March 24, 2025 • 17 mins
What happens when the turnout is low, the plan isn’t working, and canceling the event feels like the easiest option?
If you’re Chef Andrew Haapala, you pivot. You turn the dining room into a chef’s table. You bring the members into the kitchen. And you make it an experience they’ll never forget.
In this episode, Andrew, Executive Chef at The Country Club of Virginia, shares how one slow night became an unexpected win—not just for the members, but for his team.
We talk about:
- How creative thinking turns a problem into an opportunity
- Why showing up for the few can mean more than serving the many
- The importance of having a team that’s ready to adapt on the fly
- What leadership looks like behind the line—especially when plans change
Andrew’s leadership style is thoughtful, real, and rooted in trust. This episode is a great listen for chefs, F&B pros, and any club leader who knows that the best experiences sometimes come from the least expected moments.
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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 this place.
I'm your host, denny Corby.
Welcome to the show thisepisode.
I am chatting with my new friend, andrew Hapala, who is the
executive chef at the CountryClub of Virginia and we have a
great story, he and I.
It's so funny because when Iwas looking at his history at
where he's been, we just missedeach other at all of his clubs,
(00:42):
like either I just performedthere and then he left or vice
versa.
So really funny, very, verystrange.
But he has been at some amazingclubs and I'm bringing him on
because he did something reallycool, really unique, and they
were doing a chef's teachingdinner and they didn't have a
lot of signups, but they did notcancel, they still kept on and
(01:03):
they turned it into somethinggreat, something successful.
And that is what I love isstories like that where people
flip the script and do thingsand don't cancel, because I
don't think members like it andthe ones who did want to show up
still want to have a good time,so we're just going to jump
right into it.
I'll let him tell you the wholestory, but it is really great.
(01:24):
Before we get to it, big thanksto some of our show partners
Concert Golf Partners, kenneth'sMember, vetting Members First,
and Club Capital Group, as wellas myself.
The Denny Corby Experience.
There's excitement, there'smystery.
Also, there's magic, mindreading and comedy.
To learn more, head on over todennycorbycom.
Enough about that, let's getright into this amazing episode.
(01:44):
Private Club Radio listeners.
Let's welcome to the show.
Executive Chef Andrew Hapala.
So let's set the scene.
You had an event planned, acooking class, right, correct,
and you were expecting 50, 60,100 and some people, which is
like the average.
You had the ballroom set up,the cameras ready, the whole
deal.
But then was it?
The numbers weren't there.
Like how far in advance did youknow that this wasn't going to
(02:09):
happen?
Because I think a lot of clubsone second, I think a lot of
clubs at that point would havejust called it.
They would have, you know, justtold people like hey, it's off
the people who didn't sign upand moved on.
But you instead flipped thescript, turned it into something
even better.
You made it a night people willactually remember and I love
that, because oftentimes clubswill cancel things if they don't
(02:31):
have a big turnout, and I thinkit upsets the people who did
want to show up, who did want tocome and do something.
So when did you realize?
Oh, we might not have theturnout we expected and was
canceling ever on the table?
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Or were you already thinking like, ok, how do we
make this work anyway?
Yes, absolutely.
I think cancellation would havebeen on the table.
We a lot of times we don't getall of our reservations until
basically the week before theevent anyway, right?
So as it was sort of early inthe week, a Wednesday is kind of
early for a member event likethis.
Uh, as it was sort of early inthe week of Wednesday, it's kind
of early for a member eventlike this.
So the week prior we send outthat final sort of e-blast hey,
you know, cooking demonstration,west ballroom with dinner, and
(03:12):
then just nothing happened overthe weekend.
I don't know if it was just abad week, if it was people out
of town, you know, it was sortof one of those things.
So, um, it was that point.
I'd been kind of mulling itthrough the back of my head for
a while, just knowing that.
You know, we were at 10 to 12people for a while, like for as
long as I think the event hadbeen open, it had only been 10
to 12 people, which is odd forone of these classes especially.
