So I think that's another thingthat we did in my time there.
We change our menus a lot andthings that need to stay the
(20:42):
same always do.
There are certain items thatwill never leave our menus
banquets or all the cartrestaurants but we change our
menus very frequently and that,I think, in this club, is good.
It keeps people because theyeat there a lot.
You know, in summer it's somemembers are 10, 12, 15 meals in
a week in the club and theydon't even look at the menu at
that point, like they know themenu by heart.
(21:04):
So what's your role?
How do you make the switch fromone chef to another?
Get to know the membership andhave a rapport?
What he said about being ableto speak to the members like a
lot of chefs are like I'm akitchen chef, you know, like I
stay back here, that's what I do.
Yeah, if that's all you do, Imean not all right, like you
could do that very well andthat's good.
But in a club it requires ofyou to get to know the
(21:25):
membership and then cool thingshappen, like when the bear came
out.
Have you seen the show the bear?
Yeah, all right.
So when that first came out,every member just wanted to talk
about it.
I mean it really captivated,certainly people in the industry
, I think thought that show waswas like pretty legit and a lot
of shows are not right.
So it was like oh sweet, likeit's kind of a true version of
us.
There's dramatization of somestuff, but it's pretty authentic
(21:47):
.
And then also like normalpeople you know, non-culinary
people out there were captivatedby it and so our members, I
would say, for like a year, mostof the conversations that I had
at tables or with members atsome point would delve into like
chef, what do you think aboutthe bear?
You know.
And then we talk, we talk, wetalk, you know.
So I love that, you know.
That's I think, think, andthat's how you get to know
(22:08):
members is figuring out, justlistening to them.
You know what do they think iscool in the bear?
It's that in Chicago, so thathelps.
But you know what I mean.
Like chef tables, episodes,like what are they watching?
What do they think is cool?
Build your program around whatthe members are talking about
liking.
That's kind of my philosophy.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
So, going back quick to when you were in Hong Kong
and you had the members who youknow, from the PF Changs up to
the you know not, you knowtraditional enough, how did you
find that balance?
What was, what was that middleground and how did you make it?
I don't say everybody happy,but did you, did you find that?
Did you find a place or a lanethat kind of fulfilled
(22:45):
everybody's needs and wants?
Speaker 2 (22:48):
We did, but it took time.
I think so much of it is thatin life.
One of my philosophies isyou've got to adjust
expectations for people.
It starts with yourself.
But really in the kitchen as achef, you have to in a club
environment versus an a la carteor hotel environment.
Those are places where you cankind of tell people no, back in
(23:09):
the day as a chef, if somebodywas like I'm gluten-free, you'd
be like get the fuck out of myrestaurant.
You know, you just kick themout In hotels and you know those
freestanding restaurants.
Still you can kind of be likeoh, I'm the chef, this is what I
do.
If you want that, you can go toone of these places In a club.
You can't say no, you justdon't.
There are certain things thatmaybe you don't have in-house
(23:30):
and so you're like well, I don'thave Mongolian yak meat, but I
could do Mongolian beef orsomething like that.
So you're always trying tofigure that out.
But getting the team.
So my point here is gettingyour team, especially if it's a
big team, Like in Hong Kong wehad 100 plus people In summer at
Medina we have 80 plus peoplein the kitchen and so they at
(23:52):
nine o'clock a cook, you knowwe're supposed to be closed and
in a club at 9.15 or 9.20, ifthere's still people there and a
member walks in, you're cookingfor them, you know.
So even just getting thoseexpectations adjusted for cooks
takes time and maybe you losesome cooks.
They're like screw this man.
Like I want to go to the bar atnine o'clock and it's like well
, you can work at a hundredother places and do that, but
just not here.
So building that team in HongKong, that took a lot of
(24:15):
patience from them to roll withme on the feedback we'd get, and
so it took a while to buildthat but, like I said, it helped
that our menu was pretty big.
Another cool thing that I thinkthat some again chefs are going
to kill me for saying this,like on air type of deal, but I
think your Nicholas Gore mightappreciate it.
On air type of deal, but in Ithink your Nicholas Gore might
appreciate it.
