Private Club Radio Show
Welcome to the Private Club Radio Show, the industry's weekly source for education, news, trends, and other current developments in the world of private clubs.
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Private Club Radio Show
424: Modernizing Legacy Clubs with Andrew Stress
Andrew Streffs shares his journey from restaurants to private clubs and emphasizes the importance of personalization in enhancing member experiences. He discusses the balance between tradition and innovation in club management while providing insights on building a strong culture and engaging members during renovations.
• Discussing Andrew's journey in hospitality
• Importance of personalized service in clubs
• Emphasizing relationship building with members
• Navigating challenges of club management
• Balancing tradition and renovations in a historic club
• Engaging members in decision-making processes
• The role of trust and communication in club culture
• Creating a strong team dynamic among staff
• Advice for transitioning to club management
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Hey everybody, welcome to the Private Club Radio Show, where we give you the scoop on all things private golf and country clubs, from mastering leadership and management, food and beverage excellence, member engagement secrets, board governance and everything in between, all while keeping it fun and light. Whether you're a club veteran just getting your feet wet or somewhere in the middle, you are in the right place. I'm your host, denny Corby. Welcome to the show. In this episode, we are chatting with Andrew Streffs, the AGM Assistant General Manager over at the Country Club of York, and this is a good episode. I always say they're all good episodes, but I really enjoy this A because it's close to home.
Speaker 1:Country Club of York is not too too far away from me and Andrew has a really cool journey into clubs, from restaurants to resorts to now private golf and country clubs and his approach to bringing experiences with his staff, with the customers, with all those, giving them a really cool, genuine experience, which leads to us talking about Unreasonable Hospitality Fantastic book. If you were at conference last year, you know how great of a talk he had, making it nice, and he talks about a couple of experiences that he's been able to do throughout his entire career, but especially at the club, making those moments for members feel special. That's what this is about. That's what we're about is making phenomenal experiences for our members. So we touch about that. We talk about some of the challenges of, you know, managing a club with a country club of York coming up on 125 years or maybe they just had their 125th year, but 125 year old club, you know. So it's, how do you manage a club around that while embracing exciting renovations, new facilities, you know tradition meets innovation and building that culture. How do you really create and build a culture and a team where not just the staff but the members and everybody feels truly connected, making the club feel like that second home. So this is a fantastic episode. I'm excited for you to dive in Total.
Speaker 1:Side note, the Ultimate Club Entertainment Guide is still being worked on, but I am putting a little bit more energy right now into the comedy night blueprints. A lot of clubs have had really bad comedy nights, had off nights, and to me that's just not cool. I don't like when clubs have bad events. Even though I don't do straight stand-up comedy, it's still close to what I do and to me clubs should not have a bad night. So I'm working on and putting out the comedy night blueprint how to have the best comedy nights for your club. It doesn't matter the size, the budget, anything. I'm going in-depth, it's going to be great. If you want early access to it, it should be done, hopefully in the next couple of weeks.
Speaker 1:Head over to privateclubradiocom. Sign up for our newsletter. The box pops right up. Put in your email. I'll make sure that you get it. Big thanks to some of our show partners Kenneth's Member Vetting, golf Life Navigators and concert golf partners, as well as myself. The Denny Corby experience. There's magic, mind reading and some comedy, but not straight standup comedy. The most fun member event night you're going to have. If you want to learn more, head on over to DennyCorbycom. Enough about that, let's get to the episode. Private Club Radio listeners. Let's welcome to the show, andrew Stress. So you've had a pretty, a pretty cool journey in hospitality, from restaurants to clubs. What first drew you to the club industry? Was there a moment where you were like this is where I'm meant to be?
Speaker 2:I think, having dabbled in a lot of those different areas, you obviously come to learn what you like and don't like and as and again, part of me coming back into clubs was COVID related.
Speaker 2:But when I look back at my career to this point, what I enjoy most is that relationship building with the members where you get the opportunity to personalize service and find opportunities to find that shock and awe moment where you can kind of take a little glimmer of something that might seem mundane but to certain people it makes all difference.