(03:33):
We have one next Wednesday,that's at 56 people right now.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
And what goes into say in, like your normal cooking
classes, like when you've donethem in the past, the one coming
up, what does it normally looklike?
Speaker 2 (03:45):
So normally the cooking class, um, there's a
couple of different styles, butthis one would have been
basically myself up on, uh, infront of the group, um tables of
eight, um, with a screen, acamera that looks down on top of
the cutting board so they cansee my hands working, um, as, as
we're preparing whatever it iswe're preparing, whether it's,
(04:06):
you know, dressing, stocks,sauces, soups this one was going
to be, it was sort of it waskind of a joke, because it may
be this was, it was a chickencooking class, so it may have
just people may not have beeninterested in it.
So you know, you live and youlearn, but you know it was
interesting and it's usuallyabout an hour and then dinner
comes out.
So I'll do something and it'llkind of incorporate what the
(04:29):
first course for the dinner isand then as I work through, like
deboning the chicken and thisis how you prepare an airline
breast, then maybe that would bethe second course.
We'd roll through an event likethat, so being able to switch
it up and just say, hey, y'alljust want to come in and have a
chef's table, come on in and,like you know, we'd be happy to
(04:49):
have you.
Um, we let, we gave them theoption.
I guess it was the Saturdaybefore when we just didn't get
that boost and and uhreservations that we wanted yeah
.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
How did your team react when you were like, hey
guys, uh, we're doing it in thekitchen instead?
Were they instantly on board?
Did you get a couple?
Are you serious looks, or wasit really?
They didn't have a choice.
It was more about making themembers happy.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Oh well, I think, uh, that's fair.
There's always a little bit ofthe latter, right, but, um, you
know, I think it's.
It's always fun to do these andit was.
It would have been like, givenJanuary was a, was a crazy month
for a lot of reasons, um,whether a lot of people were on
vacation or just we were kind ofa lot of other things going on
at the same time, where sonormally slow January turned
(05:34):
into a very, very busy January.
Um, in the back of my mind, Iknew that we had had already
have a chef's table on the booksfor later on in the month, um,
along with another kitchencocktail party.
So a, getting the team preparedfor those on our terms, so to
speak, makes the wholeexperience better.
Front of the House loves doingthem because it's kind of neat,
(05:56):
it's easy.
The kitchen it would be thefirst one our banquet chef had
seen, I think, if I remembercorrectly.
So he was excited to see it,yeah, and the sous chefs always
just want to see something cooland fun.
So for the most part, I thinkyou know, maybe day of, we
regretted it a little bit whenwe had a, we had a pretty, we
had a pretty large party forlunch right before it.
(06:17):
So it turns the kit.
The flip in the kitchen can bea little bit hectic, but you
know, at the end of the daythey're like, oh, that was a,
that was an awesome dinner.
And I was like, yeah, that'swhat these are about.
So I think we did the two twochefs tables in the last two
months and a kitchen cocktailparty.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
So Kitchen's really being used.
Now is the kitchen?
Does it?
Is it in the works for anupgrade?
Cause, now would be the time tostart like pitching it, guys.
If you really want this to bekiller, imagine what we can do
with a brand new kitchen uh, yesand no, we have a lot of
(06:52):
projects coming down the line.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Um, we're in the middle of renovating one kitchen
entirely right now.
Um, so it is closed with thatteam actually augmenting the
team over here at the westhampton clubhouse.
Yeah, so it's, it's in the it'sin the run, but it's definitely
a few steps back.
Yeah, it's in, it's in the run,but it's definitely a few steps
back.
It's in pretty good shape.
As far as kitchens go, we'revery fortunate to have an active
capital program that allows usto keep equipment fresh, clean
(07:17):
and well, just new, for the mostpart every five to six years.
So the kitchen's set up wellsix years.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
So, yes, the kitchen set up well, because, because
sometimes that could be a hardsell when doing remodels, which,
for me, I never thought aboutthat, like to me, I just always
uh, I was I forget which gm Iwas talking to, I don't even
know if it was for a, for aprivate club radio episode.