(24:36):
So what we called it, we havethis at Medina too.
We have what's called the offmenu menu and that drives cooks
crazy and drives chefs crazybecause your mise en place, like
the amount of, like the foodyou are using you have to keep
certain things around that youwish you didn't, right, and
space is always limited orergonomically, blah, blah, blah.
But what we did was we founddishes that people really loved
and it was more than could be onour menu.
(24:58):
So we had the menu that wasworking in both those directions
.
But then when someone came inand was like I just want Hainan
chicken, you know we could dothat, it wasn't on the menu.
In the POS, the price was there, you know.
So the servers were trained tojust bring that in.
And then the cooks, you know,in their mind it's like instead
of 22 dishes, we actually haveto be prepared to make 36 at any
(25:18):
time.
So that's where you have toadjust.
But again, what are we there for?
We're there to serve ourmembers, right, and so there are
reality, the realistic limitson that.
Like you couldn't keep mise enplace for a hundred dishes, but
you certainly want to just makesure that you can dial it in for
people.
So, yeah, I think in the end wegot there and we've done a
(25:40):
pretty good job of that atMedina.
But yeah, we also have everyclub has its own spatial
challenges.
Here it's walk-in space, so wehave to do a lot of running.
Let's just say so.
Then we just tell the memberhey, listen, I can do that for
you, but I need 50 minutes, or Ineed 40 minutes or something.
And then they can decide oh, Igot a round, I need to get out
there.
I got to golf right now I can'tdo it.
I also tell people hey, if youwant to do that, just let me
(26:01):
know in an email and we'llprepare it for you for sure,
just give us a.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
My opinion, our job, so what was it like going there
to hong kong and working with ateam from hong kong because,
like, how was their english, howwas the?
I mean, that had to be a littlebit of a shift.
Like, did you, did you preparefor that?
Like, is there, is there like a, you know, a us guide to chefs
going to hong kong, to to workwith no?
No it's got to be hard then,not speaking their language, not
(26:33):
being from there, and nowyou're leading their team.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
That's got to be hard .
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Because aren't they a very?
But also maybe and I could bekicking myself in the foot
they're a very hierarchical.
I don't know if that's even aright word, but they take well
to levels and respect and stuffthe structure.
There we go.
So was it a little bit easier?
Because they have that like yes, sir, because now you are the
boss, what was that?
Speaker 2 (26:56):
like, yeah, yeah, that's an awesome question.
Growing up, I grew up inMontana, in the middle of
nowhere, didn't go almostanywhere until I went to
culinary school.
I was 19 when I went out toVermont from Montana, left my
girlfriend, all my friends.
I was scared, just justshitless, you know, to leave.
But I had a great mentor whohelped me do that.
Um, my second great mentor wasa French guy and he was the one
(27:19):
who helped me get set up in in aMichelin restaurant in France,
which led to the two and thethree later.
Um, and being a little kid fromthe middle of nowhere in
Montana, experiencing France,you know, and then Europe,
traveling around, I was like,dude, there's all this stuff out
here, you know, like you'reblind, as a little white kid in
in somewhat rural Montana atthat time, to like what actually
(27:39):
happens in the world and allthe differences and cool things
that are happening out there.
So I like, well, as soon as Iwent and did that, I knew in my
mind I got to do.
This is my life now.
And so I traveled a lot, workeda lot abroad, ended up marrying
a Peruvian.
Our kids were born in Lima.
Our daughter was born thereright as the Arab Spring was
happening, and then our son wasborn in Hong Kong.
So you know, I think a certainelement of your mindset is just
(28:01):
being open to situations likethat.
As a chef, I think you also kindof have to be ready for
whatever you know.
So in Egypt and this is leadingto Hong Kong in Egypt, people
are like literally the nicestpeople in the world that I've
ever met, like are Egyptian.
They're just the nicest folksand it's a hospitality culture.
It's awesome, but it's alsovery, very chill.
(28:24):
Like the work ethic is not whatwe may be used to, and so,
working with those guys to getthem to do stuff, it was
required finesse versus force.
Getting to Hong Kong, whoa,that was such a very different
experience culturally, becauseexternally these folks are not
do not seem warm at first.