Speaker 2:So, for instance, we have some newer members who've been with us for about a year now and something as small as which table and which seats they prefer when they come to have a meal. We had a conversation we have a couple of dining rooms, but we had a conversation a couple of weeks ago and they said you know, we really love this table and in particular, these seats, because we have this vantage point of kind of people watching and it's just a very exciting little corner where, uh, you don't have a lot of attention on you but you get to see it all develop as your meal goes on. And I said well, I can put in your notes that these are the. This is the table and seats that you prefer when you're in this particular dining room, and you know, it happened so long ago that I put it in and, um, they come back and they happen to be having dinner there on new year's eve and the husband of the couple stops me, he goes.
Speaker 2:You know I completely forgot about this conversation that we had a long time ago.
Speaker 2:But we were sitting here and we were like God, we really love this table, he goes. I had to stop and look at my wife and he goes. Andrew did this and she was like he goes. Don't you remember that conversation we had in the other dining room?
Speaker 2:And we're here because you took notice of something that seemingly small, but it made to them, makes to them such a difference and, um, you know, that's just one little thing. But once you get to know them and then maybe you have a new product for food or beverage that you think might excite them or fit what their interests are, and they get oh, my God, you know, this is such a better club because you have a passion for wine, or you just pay attention to the details and make our enjoying, our experience that much better. So it's really just those little nuggets of information that, if you catalog them correctly and the hotel industry does a great job of this with you know, preference of you know linen and pillow and, you know, do you want a high room floor, low room floor near an elevator, away from an elevator, like they?
Speaker 2:they catalog all those things.
Speaker 1:So I've tried to just collect all those best practices and, you know, turn country club new york into the best experience it can be you know it's funny you bring that up because even though I have like so, like you you mentioned that with uh, hotels, I'm like somewhat particular, like I, oddly enough, love hotel rooms low floor, close to the elevator, and I guess no one really likes that, and every time like I there always go. So I have one like right next to the elevator. Do you want I go? Yes, because I hate lugging luggage down a carpeted hallway like it is a bane of my existence. Okay, so like, whenever like that actually happens or they like give it to me, I'm like, oh, thank goodness, um, but yeah, it's so.
Speaker 2:It's those little things that make you go like, ah, they at least they like read, they paid attention, like they just saw it right and when it, when that happens, you're like, gee, this is just pleasant to me, um, whereas my wife and I joke because whenever we always prefer a high floor. But we always end up getting put in like the furthest corner and the furthest top floor and and we laugh about it on the walk there it's like why?
Speaker 1:how does this happen to us every time?
Speaker 2:but we always generally request the high floor just in case there's a view or whatever the case is. But um, and when we were, we had a condo in philly before we moved here. Our walk from the parking lot was so far because it was such a long building that we're just used to it, so we don't mind the walk, but it just makes us laugh every time. We get like, okay, you're gonna go to the top floor or whatever the floor is and you're gonna go down like two or three hallways, and we just laugh at each other when it happens because it's like it's just, it's part of our travel experience not to like defend myself, but normally when I travel it's for like shows and work and stuff oh, I'm sure you have a ton of stuff so to me it's not really that much.
Speaker 1:It's like usually like two pieces of like luggage, but just one of those like I don't know, I don't like waiting. I get like antsy for, like you know, when I have to go to my gigs and do certain things, okay, so I don't want to be like the top floor in the corner and I have to wait for the elevator, I just get like antsy. So like it's why I just want to like all right, I just want to get to the. If it's like you know, vacation stuff, oh, fair game, give me the top, you know, wherever, I don't care, uh, but yeah, when, with you know, working in restaurants, resorts, you know clubs, back to clubs, uh, is there or do you see like a difference in how you can approach creating these experiences in in each of those settings? Do you have more flexibility in clubs to help with that? Do you think, and were you also doing that for guests even when you were back in restaurants?
Speaker 2:Yeah, ironically, one of my members I have now owns a home that's a block away from the hotel I used to run the restaurant in in South Carolina Stop, yeah, small world. So the guy happened to be wearing a Wild Dunes quarter whatever from from down South and I happened to point it out to him. I said you know, I used to run the restaurant and the boardwalk in there. He goes you're kidding, he goes, we have, we, we own grand pavilion home, two, 35 or whatever the number is. I said, oh God, and so then of course we. Then I was like, so you know this person and this person.