He was just saying like, oh, itwas a tough to get the board to
you know, or the members tocome on board with the kitchen,
like that's where the food isyou serious?
Uh, so because.
And then, like you starthearing some more stories like,
(07:49):
oh, I guess that could bedifficult because they don't
always see it, but you, itsounds like you guys have always
done these kind of kitchenythings and bringing people to
the back.
So you know, yeah, so thatthat's, that's, that's, oh,
that's so cool, so logistically,uh, what went into transforming
the kitchen into an event spaceand maybe not even for this one
in particular, but like whenyou do stuff like what goes into
(08:12):
transforming your kitchen intoa full on event space?
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Yeah Well, a lot of cleaning right off the bat.
You know you just want it to beas fresh as it can possibly be
and it's a busy kitchen.
It's open seven days a week,basically from seven o'clock
till whenever the last partygoes out, so you know there's
stuff on the grill every singleday.
The fryers are getting used allthe time, so it's one of those
things like just a fresh coat ofstainless steel polish goes a
(08:37):
long way.
But then we're fortunate inthat it's a very open floor plan
.
We've got a couple of pillarsin there, but everything else is
on wheels so we can roll stuffin and out of the kitchen.
The equipment itself wasdesigned with this in mind, so
it actually has little tabs thatwe can connect the tabletops to
(08:59):
.
There's a lot of it's.
It's over the years it has beenformed this way over more chefs
than just myself, I should say.
So, um, we have a pretty longhistory of doing these.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
It's just we just make it a little nicer every
time were there any other weirdadjustments that had to be made
that was different from the likethe original format, besides
moving it to, like the kitchen?
Like did you keep the same menu, like was all that still the
same, or were there other likeadjustments that had to be made?
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Not for the menu itself.
Yeah, so the menu itselfchanged completely, knowing that
we would be going into thisyear actively sort of seeking
chef's tables.
I'd been drafting menus for thebetter part of the last three
months.
So just being able to talk tothe guests a little bit in
advance and see, kind of I cando a little bit of research and
(09:53):
find out where they, where theyfrequent and stuff like that and
prepare a menu around that umis super helpful.
But basically I can just pullthose dishes off of the other
chef's table menus that I'vewritten um both in the past and
for the future and create apretty nice meal pretty fast.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
So did any members walk in and be like wait, we're
going in the kitchen tonight?
Speaker 2 (10:11):
uh, one of them was a surprise because their date
didn't tell them.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
So I thought I was gonna learn tonight.
And then they're like you'resmack in the middle of the
kitchen I was gonna learn how tocook a chicken what?
What did you end up putting onthe menu?
Speaker 2 (10:24):
uh, instead oh, gosh for that one.
Uh, we did a chicken andwaffles, so oh oh it was a play
on chicken and waffles.
Basically it's an angel wing, soyou debone a chicken wing and
then stuff it with, basically, achicken sausage.
It's with rice noodles andpeppers, onions, garlic, a
(10:44):
little bit of shoyu, just supernice stuff.
And then it's breaded and pankofried.
That was served with a littlesort of chili salad on top of a
wonton waffle.
So it was just sort of a playon that.
Um, I think we did like I said.
We've done three or four sincethen.
So we've done three all, uh,two and a and a and the kitchen
(11:06):
cocktail party.
Um, we did a, uh, venison shankfor them, messenchenk for them.
We did a trout dish withtruffle wood, ear mushrooms,
some other stuff.
So I wish I had them in frontof me?
Speaker 1 (11:21):
No, I mean, this is like literally my mouth is
watering, like it's not evenfunny.
So what do you prefer, likeperformer to performer?
Like the big groups are fun.
The small groups, I think, areeven more fun and intimate, just
because you can almost connectwith each person almost on a
different level.
But I do like how sometimes thebig shows are fun because you
(11:41):
can still connect but you canalmost just look out and people
just feel like you're connectingwith them.
So I know how the big shows canbe easy and fun.
The small shows can be easy andfun.
They each have theirdifficulties.
Which do you prefer?