They're just as warm as anybody.
(28:45):
But you have to get in, and so,as a chef there you said the
hierarchy and I totally agreewith that, but they do not want
to be told what to do by aforeigner, right.
And so in order to get thelegitimacy and that's why that
club kicked my ass, or part ofit was you got to earn the
respect right and as a chef,respect is like other things,
(29:05):
like the military and there'sall these hierarchy structures
where respect is reallyimportant.
You have to earn the respect ofyour staff, which means working
more than them, working harderthan them and being able to
answer any question that theyhave.
So getting my feet under methere took a long time, and it
wasn't that I didn't have theright skills, I just wasn't.
(29:25):
I couldn't put it all together,and then the communication
challenge was huge.
So in Hong Kong, you know theBritish occupation during that
whole period of time.
Most Hong Kongers speak withthe British accent and the folks
that speak English are educatedmore than most cooks are.
So, like bankers, officeworkers, you know they're going
to be able to speak with you inEnglish.
(29:46):
Most cooks know, and so I spokefor a long time.
I spoke through my sous chefsand chefs pretty much only so
when I would do a whole teammeeting, I'd have everyone
together and I'd be talking andthen I was at the mercy of that
person's understanding me andtranslating.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
You know, and so Hopefully you didn't take
anybody off or they're sayingthe wrong stuff yes, exactly.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
And Robert Serecci, who I think you, I'm sure you've
heard of him, he was over there.
Mark, yes, exactly, and RobertSerecci, who I think you, I'm
sure you've heard of him, he wasover there.
Mark Galladet, who was the GMof CC at the DC Ranch in Arizona
.
He's a longtime chef too.
We worked together for 14 yearsin a row 12 years in a row and
worked together there.
And so us and a couple otheryou know Guailo, that's the
white devil, white Westerners wetook Cantonese classes and
(30:32):
that's a very difficult languageto learn, but boy did that open
the door, like us sounding likechildren in their language in
front of them and just puttingourselves out there.
In that way, we made theseconnections with those guys.
That were incredible, incredibleconnections, and so my
Cantonese is very poor, but Ican make them laugh.
(30:54):
They can understand a lot ofwhat I'm trying to say.
It's just like as though asix-year-old was talking to them
, right?
So it was a combination of allthat stuff, and I think that I
did learn Spanish well and, atthe time, french.
I took three years of Arabic,and so my philosophy in terms of
connecting with people aroundthe world has to do with trying
to do it on their terms, right?
Like not just kicking the doorin and being like do you speak
(31:15):
English?
It's like I'm going to try tospeak your language with you,
even if I don't sound good.
And so that results in someconnections that I cried for
days leaving Hong Kong, like sosad to leave that team.
Like there was one meeting wehad where like 30 people were
crying Like we're all justcrying, you know they were leave
that team Like we.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
there was one meeting we had where like 30 people
were crying like we're all justcrying, you know, um, so those
deep connections.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
They were like, finally this yeah, exactly, this
bastard is out of here, um, butwe really set up for six years.
We set up a culture there with,like the last two or three
years there was almost zeroturnover, and Mark had a lot to
do with that.
So did Robert.
It was very, very cool and ithad a lot to do with just us all
trying to communicate but alsokicking ass and like working
really hard in the kitchen,streamlining things for them.
I think as a chef, you alwayshave to work for your employees,
(31:59):
right, like I'm there to servethem.
They work, we work together,but my role is to serve them.
So we worked hard everywhereI've been to make conditions
work well for them and likefavor them and then guess what?
They do awesome things fortheir food.
Is that much better for themembership or the customers, you
know?
So it was a challenge to yourpoint, but, wow, really well
(32:20):
worth going through it.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Yeah, Now you mentioned in the beginning also
that you know you're executivechef and also director of food
and beverage operations and,like I said, it's one of those I
know enough to be dangerous, soI might be shooting myself in
the foot also, but the times Ithink I have seen or heard of
(32:42):
that, it's usually because it'sa smaller operation and they
just need a chef to doeverything, and that's sometimes
not even the best scenario.
How did this come about and howdo you have the focus of both
to make sure both go effectivelyor run effectively?