Speaker 2:He goes, yeah, we're down there, you know we're renovating it right now, but we're down there, uh, you know the majority of the summer, the majority of the fall, and um, so he, he knows my entire staff I I used to work with before I moved back to pennsylvania and now, every time you, know they go down and come back.
Speaker 2:He goes, oh, you know we know we ran into JoJo the bartender, Leanne the server, and they say hello and it's just a fun banter, I guess, back and forth with you know, how are they doing? Has anything changed? Because I still keep up with some like hotel, I still follow what Hyatt does because I was at a hyatt property where that was and um, so I still follow up on like some of the hotel happenings and whatnot. But that was kind of the and the scariest one I guess. One of the first members I met at a country club of york. You know, oh, where are you from? What do you do? You know where did you come from? And uh, oh, you have a wife, yeah, where my in-laws are outside chicago. You know what do you do for a living?
Speaker 2:Oh, I'm in the knife sharpening business and the the first member, one of the first members of the first dinner services I worked at, um, happened to do business with my father-in-law in chicago. Uh, this company was looking at acquiring his knife sharpening business um years ago and he goes. So I'm like wow, like the six degrees of separation is just wild anywhere. But um, you know that it just becomes a sense of familiarity and, uh, love builds a level of trust Once those like little stories come out or uh, which? So to I guess. To answer your question, um, it happens anywhere, as long as you're willing to have a conversation with someone. It could. It could happen at the, you know, if you're in line at the grocery store and you just strike up a conversation with someone. So I don't think any hospitality transcends, you know. I don't know if you're familiar with, uh, will Garda, um, unreasonable hospitality, I mean Unreasonable Hospitality. Make it Nice, yeah, make it Nice.
Speaker 2:That book in particular and his message about how customer service or hospitality, transcends business. Any business will benefit from better customer service. Any business will benefit from better customer service as long as you pay attention to the details and you look for opportunities to do the right thing or to make somebody's day.
Speaker 2:I think that's what I guess the common element in any hospitality business is is just looking for a reason to make someone's day look a little bit better. Whether that's just a moment the length, yeah. Whether that's a just a moment, you know the length of time that they come in for a meal.
Speaker 1:Or whether it's a stay at a hotel or a resort or wherever you might be traveling uh, when I was just down in the uh bvi we were scuba diving and afterwards I was talking to the one scuba instructor and I was like, oh, like you know where, where you're from, she's like new new zealand, how about you? I was like, oh, pennsy, like you know where, where are you from. She's like new New Zealand, how about you? And I was like, oh, pennsylvania, and she's like, oh, I lived in Pennsylvania for for two summers. I go, oh, where she goes beach Lake. I go, oh, in the Poconos, the summer camps, cause it's just one of those. I just put, like you know, the connection and, just like the, the whole conversation and vibe just totally changed it was yeah, you're my kind of people like I know we share a common thread.
Speaker 2:It was. It's almost scary even sometimes when you're like the story about, like the person that you know, know I connected with from South Carolina and back. And the fact that this guy happened to know my father-in-law. You know, ok, I am in the right place, I am around good people, a level of comfort there that you know, otherwise just anybody that might be kind of passing by yeah.
Speaker 1:So yeah, and in the club you're in now is is pretty cool, cause you're, you're, you're there recent right. It's hasn't been been too too long.
Speaker 2:I just said a year on the eighth. Yeah, so it's 365 days around the sun, but what's, what's what's you know?
Speaker 1:F after has it been, what's it been like um?
Speaker 2:so the culture is great. I think the membership where I am now, compared to maybe some other hotels or other clubs I've been at in the past, there's they want to get to know you just as much as you're there to service them. So there isn't this. Um, you know the negative stereotype would be clubs are stuffy, right, it's like the anti stuffy club, where they want to get to know you. They want to know if you have a significant other kids. You know what are your hobbies, have you been out to? Oh well, if that's the case, let me connect you with so-and-so.
Speaker 2:So when word got out that we have we rescued two cats like all the cat loving members of the club somehow knew and I'll never forget on. We were doing our holiday brunch in december and this one particular family happened to find out we have cats and she happened to. She makes organic catnip and knits these little pouches with catnip in them and like, gave me like five, like a half a dozen to take home so that our cats could enjoy them for the holiday. Like that's the kind of stuff that just blows my mind.