Speaker 2 (11:51):
I'll tell you, the small shows are fun, or the
small tables, I should say, arefun, because you get to put a
little bit more love into eachdish, right.
Preparing food for 12 people,you can put a lot more steps and
spend a little bit more time onit, whereas for large groups
it's a lot.
You have to dumb it down is thewrong way to say it, but you
know you.
Just you have to be able toserve a lot of people dinner
(12:12):
fast, right?
So you, you lose something onour end and the backside, I
should say, whereas either way,you sort of end up with raving
fans at the end of the day,which is what we want.
Um, so being able to sell afuture events or just see how
you know how they're enjoyingeach restaurant, which ones they
, they uh, frequent more oftenand why stuff like that is, is
(12:33):
really good information to have.
Not just you know.
For me, as, as a chef like you,get to one on more one-on-one
time with a smaller group forsure.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
Yeah, if if another club is facing a similar
situation you know they have asimilar thing.
You know a chef's dinner, ateaching demonstration, with a
low turnout, potentialcancellation.
What advice would you give them?
Speaker 2 (12:56):
You know you should try and do something for them.
It's good for the staff, right?
You're this time of year ifit's slow, it's one of those
things.
You want staff to have hours.
So, even if it's not a chef'stable, if you can, if you can
pivot and do somethinginteresting and fun for the
group of members that want to bethere, that want to participate
, then you probably you shouldfigure something out.
(13:17):
Even if it's a more, it canstill be a cooking class, it
could still be a wine dinner.
It just means that you know youcan put a little bit more love
into it.
You know it may not be quite asnice at P&L at the end, but
it's.
It's more about for clubs.
I don't think it's all aboutthat, I guess.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Yeah, Do you?
Do you think sometimes clubsget too caught up in the big
numbers when the reality is, youknow, smaller, more creative
experiences could sometimes bebetter sometimes, yeah,
absolutely, if it's already abusy month, I can see it'd be a
challenge to do something for 12people.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
But, like I said, we were in the fortunate position
where January is usually, Ishould say, pretty slow, um, but
you know it's.
You can sort of said before,like if you have a raving fan,
they talk to their friends andyou have more folks out there
and then signups might be betternext time.
Like it's one of those things.
Like we had a, they had areally great time at the club.
They'll they'll talk about itfor sure yeah you.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
You obviously, you know, are the kind of chef who
thinks on their feet.
Has this always been your style, or did you learn that
adaptability the hard way orjust from doing it?
Speaker 2 (14:23):
I think we've adapted to a lot of change, especially
over the last five years,starting in 2020.
It's one of those things Ifsomething doesn't work out, you
pivot and figure out somethingelse to do.
You pivot and figure outsomething else to do, but it's
figuring out a way to make ithappen, I guess, is really sort
of important to me.
Whether it's a big dinner, asmall dinner, whether it's a
(14:45):
golf tournament for 500 peoplelike still want to do ramen,
cook fresh for them, then weshould figure out a way to do it
.
So, you know, I've always beena bit of a problem solver or not
, tried to be creative, just sothat my team isn't bored.
They're not just, you know,grilling burgers and flipping
pancakes every day.
It's, it's a little bit morethan that.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
So yeah, did did.
Did this event reinforceanything about your leadership
style or the way that youapproach challenges?
Speaker 2 (15:11):
I think so.
Um, maybe not.
Uh, maybe not right off the bat, if that makes sense, but
looking back on it and to say,hey, you know what this was
important, it was good for theteam to see, it was a warm-up
for things to come, and anytimeyou can teach an employee
anything, I think it's avaluable lesson and that's sort
(15:34):
of what I'm about.
I want people to be better thanme in the long run.
So I have a large team.
Some of them, you know, cook meunder the table on certain
things, and I think that'sthat's.
That's important, like it's.
If you surround yourself withpeople that are not as good as
you, not, the program will neverbe better.
Does that make sense?
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Yeah, no, totally Jeff.
Thank you so much for coming on.
Thank you so much for sharingLove what you're doing.
Keep it up and we will talk toyou soon.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Thank you very much, good seeing you.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
You too, Hope you all enjoyed that.
