404: Speakeasies, Beach Parties, & Progressive Dinners w/ Gracie Humbert F&B Director

Transcript

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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.

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Whether you're a club veteran just getting your feet wet or somewhere in the middle, you are in the right place.

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I'm your host, denny Corby.

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Welcome to the show.

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In this episode I am chatting with Gracie Humbert, who is director of food and beverage.

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At the time of this recording she was the director of food and beverage at the Hideaway Beach Club, but since the airing now she has taken on a position as the director of food and beverage at the Quarry Beach Club still in the industry, still doing it, still killing it.

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And this is a really cool episode where she discusses the challenges that she faced during the recent hurricane and the hurricane recovery.

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We talk about the unique aspects of working in private clubs and the importance of mentorship in her career, and it's cool because she actually got her start in clubs through a job fair.

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She didn't even know about clubs.

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So we also talk about the cultural insights gained from her time in Ireland and how that relates to clubs and how she took that into the club experience, as well as some of the cool innovative events and initiatives that she has implemented at her club to help enhance the member engagement and really create a sense of community.

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I'm excited to bring her on Before we get started.

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Private club radiocom.

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Big thanks to some of our show partners Kenneth's member vetting golf life navigators and concert golf partners, as well as myself.

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Learn more at Danny Corbycom.

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Enough about that, let's get to the episode.

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Private club radio listeners.

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Let's welcome to the show.

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Director of food and beverage, gracie Humbert.

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Actually funny, I mean.

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So we're down in Naples Marco Island is where our club actually is but I actually just drove up yesterday to Fort Myers and I mean they got it much, much worse than us.

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So we're very lucky down here in Naples and then it seems that on Marco our club is beachfront and we have two miles of private beach and it seems that we got it the worst out of anywhere else on Marco.

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So I don't know, we're kind of it's routine by now, unfortunately, but you know, we kind of know what the deal is when we come back in and we have it kind of down by now.

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So yeah, you, the club, have two miles of beachfront property two miles of private beach.

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That's a lot.

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That's a lot of space.

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It is.

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Yeah, it's not all um.

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I mean, our clubhouse has it's.

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It's also spanned over from all, like the condos and homes that have their own beachfront, but it's all technically owned by our club.

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So that's, impressive.

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That's impressive.

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How's it?

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been?

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You've been at the club for how long?

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Three years now.

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And you found clubs through a job fair like a career fair.

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Through a job fair, like a career fair.

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What would you originally go to school for?

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Well, I was in college for hospitality management but in my head that only meant hotels and restaurants.

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So I didn't actually know what a private club was until I just got to talking to one of the food and beverage directors for club and then he was explaining it to me and obviously I interviewed with them and you know, I went and worked for them and I was like, oh, this is like the best kept secret that I've never heard of.

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I'm not going to restaurants or hotels.

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Do you remember exactly what about the clubs that intrigued you?

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And then what?

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What kept you in?

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I was honestly very intrigued, just because I came up from such a sport family.

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So I mean, between watching golf on the TV as a child and watching tennis on the TV, and we would always go to our neighborhood courts and play, and then I competitively played lacrosse my whole life.

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So what intrigued me so much about it actually was I was like, wait, so I get to serve food and beverage, but in a sport kind of environment.

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That's actually what really.

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I was like that's awesome because I get to talk to the members about golf and tennis, but I'm serving them food.

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I was like that's so rare, like I don't get to do that at a hotel or a restaurant.

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You know everyone has different interests, so that's what really sparked my interest to begin with.

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And then you know just the community that it forms and having regulars and getting to know them is what kept me coming back.

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I guess you could say that's a really cool perspective.

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I did not even think about that, just having that ability to connect with people on that level that you played lacrosse.

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I played lacrosse my whole life yeah.

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That's a very, that's a, that's a wild.

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I was just that.

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You're the second.

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Uh, uh, I was chatting.

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I performing saturday at berkshire country club in redding and paul paul bovenzi, uh, his, we were just talking about his kids and family.

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His nine-year-old daughter plays lacrosse.

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I was like, not field hockey, lacrosse.

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He goes.

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She's the sweetest little girl, but you put her on that field man.

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He's like I don't know who she is yeah, that's what.

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That's what happened to me.

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I think think too, yeah, you come alive, I guess.

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No, it's an awesome sport.

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Do you still play any sports?

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Do you golf?

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Do you still play lacrosse?

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Are you still active?

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Yeah, unfortunately lacrosse you can't play much past college.

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I'd say there's not really a demographic for it, but I've definitely picked up the pickleball and golf is pretty much what I spend my time doing now, or just running and things like that.