Speaker 1:Their own catnip is just their own homegrown pot it's, it's, it's organic, it's a good you know.
Speaker 2:And and then all of a sudden she's, you know, telling me about all the different uh, you know shelters in the area and, um, you know, there's a rumor that one of our members is, you know, has a bad reputation for abusing animals and like you find out all the crazy dirt. Like she just went down the rabbit hole and like couldn't stop and I'm just like half an hour in, I'm like I gotta let me go check on some other tables.
Speaker 2:So make sure that like brunch is still happening, um, but, like the sweetest people out here, they really are the salt of the earth and, uh, you know they're just as invested in, you know the employee experiences you know, compared to what we're there for professionally to provide a service for them. So it's a pretty unique culture and membership in that regard that they're just as invested in your support and you're going to have bad apples anywhere. But by and large, I mean I thoroughly enjoy working with them and I'm excited about the progress we've made in certain areas and, hopefully, what this renovation will bring for them. Our ballroom is under renovation, the ladies' locker room is under renovation and our pool is currently a pile of dirt that will hopefully become a brand-new pool by Memorial Day pile of dirt that will hopefully become a brand new pool in uh by memorial day.
Speaker 2:So yeah, um, and we're both, you know, reactivating a what was a casual outlet space. It's currently kind of been used as an event venue. Into a couple days a week, we're going to try reactivating that for, like a casual outlet that used to be like the men's only 19th hole and then became a small kitchenette kind of situation when our upstairs restaurant was getting renovated back in 2012. And then COVID kind of killed it and we're bringing it back. So they're excited about that next month, yeah, because it's a very rich historic club.
Speaker 1:It's 125 years.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so the 125th anniversary was last year, so it moved locations in town. It was originally where the York College of Pennsylvania campus is currently, and then they bought a plot of land on this Hill that kind of overlooked the city. Um, and the current building was built in 1928. So pretty, uh, we've built, we've renovated it and added to it since its original building, but, um, it's kind of cool with a big plaque out front, that's, you know, bronze. That's been there since 1920.
Speaker 1:Yeah, has it been tricky at all to keep members on board and excited for some of these major changes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, last year there was definitely a pretty significant divide as to, you know, the younger members that want the new facilities because they anticipate using them for you know a period of time, versus those that have, you know, been there for some of their entire life. And you know I miss when the club used to be and you know I just want it the way it is and I don't want to spend any more money because, whatever reason, we may not be around long enough to see the completion of some of these things.
Speaker 2:But by and large, I think our board, the board president, our general manager, have done a really great job at communicating the vision and the benefits of it and ultimately, um, once the the vote did pass, the pretty significant um, I guess statistic that was. It shows that the level of trust was. You know, we assessed members and about 60% of them paid the entire assessment up front. They didn't, they didn't want to finance it and that's a pretty, pretty big level of trust. Just fund it. It helped us out financially with how much we had to lend from the bank to complete it, but the vast majority of members are on board for it. You can't always please everyone, but I do think that the community sees the value and the stature of the property as a part of their community and they're heavily invested in in keeping it that way for generations, because it's been part of their family lineage that they've been members for.
Speaker 1:so long, yeah, so it's good. So a lot of the members see the big picture. They're excited about it. They're, they're engaged with it. But I think that that also probably comes down to you and the staff also. You know, getting that message across and making making sure that you're excited and know what's going on and communicating properly, and you know that all just helps and adds yeah, I mean it definitely.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it definitely trickles down.
Speaker 2:But if you have a unifying idea that you know we're going to upgrade our facilities and invest in our team and ultimately it's for your benefit, and then attracting new members because of it is only going to benefit everybody, because you know the lifeblood of your club is your members, so the more of them that you have, assuming that your facilities are not beyond capacity, so you know everybody can still get a tea time, everybody can still get a dining reservation court time, you know, at the racket facilities and a chair at the pool court time, you know, at the racket facilities in a chair at the pool, assuming all those things are are growing and it fits the membership needs.