I know I did Just remember.
Next time, if you don't have alot of signups, it's still going
to be a success.
You're still going to have fun.
Continue with the event.
You might have to pivot andchange these up a little bit,
but do not cancel.
Your members will thank you forit.
And speaking of thank you, Ithank you for listening.
(16:25):
That's this episode.
Until next time.
I'm your host, Eddie Corby.
Catch you all on the flippityflip.
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 this place.
I'm your host, denny Corby.
Welcome to the show thisepisode.
I am chatting with my new friend, andrew Hapala, who is the
executive chef at the CountryClub of Virginia and we have a
great story, he and I.
It's so funny because when Iwas looking at his history at
where he's been, we just missedeach other at all of his clubs,
(00:42):
like either I just performedthere and then he left or vice
versa.
So really funny, very, verystrange.
But he has been at some amazingclubs and I'm bringing him on
because he did something reallycool, really unique, and they
were doing a chef's teachingdinner and they didn't have a
lot of signups, but they did notcancel, they still kept on and
(01:03):
they turned it into somethinggreat, something successful.
And that is what I love isstories like that where people
flip the script and do thingsand don't cancel, because I
don't think members like it andthe ones who did want to show up
still want to have a good time,so we're just going to jump
right into it.
I'll let him tell you the wholestory, but it is really great.
(01:24):
Before we get to it, big thanksto some of our show partners
Concert Golf Partners, kenneth'sMember, vetting Members First,
and Club Capital Group, as wellas myself.
The Denny Corby Experience.
There's excitement, there'smystery.
Also, there's magic, mindreading and comedy.
To learn more, head on over todennycorbycom.
Enough about that, let's getright into this amazing episode.
(01:44):
Private Club Radio listeners.
Let's welcome to the show.
Executive Chef Andrew Hapala.
So let's set the scene.
You had an event planned, acooking class, right, correct,
and you were expecting 50, 60,100 and some people, which is
like the average.
You had the ballroom set up,the cameras ready, the whole
deal.
But then was it?
The numbers weren't there.
Like how far in advance did youknow that this wasn't going to
(02:09):
happen?
Because I think a lot of clubsone second, I think a lot of
clubs at that point would havejust called it.
They would have, you know, justtold people like hey, it's off
the people who didn't sign upand moved on.
But you instead flipped thescript, turned it into something
even better.
You made it a night people willactually remember and I love
that, because oftentimes clubswill cancel things if they don't
(02:31):
have a big turnout, and I thinkit upsets the people who did
want to show up, who did want tocome and do something.
So when did you realize?
Oh, we might not have theturnout we expected and was
canceling ever on the table?
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Or were you already thinking like, ok, how do we
make this work anyway?
Yes, absolutely.
I think cancellation would havebeen on the table.
We a lot of times we don't getall of our reservations until
basically the week before theevent anyway, right?
So as it was sort of early inthe week, a Wednesday is kind of
early for a member event likethis.
Uh, as it was sort of early inthe week of Wednesday, it's kind
of early for a member eventlike this.
So the week prior we send outthat final sort of e-blast hey,
you know, cooking demonstration,west ballroom with dinner, and
(03:12):
then just nothing happened overthe weekend.
I don't know if it was just abad week, if it was people out
of town, you know, it was sortof one of those things.
So, um, it was that point.
I'd been kind of mulling itthrough the back of my head for
a while, just knowing that.
You know, we were at 10 to 12people for a while, like for as
long as I think the event hadbeen open, it had only been 10
to 12 people, which is odd forone of these classes especially.
(03:33):
We have one next Wednesday,that's at 56 people right now.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
And what goes into say in, like your normal cooking
classes, like when you've donethem in the past, the one coming
up, what does it normally looklike?
Speaker 2 (03:45):
So normally the cooking class, um, there's a
couple of different styles, butthis one would have been
basically myself up on, uh, infront of the group, um tables of
eight, um, with a screen, acamera that looks down on top of
the cutting board so they cansee my hands working, um, as, as
we're preparing whatever it iswe're preparing, whether it's,
(04:06):
you know, dressing, stocks,sauces, soups this one was going
to be, it was sort of it waskind of a joke, because it may
be this was, it was a chickencooking class, so it may have
just people may not have beeninterested in it.