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And so what's it like being food and beverage director of food and beverage at a club in Florida in 2024?

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food and beverage at a club in Florida in 2024?

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.

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It comes with its challenges, but honestly, I think it's a really awesome time to be in the hospitality industry in 2024.

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I mean, I feel like ever since COVID that term that people are so sick of hearing but I mean you saw such a dip in the industry and so it's kind of but clubs were the place where, you know, we started to thrive and so I think that it was a super exciting time.

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I mean, that's kind of when I came into my management was in 2020 actually is when I did a manager and training program.

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So I went through the whole kind of lull and then I saw them only going up and up and up.

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So my whole club experience really has been post COVID in management, and it's just been a great time where people, when they find someone in the industry that is, you know, wants to be in it they try to hold on to you, and so it's kind of a benefit in that regard and they want to, you know, teach you everything that they know at least from my perspective for the mentors that I've had and then they want to pour into you and then just the community, too, that you've been able to form with other club managers, so it's been an awesome time so far.

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What have been some of the most impactful takeaways you've've had from mentors?

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Whether it was lacrosse or if it was in the club industry, it was really just them seeing something in me that I couldn't see in myself.

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And now that I'm in my manager role kind of how I'm now reflecting that to people below me I feel like you know I wouldn't say that I am significant.

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I don't just from a confidence perspective, right, I think that when you start anything, you know you have to have the confidence to do it.

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And so just by someone spending a little bit extra time with you or saying, hey, even just pointing out the things that you did wrong, I mean, cause they're taking their time to point out what you could have done better, and that's kind of, you know, inspiring you to go and do it and how you could, you know, look up to them and one day be like them in their shoes if they're a general manager and things like that so just being able to see something in me that I maybe didn't see in myself and giving me the confidence to keep pursuing it.

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That's cool.

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That's cool.

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I was just performing at a club by me yesterday doing a Magic N Mimosas brunch show and, as I was setting up, it was really cute.

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Um, I don't know if cute's the word, but uh, so the the kid must have been fairly new to obviously new to the club, I think just new to food and beverage and hospitality in general.

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He was like a little bit younger and uh, he was like putting out the um uh napkins and the one kid was like hey, just make sure you do it this way, make sure the seam is over here.

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And it was like hey, just make sure you do it this way, make sure the seam is over here.

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And it was like there's a neat little like cute moment that, like I was just setting up, like had my AirPods in but I can still like here Cause they were close by Uh, and to me it probably wasn't like a mentor mentee moment, but just like one of those like little it and like told him how to like do it.

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It was.

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It was really neat.

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Yeah, definitely I feel like it's.

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I mean, everyone reacts to criticism differently, but I feel like I'm definitely motivated by, kind of like if someone tells me a good job, that's great, but if someone's telling me hey, you could be even better next time if you do it this way, like that's what's really sets well in me.

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So yeah, and you also did some time over the pond.

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Sorry, I should have phrased that better.

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You did some time behind bars, right?

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No, you, you, you did.

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Did you do some time over in Ireland?

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Yes, yeah.

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So I got the opportunity to go work over there, which was really cool.

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How long were you there for?

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Seven months in total.

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And then what?

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What was that the plan?

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Just to go over for like a quick stint and then, and then come back.

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What?

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What was that like?

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So I mean, the reason why it came up is kind of I was in my, you know, spring semester, about to graduate college, and I went into my advisor's office, you know kind of a what am I doing with my life?

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Moment.

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I need advice, like what should I go do?

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And she asked if I had studied abroad yet and I said no, you know, studying abroad was pretty expensive.

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Just never did it.

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And she goes well, honestly, you should go work abroad and do an internship abroad, like postgrad.

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She goes, there's no better time to do it.

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I mean, do it now.

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And so I was like, yeah, that sounds awesome.

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So she kind of, you know, I, she had this place in mind and I interviewed with it and I got it and, um, it was a, it was like half golf operations internship and then half food and beverage internship.

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So I just did three and a half months, and three and a half months, um, in the department and it's, you know, five star, one of the best hotels in all of europe, and you know, the golf course.

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They compare it to, um, the masters here in, uh, the us.

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So it was just like one of a kind experience and just got to go work over there and then did a lot of traveling while I was over there, too, on my days off.

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So, yeah, it was really cool.

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What were some of your takeaways from working in Europe and what was maybe some challenges, some differences, what are some things that it?

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Was there anything that you took from you know the States over here and brought with you?

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And then, was there any things that you took from you know the States over here and brought with?

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you.

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And then, was there any things that you brought back?