Speaker 2:I mean, ultimately you want to attract other members that are like-minded and and want to take part in that environment. Yeah, um, and then the staff gets excited because they get to work in these new areas that are, you know, the shiny new thing and you know one of our principles that we're always going to look back at are we get stewards of the resources in the facilities from a professional standpoint is, you know you're participating in a very critical chapter in the club's history and building these new facilities to attract new members for generations to come.
Speaker 1:Did you? Did you I don't know, this is like a I don't want to say this as like a negative thing maybe, but with a club as historical as yours 125 years did you expect maybe a little bit more pushback or like, were you guys maybe anticipating more of that, seeing as, like you know, because clubs are all about tradition and you don't get a club to to 125 years by, you know, being like, yeah, whatever, so like, did you expect maybe a little bit of like flack, or or did you have kind of the approach and the game plan already in mind and that kind of helped move it into place?
Speaker 2:I think so we definitely planned on. We definitely planned on a few things. We planned on, you know, it being ultimately successful. We had a bigger scope project.
Speaker 2:We we probably scaled it back by about 50 really uh, initially yeah, initially it was going to be like a bigger uh, probably about a 20 million dollar or so project. That initially got voted down. It was very, um controversial, but it included, um all these types of differences. So it included a brand new build out of a brand new restaurant on our ground floor with with like brand new golf simulator floor with, uh, with like brand new golf simulator um amenities, a brand new pool, brand new ladies locker room, the ballroom upstairs and a couple other little upgrades here and there. But, um, ultimately the pool had to get done. It was built in the seventies. It was 50 years old, it was leaking water, it had a big crack in it, it was leaking chemicals and water.
Speaker 1:So that was like yeah, so that yep.
Speaker 2:So that one that was kind of the unifying theme was the pool has to get done, all these other things that you're trying to add, you know.
Speaker 1:Sorry did me interrupt. So was it? When you say it was cut in half, was it kind of like? You asked the members, like what do you want? And they were like we want this and you're like all right. And then you gave it to them like here's what it's going to cost, and then they were like oh well, we really don't want that.
Speaker 2:Like is that how it sort of went? Like okay, if surveys and focus groups on, hey, we're considering doing renovations, since the last time we did anything major was over 10 years ago, and what are the areas in which you'd be interested in seeing some changes? And the pool was top of the list. List Additional adult and family dining was part of the top five, and then golf simulators was part of that top five, and cosmetic upgrades to our ballroom were part of that top five.
Speaker 2:No particular order. So we put together this grand plan to address all five of those, and then the sticker shock came in, when it was this $20 million deal, and they were like, well, we don't really need golf simulators.
Speaker 2:Nobody's going to use them. Nobody's going to use them. We don't need a brand new restaurant downstairs. We already have one. You just got to reopen it With them not understanding that the kitchen equipment had been stripped out of that years ago, um, and repurposed into either our pool kitchen or the upstairs kitchens and um.
Speaker 2:So we essentially addressed three of the five in a scaled back model, um, and we're going to try to do what we can to reactivate this one space with what we have as is. But you know, and assuming that it goes well in February, then you know it could be an even greater experience. But you guys voted that piece out of the original deal. So we'll do the best that we can. But you know, this is what you guys, you told us that you want, so we're going to try to deliver on that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, so we kind of. You know, once the top five got rounded out, it then became okay, like, how do you make the greatest impact with, you know, the resources on hand? So if they decide down the road they want to, you know, build out another restaurant, sure, we can always go back to it. We already have the planning done, um, but we'll address, you know, the greatest need, and then we'll work on some of the pet projects or, uh, you know, new technologies, things like that, as we go what's it like going from uh you know director of food and beverage to now agm?
Speaker 2:I think the you're just involved in more, you're the face of all things. Instead of just food and beverage, we just brought on a brand new head golf pro, getting him acclimated. And hey, in what areas do you see that you want to make changes to your department since our previous head pro's departure? Same thing with rackets, instead of just you know, when you're thinking of all these big plans to the clubhouse, okay, well, what are we doing to the golf course to improve that experience? And they have.