So you know, you live and youlearn, but you know it was
interesting and it's usuallyabout an hour and then dinner
comes out.
So I'll do something and it'llkind of incorporate what the
(04:29):
first course for the dinner isand then as I work through, like
deboning the chicken and thisis how you prepare an airline
breast, then maybe that would bethe second course.
We'd roll through an event likethat, so being able to switch
it up and just say, hey, y'alljust want to come in and have a
chef's table, come on in and,like you know, we'd be happy to
(04:49):
have you.
Um, we let, we gave them theoption.
I guess it was the Saturdaybefore when we just didn't get
that boost and and uhreservations that we wanted yeah
.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
How did your team react when you were like, hey
guys, uh, we're doing it in thekitchen instead?
Were they instantly on board?
Did you get a couple?
Are you serious looks, or wasit really?
They didn't have a choice.
It was more about making themembers happy.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Oh well, I think, uh, that's fair.
There's always a little bit ofthe latter, right, but, um, you
know, I think it's.
It's always fun to do these andit was.
It would have been like, givenJanuary was a, was a crazy month
for a lot of reasons, um,whether a lot of people were on
vacation or just we were kind ofa lot of other things going on
at the same time, where sonormally slow January turned
(05:34):
into a very, very busy January.
Um, in the back of my mind, Iknew that we had had already
have a chef's table on the booksfor later on in the month, um,
along with another kitchencocktail party.
So a, getting the team preparedfor those on our terms, so to
speak, makes the wholeexperience better.
Front of the House loves doingthem because it's kind of neat,
(05:56):
it's easy.
The kitchen it would be thefirst one our banquet chef had
seen, I think, if I remembercorrectly.
So he was excited to see it,yeah, and the sous chefs always
just want to see something cooland fun.
So for the most part, I thinkyou know, maybe day of, we
regretted it a little bit whenwe had a, we had a pretty, we
had a pretty large party forlunch right before it.
(06:17):
So it turns the kit.
The flip in the kitchen can bea little bit hectic, but you
know, at the end of the daythey're like, oh, that was a,
that was an awesome dinner.
And I was like, yeah, that'swhat these are about.
So I think we did the two twochefs tables in the last two
months and a kitchen cocktailparty.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
So Kitchen's really being used.
Now is the kitchen?
Does it?
Is it in the works for anupgrade?
Cause, now would be the time tostart like pitching it, guys.
If you really want this to bekiller, imagine what we can do
with a brand new kitchen uh, yesand no, we have a lot of
(06:52):
projects coming down the line.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Um, we're in the middle of renovating one kitchen
entirely right now.
Um, so it is closed with thatteam actually augmenting the
team over here at the westhampton clubhouse.
Yeah, so it's, it's in the it'sin the run, but it's definitely
a few steps back.
Yeah, it's in, it's in the run,but it's definitely a few steps
back.
It's in pretty good shape.
As far as kitchens go, we'revery fortunate to have an active
capital program that allows usto keep equipment fresh, clean
(07:17):
and well, just new, for the mostpart every five to six years.
So the kitchen's set up wellsix years.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
So, yes, the kitchen set up well, because, because
sometimes that could be a hardsell when doing remodels, which,
for me, I never thought aboutthat, like to me, I just always
uh, I was I forget which gm Iwas talking to, I don't even
know if it was for a, for aprivate club radio episode.
He was just saying like, oh, itwas a tough to get the board to
you know, or the members tocome on board with the kitchen,
like that's where the food isyou serious?
Uh, so because.
And then, like you starthearing some more stories like,
(07:49):
oh, I guess that could bedifficult because they don't
always see it, but you, itsounds like you guys have always
done these kind of kitchenythings and bringing people to
the back.