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Um, I would say that you know well, for one I was a little nervous about being homesick and being around like a different culture, but I have 90% of the guests who go there are American, so that wasn't really an issue.

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So I felt very at home and it was such a small world.

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I mean I ran into people who, like I'd see them wearing a t-shirt from you know that high school that I was rivals with and I'm like it was so crazy, and so it was just like small, small world of like people that I would run into over there, um, and but I feel like you know, what I learned from living in Ireland is just their I mean their ability to make anyone feel welcome and anyone feel at home.

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No-transcript, like I feel like you can walk into somewhere here and it's like you feel out of place and like you should don't belong there, maybe if you don't have all that money, um, but it's just like they're so welcoming, so warm.

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They just want to get to know you and who you are and where you're from, and like that's all they care about.

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So it's just trying to carry that back here to America and to clubs, because I feel like we have the tendency to, like I said, like if you're walking into the Ritz, you know, you just feel kind of uncomfortable, but I feel like in clubs, you know it's people with millions and millions of dollars and you're making them feel at home and like they don't need to wear their nicest jewelry and all that stuff.

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So that's kind of my takeaway.

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Yeah, that's cool.

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That's cool and you, you at your club, you're, you're doing a lot of new things, trying to bring some more energy, some more life into your club, right?

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Yeah.

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So, you know, I feel like we've kind of gone through a transition, I'd say, over the past couple of four years, with our new general manager, who came in four years ago, and then, you know, bringing in a new team and a new perspective into what we can offer our membership I would say that the membership before they weren't unhappy but they didn't know what they didn't have and so being able to kind of bring the experiences from, you know, bringing in managers who have worked all over Florida or the country or the nation and being able to see, okay, we can create something really awesome here for them and there's a desire for it that maybe they didn't even know about, and so being able to, with the new management, new ideas and new events and new ways of just I don't know making it different and making it exciting and just raising the bar.

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So we've kind of been able to do that over the past couple of years.

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What are some of those initiatives, some of those events, some of those things that you've brought on, that the members are like?

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This is amazing.

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I'd say two big things that they look forward to every year and after it finishes they're always like when's the date for the next one?

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Next year it's really our New Year's Eve party.

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We do a huge blowout New Year's Eve party and then we do a huge concert on the beach.

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That is just like there are two favorites right now, and it's just.

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It brings in for our thing.

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For our concert we're up to around 800 people for it now, and for our New Year's Eve party altogether, we're probably doing, I mean, for all night, probably around 900 people.

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So it's just events that they've never seen, events that size before.

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You know, they used to cap it at, say, 300 or 400, or obviously, with Thanksgiving, where you're flipping tables, it's different.

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But for one event happening all at once for 800 people, you know they've never seen that before.

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So, um, one, we're able to do it because we have the staffing for it.

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Now we're able to do it because we have the, the manpower to, you know, set up 800 chairs and tables and things like that.

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Um, that they've just been really, really excited for.

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So when did you start the 900 person Like?

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So that that's a fairly new thing for you in the club.

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So it's just grown every year, I mean.

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So, the first year they did it, I believe it was 2021.

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Oh, so so they didn't even do it before that.

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No, they never had it.

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So 2021 was the first one, and I think I mean I don't know my numbers exactly cause I wasn't there for that one, but I believe that that one maybe was like 300, 400 people.

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So in three years you've grown it 100% year over year.

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That's wild.

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Yeah, so I feel like we've pretty much capped it, like we can't grow much there's no more members left.

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Every member is there that night, like everyone's there, yeah.

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I mean because we have 630 members like households.

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So then times two.

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But you know, they bring in their families, they, they fly them in from out of town.

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Um, and we've pretty much maximized kind of our capacity for that at this point, um, but yeah.

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How do you, how do you get, how do you prepare for that?

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Like that's, that's, that's a lot of people.

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How do you, like how many staff are on that night?

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Like, tell me about new year, like how tell me about that, cause I'm just fascinated.

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That's, that's.

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I think a the growth is tremendous and amazing.

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but how do you, how do you, get ready for that?

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Um, well, again, luckily.

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So, you know, our general manager and our previous clubhouse manager weren't.

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They've seen events like this before, right, so they know, they know what to do.

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Um, but for our New Year's Eve.

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So we have our grill room and our grill room is, um, our fine dining event for the New Year's Eve dinner.

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So that probably maxes out around 150 people, um, and we have, you know, the staff who are designated to working that.

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But at the exact same time, we have our beach party going on for New Year's Eve and that's where everyone else is pretty much.

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So we have tables and chairs out on the beach, we have our DJ on the beach and then our pool deck and one of our restaurants called the Sandbar.