Speaker 2:We kind of have a annual golf improvement program that tackles like one big thing on the golf course every year and it's named after one of our founders, so the, the C O Mercer Smith project of the year. You know, two years ago it was expanding the large putting green right in front of the clubhouse. Before the, the first T in the halfway house, um, we added one of those giant you know signature clocks that you'll see at some of the um you know signature golf courses around the country. That was a big deal for us this past year. Um, in years past they redid a, a bunker complex on a couple different holes. They redid a t complex as well on the 13th hole. So there's getting more involved in that side of it.
Speaker 2:That's beyond just food and beverage. That is another, you know, drawing factor we have. We have a donald ross golf course, so, um, we're very proud of it. We want to make sure we're keeping the original roots of the initial plan together so that it's as accurate to his vision as possible, without modernizing it, without compromising the integrity of it. And then our Rackets program is growing. So what are the growing needs of that program and how do we upgrade those facilities that are loosely connected to our pool complex? That's getting done this year. What's the next step beyond this? Pool renovation for them, Addressing even simple things like sidewalks and bench areas and shade coverage, if you're outside the growing interest of pickleball and and stuff like that. So it's instead of just food and beverage, you're taking a more global view of the overall needs of the business instead of kind of a specialty area that you know I happen to grow up in, but I still have interest in golf, I have interest in tennis and and the pool and the program, social programming and things like that unexpected.
Speaker 1:what's more, I'm looking for um total brain fart like how did like uh? Going from you know the food and beverage to aging. Like what? Were there any like unexpected challenges you didn't expect?
Speaker 2:or were there any things you were like, oh, didn't, didn't see that coming, or oh, this is a little bit tougher than I thought, or maybe this was a little bit more challenging any of those sort of moments I, I think and I'll always go back to sports analogies because it's kind of how I grew up but you know it's going from being the offensive coordinator to a um, you know, the assistant head coach or the head coach, and I think the things that you comment, like the all the nitty-gritty, like unglamorous things that still have to get done, but you're not always actively part of that decision-making Like insurance policies, risk assessment, so being part of and assessing and addressing things with the safety committee committee, you know what is our documentation process so that we're compliant with workers comp or OSHA standards, things like that that you maybe take for granted until you're the one that's in the decision-making seat and you're like, gee, I was never the decision maker on this before, but now I have something it's important that I need to learn and communicate to the staff so that they understand the quality of the benefit package that they're offered if they're a full-time employee hey, are we being proactive about plowing and salting our areas so that we're preventing slip and falls Stuff that you wouldn't think of.
Speaker 2:If you're not going to be someone who's going to be held accountable for something like that, whether it's a member or an employee or a vendor that's know a food delivery Um.
Speaker 2:I guess, as you get older. I got you know now that I'm um. You know, as you get older, you don't really uh.
Speaker 1:Say your age. You were going to say it.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I'm in my 30s, I still. I still feel young. I'm in my, I'm in my thirties. I turned 33 in November. But you know, as you get older, like the, I guess I'll go back to like the benefit stuff. Like you, don't you don't know what type of you don't? You're always picking the cheapest option when you're in your early twenties for insurance, cause you're young, you're healthy and you think you're invincible. And as you get older and you know your health changes or your family changes, then you're considering oh, I might want to spend a little bit more in these areas that I would have previously, because I'm going to now. I understand the actual benefit to those parts of my life. So you're kind of you're looking for other people's well-being your team members, your vendors more so than you would have previously, or at least you're exposed to those types of risks or impacts and other areas that you wouldn't have thought of otherwise so you're, you're almost thinking a little bit deeper, going one or two steps further.
Speaker 1:So where you would normally stop, you would just go. You start questioning maybe a little bit more, going down a couple more rabbit holes and questioning some more, and just thinking about things a little bit deeper yeah, and, and with your staff, you're always explaining the why you know.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, somebody might get a little nick on their finger from. You know, clearing a plate and a steak knife nicks their hand or something. Oh, it's not that big of a deal. It's not that big of a deal. I don't want to fill out the paperwork and do the preventative workers comp. You know paperwork, you know I'm not. I'm no wussy like, it's just a little cut right and it's like, well, if it gets infected down the road a week, a couple days from now, do you want the club to cover that?