So you know, yeah, so thatthat's, that's, that's, oh,
that's so cool, so logistically,uh, what went into transforming
the kitchen into an event spaceand maybe not even for this one
in particular, but like whenyou do stuff like what goes into
(08:12):
transforming your kitchen intoa full on event space?
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Yeah Well, a lot of cleaning right off the bat.
You know you just want it to beas fresh as it can possibly be
and it's a busy kitchen.
It's open seven days a week,basically from seven o'clock
till whenever the last partygoes out, so you know there's
stuff on the grill every singleday.
The fryers are getting used allthe time, so it's one of those
things like just a fresh coat ofstainless steel polish goes a
(08:37):
long way.
But then we're fortunate inthat it's a very open floor plan
.
We've got a couple of pillarsin there, but everything else is
on wheels so we can roll stuffin and out of the kitchen.
The equipment itself wasdesigned with this in mind, so
it actually has little tabs thatwe can connect the tabletops to
(08:59):
.
There's a lot of it's.
It's over the years it has beenformed this way over more chefs
than just myself, I should say.
So, um, we have a pretty longhistory of doing these.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
It's just we just make it a little nicer every
time were there any other weirdadjustments that had to be made
that was different from the likethe original format, besides
moving it to, like the kitchen?
Like did you keep the same menu, like was all that still the
same, or were there other likeadjustments that had to be made?
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Not for the menu itself.
Yeah, so the menu itselfchanged completely, knowing that
we would be going into thisyear actively sort of seeking
chef's tables.
I'd been drafting menus for thebetter part of the last three
months.
So just being able to talk tothe guests a little bit in
advance and see, kind of I cando a little bit of research and
(09:53):
find out where they, where theyfrequent and stuff like that and
prepare a menu around that umis super helpful.
But basically I can just pullthose dishes off of the other
chef's table menus that I'vewritten um both in the past and
for the future and create apretty nice meal pretty fast.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
So did any members walk in and be like wait, we're
going in the kitchen tonight?
Speaker 2 (10:11):
uh, one of them was a surprise because their date
didn't tell them.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
So I thought I was gonna learn tonight.
And then they're like you'resmack in the middle of the
kitchen I was gonna learn how tocook a chicken what?
What did you end up putting onthe menu?
Speaker 2 (10:24):
uh, instead oh, gosh for that one.
Uh, we did a chicken andwaffles, so oh oh it was a play
on chicken and waffles.
Basically it's an angel wing, soyou debone a chicken wing and
then stuff it with, basically, achicken sausage.
It's with rice noodles andpeppers, onions, garlic, a
(10:44):
little bit of shoyu, just supernice stuff.
And then it's breaded and pankofried.
That was served with a littlesort of chili salad on top of a
wonton waffle.
So it was just sort of a playon that.
Um, I think we did like I said.
We've done three or four sincethen.
So we've done three all, uh,two and a and a and the kitchen
(11:06):
cocktail party.
Um, we did a, uh, venison shankfor them, messenchenk for them.
We did a trout dish withtruffle wood, ear mushrooms,
some other stuff.
So I wish I had them in frontof me?
Speaker 1 (11:21):
No, I mean, this is like literally my mouth is
watering, like it's not evenfunny.
So what do you prefer, likeperformer to performer?
Like the big groups are fun.
The small groups, I think, areeven more fun and intimate, just
because you can almost connectwith each person almost on a
different level.
But I do like how sometimes thebig shows are fun because you
(11:41):
can still connect but you canalmost just look out and people
just feel like you're connectingwith them.
So I know how the big shows canbe easy and fun.
The small shows can be easy andfun.
They each have theirdifficulties.
Which do you prefer?
Speaker 2 (11:51):
I'll tell you, the small shows are fun, or the
small tables, I should say, arefun, because you get to put a
little bit more love into eachdish, right.
Preparing food for 12 people,you can put a lot more steps and
spend a little bit more time onit, whereas for large groups
it's a lot.
You have to dumb it down is thewrong way to say it, but you
know you.
Just you have to be able toserve a lot of people dinner
(12:12):
fast, right?
So you, you lose something onour end and the backside, I
should say, whereas either way,you sort of end up with raving
fans at the end of the day,which is what we want.