Speaker 2 (33:01):
Yeah, that's such a good question and I would not
have said yes to this had theconditions not been just right
for it to work out.
Yeah, chef and bee you knowthat's the industry term for it.
You're right like sometimesends up pretty bad In this case.
So our GM, robert Cerecci hehad left, he's at Colton River
(33:22):
in South Carolina now he'sawesome doing his thing down
there.
We were blessed.
You know, anytime you have agood GM and you switch GMs,
you're like, oh God, it's likethe roulette wheel, you know
like where are we going to land?
And so we were very lucky toget yeah like literally
everyone's like really quietduring that period.
It's like praying Um.
(33:42):
And we got an incredible GM, soI'm so thankful.
His name is Dave Schneider.
A lot of people in the industryare going to know him, but he's
awesome and I feel very blessedto be working with him because
I'm learning a lot with him too.
Great mentor, awesome, awesomeguy and then just extremely high
energy, super positive dude,which is kind of my style too.
So we talked about it.
He assessed for quite a whileand approached me.
(34:05):
There had been some members whomade that suggestion and I was
kind of just nervous about it,not because I don't know what to
do, but it's a time thing,right?
And am I going to dodisservices to people by
spreading myself even thinner?
As a chef, you're always busyin a club.
There was, you know, I'mworking 70, 80 hours a week as
the chef anyway, so how do youadd to that?
Right?
(34:25):
And so he helps, as did thedirector of human resources and
other people who were involvedin that really helped.
And then I'm just incrediblyblessed on the kitchen side to
have created a team.
I have seven leaders in thatgroup as chefs, chef de cuisines
, and then a gentleman who isrunning our banquet program that
I promoted to be our executivesous chef.
His name is Chef Chris Tatarand he's the dream dude to do
(34:50):
this with.
So at this point in time,really, he's running kind of the
day-to-day operations in ourkitchen.
And then I told Dave, I need tohave I refer to them as pillars
right, so like to keep the roofup, you need the proper number
of pillars, and so we createdour org chart to suit your point
exactly, which is how do we notgo backwards with the food,
(35:11):
first and foremost, but then howdo we, how do we tackle so much
territory?
Right, and so I have sixreports and then they have a
bunch of reports.
Our structure is, like, veryintentionally created to make
this work.
But yeah, you know, hiring Igot to hire a front of the house
manager who runs all of all thecart service awesome guy named
(35:31):
Michael Boschert, from St Louisbut spent a long time in fine
dining here in Chicago.
He comes from the restaurantsour members go eat in downtown,
so that was awesome.
So, creating a spread ofresponsibility in a way that's
possible to work down throughthose pillars Do I feel like I
have enough time to do it aswell as I'd like to right now.
(35:52):
No, like I'm still working onand I told Dave, give me three
years to really have this pegged.
It's been a year and a half, soI feel pretty good about where
we're going, but to create thestructure to be as efficient and
, you know, operate on the levelthat we want to, we still have
a little ways to go, if I'mhonest.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
That's a trust thing and a ballsy.
Just give me three years, likethat's give me three years bud,
Like that's, because it's a lotof time, but it's also not so.
So to say that like that's,that's, that's, that's a lot of
trust there too.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
So yeah, it is.
And I also said you know, judgeme at any moment.
You know, like assess and thething with him, that's awesome.
And our assistant generalmanager, like they're around a
lot, right, and so I'm like youguys, just like you see what's
going on.
I'm an open book, like there'snothing hidden at all.
So at any time if you'reunhappy or whatever, let me know
.
But you know we're going topush forward and we are, but
(36:47):
there's a lot to do.
It had been two years since thelast food and beverage director
before me, and so when thathappens in the front of the
house, you can imagine, likewithout stable leadership, there
was a lot of turnover therewere.
There were folks who who likemaybe they're good at the job
but they don't have the culturalaspect that you want, like the,
the buy-in team wise, or vibewise.
You know those are the thingsthat I want to provide for them.
(37:09):
Again, I'm there to serve them.
So I got to get you stableleadership on three different
levels between them and me andthen make them happy and that
again, that turns around to makethe membership happy.