Speaker 2:If you want to go check a doctor out in a couple days, or do you want to be on the hook for that, I would just recommend doing it because it's we're looking out for you, just in case we're looking out for your, your best interests. Yeah, um, for explaining why people should participate in. Yeah, that you know you want to go out and spend on clothes or going out with your friends or whatever, but your older self is really gonna appreciate this when you're ten years down the line and you have nothing saved for your retirement yet. So it's those some, it's those conversations that now that I'm adult and I'm married and those conversations are more meaningful to me, I guess, because you've been there, done that, and and all these kids, you know, like all these teenagers, we have all these teenagers working for us. So it's like, oh, you know, if you only knew what you know. I felt the same way when I was your age, you know.
Speaker 2:So you catch yourself in some of those moments now where you're like, god, I'm definitely not the youngest one of the group anymore, um, but it's it's for good reason and luckily, our board and our the work that our general manager's done you know he just had his 11th 11th anniversary. You know all the legwork he's done just to get it where it is is impressive and um, I'm just happy to be a part of it and learn from him and um be able to have the opportunity to be exposed to those things and maybe make a mistake or two. That um is correctable, you know, and you're not the person in the ultimate driver's seat. You know, and you're not the person in the ultimate driver's seat, um, but just being as proactive as we are in a lot of things and we obviously have a lot of areas for improvement, but, um, when the well-being of your staff and your members is like priority, then a lot of the other stuff just kind of falls in place. So that's what excites me about what I do now.
Speaker 2:I'm learning at such a high level that, when the day comes that I am my own GM of my own club and I'm responsible for all of it, that I've been able to have these conversations ahead of time and not get surprised by something that I should have known prior to taking the next job, or whatever the case is. So it's a great learning environment. Nobody's too humble to admit that they're wrong. It's really just. You know. What are we doing now that make the next person's experience better, and that's for everybody. So you know one of the stats. We just had our annual meeting last Friday. One of the stats our GM was most proud of was of the people who were eligible for our 401k program were at like an 88, 89% participation rate, which is like unheard of, and, like many companies, you have to be there for a year to then be eligible to participate. We have a record number of people participating and the participation rate for those that are eligible is almost 90%, which is really really impressive.
Speaker 1:We're very proud of that. Does that come from you and the team? Like, are you guys educating and talking about it? Is the other staff telling the other staff about it? Like, how does how do you get that to 90%?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I think so. There's quite a few people that have been there, from our administrative team through line level food and beverage staff. Um, there's people that have been there for so long that and that are born and raised York. There's a compared to a bigger city. There's so many people that I work with that are are very proud and they're born and raised from York that they'll take the bartender who's been there 17,. They'll take his advice, thomas, on why you should participate in a 401k.
Speaker 2:Because you know everyone in their family happens to know who Thomas is. So, you know, there's just this like lore of. You know you listen and you pay attention and you know this is what you should be doing. And it's just again that kind of like that blue collar town that, um, you know this is what you should do and this is why and there's an integrity piece behind it and, um, as you get older and you choose to stay in this environment, um, it's kind of a rite of passage.
Speaker 2:Okay, this is what I need to be doing now I've reached a certain age of maturity, or whatever the case is, which is a cool community to be a part of, because when I was working in Charleston, it's grown so much that there's very few people that I came across that were born and raised Charleston, that felt that level of pride in the city. Everyone was from out of town. The College of Charleston, like their biggest student, you know base, is from the Northeast, so it was interesting to come across more people that were from the northeast and from the south and right now I mean you're, you're, you're kind of in the middle of penn state country and we know how.
Speaker 1:So very much I mean I mean, do you guys have a lot of uh alumni pride coming through the uh club? Yeah, so when they uh a lot, of, a lot of disappointed people after, uh, that last game yeah.
Speaker 2:So, uh, let me look back at, because there was a day. There was a day. It wasn't the their most recent game, but it was the game before the cop, like their actual playoff. So when they played boise state, like our club was empty. There was 15 reservations on the books. We had four tables. Those that came in were like where is everyone? We're like well, penn State's on in about an hour. I can't imagine how many members actually went to the game and how many were just hosting watch parties at home and that kind of thing. Ironically, brian, our GM, is an Ohio State grad, so he's like public enemy number one.
Speaker 1:Or he'll rub it in.