Um, so being able to sell afuture events or just see how
you know how they're enjoyingeach restaurant, which ones they
, they uh, frequent more oftenand why stuff like that is, is
(12:33):
really good information to have.
Not just you know.
For me, as, as a chef like you,get to one on more one-on-one
time with a smaller group forsure.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
Yeah, if if another club is facing a similar
situation you know they have asimilar thing.
You know a chef's dinner, ateaching demonstration, with a
low turnout, potentialcancellation.
What advice would you give them?
Speaker 2 (12:56):
You know you should try and do something for them.
It's good for the staff, right?
You're this time of year ifit's slow, it's one of those
things.
You want staff to have hours.
So, even if it's not a chef'stable, if you can, if you can
pivot and do somethinginteresting and fun for the
group of members that want to bethere, that want to participate
, then you probably you shouldfigure something out.
(13:17):
Even if it's a more, it canstill be a cooking class, it
could still be a wine dinner.
It just means that you know youcan put a little bit more love
into it.
You know it may not be quite asnice at P&L at the end, but
it's.
It's more about for clubs.
I don't think it's all aboutthat, I guess.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Yeah, Do you?
Do you think sometimes clubsget too caught up in the big
numbers when the reality is, youknow, smaller, more creative
experiences could sometimes bebetter sometimes, yeah,
absolutely, if it's already abusy month, I can see it'd be a
challenge to do something for 12people.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
But, like I said, we were in the fortunate position
where January is usually, Ishould say, pretty slow, um, but
you know it's.
You can sort of said before,like if you have a raving fan,
they talk to their friends andyou have more folks out there
and then signups might be betternext time.
Like it's one of those things.
Like we had a, they had areally great time at the club.
They'll they'll talk about itfor sure yeah you.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
You obviously, you know, are the kind of chef who
thinks on their feet.
Has this always been your style, or did you learn that
adaptability the hard way orjust from doing it?
Speaker 2 (14:23):
I think we've adapted to a lot of change, especially
over the last five years,starting in 2020.
It's one of those things Ifsomething doesn't work out, you
pivot and figure out somethingelse to do.
You pivot and figure outsomething else to do, but it's
figuring out a way to make ithappen, I guess, is really sort
of important to me.
Whether it's a big dinner, asmall dinner, whether it's a
(14:45):
golf tournament for 500 peoplelike still want to do ramen,
cook fresh for them, then weshould figure out a way to do it
.
So, you know, I've always beena bit of a problem solver or not
, tried to be creative, just sothat my team isn't bored.
They're not just, you know,grilling burgers and flipping
pancakes every day.
It's, it's a little bit morethan that.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
So yeah, did did.
Did this event reinforceanything about your leadership
style or the way that youapproach challenges?
Speaker 2 (15:11):
I think so.
Um, maybe not.
Uh, maybe not right off the bat, if that makes sense, but
looking back on it and to say,hey, you know what this was
important, it was good for theteam to see, it was a warm-up
for things to come, and anytimeyou can teach an employee
anything, I think it's avaluable lesson and that's sort
(15:34):
of what I'm about.
I want people to be better thanme in the long run.
So I have a large team.
Some of them, you know, cook meunder the table on certain
things, and I think that'sthat's.
That's important, like it's.
If you surround yourself withpeople that are not as good as
you, not, the program will neverbe better.
Does that make sense?
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Yeah, no, totally Jeff.
Thank you so much for coming on.
Thank you so much for sharingLove what you're doing.
Keep it up and we will talk toyou soon.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Thank you very much, good seeing you.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
You too, Hope you all enjoyed that.
I know I did Just remember.
Next time, if you don't have alot of signups, it's still going
to be a success.
You're still going to have fun.
Continue with the event.
You might have to pivot andchange these up a little bit,
but do not cancel.
Your members will thank you forit.
And speaking of thank you, Ithank you for listening.
(16:25):
That's this episode.
Until next time.
I'm your host, Eddie Corby.
Catch you all on the flippityflip.
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