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We completely clear all the furniture and we just add in buffets.

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So we have food stations everywhere, bars everywhere, just to try to appease the masses, and so on.

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Our beach is probably around, I want to say, 700 people in total.

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So we have to do the seating for everyone, making sure that the flows of the buffets make sense, making sure we have enough bartenders.

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So we have been bringing in some temp staffing just for that night.

00:16:51.035 --> 00:17:09.740
And then after that, at 9 PM, is when our after party upstairs opens up, with another DJ in that room, and then that's when everyone is invited, whether you were at the beach party or not, cause if you couldn't get into the event or whatnot, you can just come if you're having your own thing at your house, and that's just kind of open to everyone until midnight.

00:17:09.740 --> 00:17:12.346
And then it's kind of it's just all hands on deck everywhere.

00:17:14.855 --> 00:17:16.980
What time, wow.

00:17:16.980 --> 00:17:19.163
You must be cleaning up till like 6.00 AM.

00:17:20.046 --> 00:17:23.695
That's gotta be wild, probably around three or four, but yeah.

00:17:24.105 --> 00:17:24.930
That's not too too bad.

00:17:24.930 --> 00:17:25.506
What's?

00:17:25.506 --> 00:17:31.731
What's some of the challenges that you've seen trying to do that the new year's eve event with that many people?

00:17:33.506 --> 00:17:38.037
Our challenges have been um, one, the reservation side of it.

00:17:38.037 --> 00:17:41.976
So you know, with it we open up our reservations 30 days in advance.

00:17:41.976 --> 00:17:46.688
Um, and members were getting upset if because we were selling out very quickly.

00:17:46.688 --> 00:17:54.576
So you know we would sell out within, I'd say, a day or two, and you know they're saying you know well, why does so-and-so get to reserve spots for 20 people?

00:17:54.576 --> 00:17:57.179
You know that's not their family, we want to bring in our family.

00:17:57.179 --> 00:17:59.386
So you know, designating okay, what is a family member?

00:17:59.386 --> 00:18:03.654
How many days in advance are you able to reserve for a non-family member?

00:18:04.537 --> 00:18:48.442
So, just like working out the logistics in that way, the cancellation policy logistics and then I'd say the bar logistics, because the way that it was working was, you know, we had riders assigned for the bars and so essentially the bartenders obviously just be giving the members drinks and then just verbalizing the member number because we don't have point of sale systems to ring on the beach and so making that transition to just an all-inclusive open bar, because we just cannot physically meet the demands of trying to write down what everyone is having that was probably the most controversial topics that you could get pushback on, I guess, of members like this is just going to cause too much partying and things like that If it's not contained, if it's just an open bar.

00:18:48.442 --> 00:18:55.468
But you know, assuring them that we would do extra training with our bartenders on when not to, when to stop serving and things like that.

00:18:55.468 --> 00:18:59.582
So that was probably the most I mean as far as getting.

00:18:59.582 --> 00:19:01.267
When we start set up, you know.

00:19:01.267 --> 00:19:06.047
So we decide to close down the beach pretty much four days in advance.

00:19:06.166 --> 00:19:06.449
Now.

00:19:06.449 --> 00:19:11.068
Um, just to start, I mean we have to get the rentals in and we have to put the chairs down, the tables down.

00:19:11.068 --> 00:19:14.760
That just takes a long time to physically do that.

00:19:14.760 --> 00:19:17.269
So kind of the setup process, for sure too.

00:19:17.549 --> 00:19:18.372
So so when?

00:19:18.372 --> 00:19:27.148
So, to go back quick, when it came to the reservations, the 30 days out, the groups, the cancellation policies, what, what do you like?

00:19:27.148 --> 00:19:30.477
What, what processes and what things do you have in place now for that?

00:19:30.477 --> 00:19:31.928
So like, how does it work for the club?

00:19:31.928 --> 00:19:34.836
So, uh, so now if a member comes like how does that work?

00:19:34.836 --> 00:19:38.653
Uh, like, what did you guys do to alleviate that problem?

00:19:38.653 --> 00:19:39.757
Or like, what systems of?

00:19:42.390 --> 00:19:51.224
So, um, we discussed it heavily with our social committee, so we got a lot of input from them as well and what like the feedback that they hear from the surrounding members.

00:19:51.224 --> 00:19:57.431
We rely on them for that, as well as ourselves going out and talking to the membership on kind of what the standards should be.

00:19:57.431 --> 00:20:01.092
So you know, we're still kind of tweaking it every year.