Speaker 2:He's been rubbing it in for weeks now. That's funny. When Ohio State beat Penn State, our ground superintendent, same thing Ohio State grads. So the two of them will razzle the members up and get them all riled up about football.
Speaker 1:It's a pretty funny dynamic that they can be. That's what you're about is helping create those experiences, really making that you know second home, and I think that's what maybe not everybody, but that's what I think people come back for. It's I mean that's what gets a club.
Speaker 2:You know what Five years Right and and when. Like around the holidays and all the family from, all over from wherever people are coming together and that Thanksgiving catch up where your uncle's, you know, razzing you about oh.
Speaker 2:I heard you got a new girlfriend. You know you're getting questioned about your grades and you know where are you. Oh, where'd you apply to school and and like those kinds of things. Like those are all the conversations that are happening in a clubhouse, but, and nobody's family. But you have this unifying. You're part of this community and it has that family type, um, dynamic of people kind of just teasing each other at times about whatever. Hey, yo, you're I hear you're interested, or you're you're studying this particular field, hey, let's get you in touch with this.
Speaker 2:These particular members that are already doing that, um, whether it's member or staff, you know those are conversations that are had and um, just for everyone's benefit. Um it it really is a, a social hub, a business hub, almost a political hub for the town, for the city. So I'm sure, once our ballroom is back and brand new, everyone's going to be wanting to host their whatever. You know you name it. We just had a baptism luncheon on Sunday. You know, any of those little family moments that are celebrated with a meal or a party that we are generally that space for them to come, kick back and enjoy, yeah, any.
Speaker 1:Any advice or words for people because in maybe in the restaurants or resort world looking to come into clubs, any advice for those people?
Speaker 2:I mean with that, with as much competition that's out there how many restaurants, how many hotel brands that are, um, you know marketing and lobbying for your attention. You know what are you doing to stand out, to pay attention to the details, to take care of their needs, to make them want to come back tomorrow. So if you, if you think about the uh, any experience with any business where it's like, gee, I hated how I felt or how I got treated, I'm never coming back here again. There's just so much competition out there. If you do it with integrity and you're looking to just make people's day a little bit better so that they want to experience that again, that's ultimately why we get into this business is because it's fun and you're able to make somebody's day.
Speaker 2:You recreate that, you know, go back to unreasonable hospitality, those moments of magic you know you got to. You have to feel passionate enough and care enough about other people to want to go out of your way to make their day. That makes them come back and that once that happens, you know once or twice, like in the moment, momentum's there. Then everybody's doing it for each other and you're just part of. You can feel when you're in a space or community, it just feels special Because everyone's best interests are at heart and it's for the right reasons and it's why we do what we do.
Speaker 2:Reasons and, um, that's why we do what we do. So pay attention and try to make somebody's day is kind of I guess. What I'll I guess I'll go back to is the enjoyment of that. I love what I do and I look forward to sharing that with other people and if they want to participate in that type of environment, I mean, that's that's the most fun and the best part of what we do is being able to serve each other and enjoy doing it.
Speaker 1:I mean, clubs are just adult playgrounds.
Speaker 2:Ultimately. Yeah, I remember interviewing and I told the general manager that I was interviewing with when I was working in hotels. I said I mean other than hotel rooms. I said you have a private resort, you have every other amenity the resort I work at has other than a spa and hotel rooms. So I feel very confident that my experience would transfer over and translate into being an asset for your team and ultimately getting into clubs to do that has been a seamless transition and I would encourage anyone from any hospitality-related business to consider clubs for that reason. You just have a finite amount of people that you're looking to make happy. For that reason, you just have a finite amount of people that you're looking to make happy and being able to see them regularly. You're able to do that more with or as time goes on.
Speaker 1:Well, hey, I want to thank you so much for coming on. You were a great guest and, uh, I appreciate you coming on and sharing some knowledge and wisdom, sharing the story.
Speaker 2:I love what you do with your show and I look forward to watching the rest of the episodes to come hope you all enjoyed that episode.
Speaker 1:If you're enjoying the content, a like, share. Subscribe means the world and costs nothing. Five star rating warms the soul. That's this episode. Until next time, catch y'all on the flippity flip.