But teaching the culture oflike we're there to create a
feeling for our members, likethat takes time Right.
So, yeah, he, I do believe thathe trusts in me.
(37:29):
You could have him on and askhim, but you know, at any time,
like those guys can, can tell mehow they think I'm doing and
how they think we're doing.
I'm an open book and open tofeedback, but it's a team effort
and that's what Dave does is hecreates the feeling that we're
all doing this together, acrossour leadership team and across
our entire team, which is, inseason, 400 and whatever 30
(37:50):
people.
So, yeah, it's a good vibe.
I'm really happy, I'm proud towork for him, I'm proud to be at
this club.
Like I said, it's an awesomeproject and I do feel confident
that we're going to get to wherewe want to, but it's a, you
know, month to month deal.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
So now, what's so?
Now, what's the plan withMedina?
What you guys got cooking,what's the long-term vision?
What's the plan there?
Speaker 2 (38:12):
Thank you for asking.
Yeah, so for our membership,definitely for our team as well.
We are in what we areconsidering the greatest three
years of Medina history, and I'msure that there's been other
great three-year periods that Iwas not born for or whatever,
but right now is incredible.
So last year, in the summermonth of July, we launched
course number three, which isour PGA competition course.
(38:34):
It's the one that Medina pridesitself on.
So that was an 18-month even alittle longer renovation that
was done by OCM out of Australia.
A long process of choosing them, building the plan for the work
.
It was very expensive and thenit took all of the time they
planned.
So the unveiling of that.
That was the ultimate drum roll.
(38:56):
Does it turn out the wayeveryone likes?
And it was a resounding successlast summer, which was awesome.
So so much fanfare leading upto it.
It launched perfectly.
Our grounds team, the guys whodesigned it on our side too just
incredible people involved inthat.
So very, very happy for themand all of us when that launched
.
(39:17):
The second year of that is thisyear, so our centennial was
actually last year, but wedecided to celebrate it in 2025
in order to focus on coursethree in 24.
So this year we're doing alarge centennial celebration
that lasts all year, but it'sgoing to really culminate in a
big party in July and we'regoing to have lots of music.
That everybody knows.
My dream in terms of theculinary there.
(39:37):
I told these guys I'm workingwith a music promoter to do some
believe it or not likepyrotechnic aspects of the food,
and so that's all I'll sayabout that, because we haven't
fully discussed it.
We're going to make this.
This is going to be very coolin a rock and roll food sense
and the goal being like afterthey you know, I said to him I
was like after they forget whowe are, they remember what we
(39:58):
did.
You know what I mean.
So that's going to be supercool and that's in July, and
then we go into 2026.
As a lot of people know, we havethe President's Cup arriving at
the club.
So PGA has been with us forwell over a year now.
They spend like three yearswith you in the lead up, and so
we've gotten to know that teamwell, doing a lot of planning
for that too.
So, from a culinary standpoint,which is really all I can talk
(40:21):
about, all of these things havereally, really fun components
that allow us to show our bestto take what we know our members
love and amp it off the charts.
So I would be remiss to notmention that, as we talk, it's a
great year for our club.
The next year will be too.
We have an awesome presidentright now.
We have an awesome board ofdirectors, an incredible
(40:42):
membership, a great GM, awonderful team.
So, yeah, things are reallygood at Medina and I'm very
proud again to be a part of that.
So thank you for asking.
Awesome man.
Speaker 1 (40:52):
Awesome, awesome, awesome.
Well, hey, thank you, so, so,so much for coming on the show.
This is so good, so many goodnuggets and insights, and your
story is absolutely fantastic,so thank you, thank you, thank
you.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
Yeah, thank you for having me.
It's a pleasure to be with youand an honor.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
Hope you all enjoyed that episode.
So good, so much good, greatvaluable information.
If you did give it a like, ashare on LinkedIn, that's where,
hopefully, you found thisepisode.
Give that post a nice share,comment on the post what your
biggest takeaway was, or you canleave a review, a five star
(41:26):
with a review on it.
Meet the absolute world andcost nothing.
But that is this episode.
I'm your host, denny Corby.
Until next time, catch y'all onthe flippity flip.
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