00:20:01.092 --> 00:20:12.575
So we think that this year we might open it up more than 30 days in advance just to relieve some pressure off of our reservationists who take phone calls and emails, because it can just be very overwhelming on the one day that it opens.

00:20:12.575 --> 00:20:21.109
But basically the plan that we implemented last year it might change again a little bit this year was to deem someone a family member.

00:20:21.109 --> 00:20:24.355
They have to be directly correlated to the member.

00:20:24.355 --> 00:20:40.048
Someone a family member, they have to be directly correlated to the member, so that can be daughter, son, their kids are okay, things like that.

00:20:40.067 --> 00:20:47.849
So it's really just if they have friends, the friends, we opened up the reservations for them about two weeks later, and so after two weeks we also implemented our cancellation policy.

00:20:47.849 --> 00:20:53.015
So if they didn't cancel within two weeks of the event, then they'd automatically be charged either way.

00:20:53.015 --> 00:20:59.455
So then that kind of you know, then we're able to look okay, two weeks out, you know, because we have to reserve the things regardless.

00:20:59.455 --> 00:21:04.500
So it's kind of you know, okay, so when are we going to put a hold on this?

00:21:04.500 --> 00:21:09.226
And so with two weeks cancellation out, we would see how many people we actually have and then more people are able to join.

00:21:09.266 --> 00:21:11.751
So you talked about progressive dinners.

00:21:11.751 --> 00:21:14.258
What's a progressive dinner?

00:21:16.325 --> 00:21:16.586
Yes.

00:21:16.586 --> 00:21:31.681
So I mean think of a progressive dinner that maybe I don't know if you would do this in a neighborhood before, but we've had neighborhood progressive dinners where you know you go to one person's house for the starter course, one person's house for the entree course, dessert, so on and so forth.

00:21:31.681 --> 00:21:41.444
So we decided to bring that to our clubhouse to make it fun for our summer membership when we have the staff to do it and when we have the rooms to do it, because not every room is occupied in the summer.

00:21:41.444 --> 00:21:54.030
So you know what we did was we brought in the membership, we capped it around 24 people just for room sizing and we put each course in a different room.

00:21:54.050 --> 00:22:03.188
So the members came in, they were agreed in the lobby with champagne and then we brought them through the kitchen so we showed them our kitchen as service was going on, mind you, for the all cart.

00:22:03.188 --> 00:22:05.375
So it was kind of cool because they were able to see the operation.

00:22:05.375 --> 00:22:12.358
But we gave them just a little pastoral derby in the kitchen and kind of watched them through and had chef explain in that room what was happening.

00:22:12.358 --> 00:22:39.882
Then we walked them over to one of our side rooms which is our called our orchid room and in there they were greeted with another chef who was actively making their salad course so kind of like a live action salad course and then we served it to them in there and we paired it with another beverage and then we brought them to our grill room where they had their entree, and then they were greeted by chef again explaining the dish to them and carving it table side with more wine pairings.

00:22:40.343 --> 00:22:43.692
And then we brought them back to our lobby where they originally started.

00:22:43.692 --> 00:22:46.157
But we had completely transformed at that point.

00:22:46.157 --> 00:22:50.797
So it was kind of that wow factor because they walked in and it was, you know, just kind of how it normally is.

00:22:50.797 --> 00:22:58.538
But then they, when they were brought back into the lobby, we completely, you know, change the furniture, change the lighting, added decor, made it look really cool.

00:22:58.538 --> 00:22:59.666
So they're kind of shocked.

00:22:59.666 --> 00:23:07.361
And then that's where their dessert was being prepared, again live from chef, and kind of explained, and then we had martinis lined up all at the bar for them.

00:23:07.361 --> 00:23:07.825
That's cool.

00:23:07.825 --> 00:23:14.675
So, yeah, it was just something that they had never experienced before and it was a really cool event and great to have their feedback too.

00:23:15.405 --> 00:23:32.836
And you've been using and correct me if I'm wrong but you've been using the off season a little bit to test drive new ideas, different things and kind of just trying it at a smaller level to see, kind of, how it plays and it kind of in was it using, like, more influential members as well, getting them to it.

00:23:32.836 --> 00:23:42.050
So then if it is a good time, like there is some, some legs or is there some juice to it, now you have a, a cheerleader, or you have people who've done it and have some excitement about it.

00:23:42.050 --> 00:23:52.266
So then when it does come about, you know when, like you want to do at a higher level, now you have people who are like oh no, no, you, you got to come.

00:23:52.286 --> 00:23:52.945
It's going to be a great time.

00:23:52.945 --> 00:23:53.326
Exactly, you know.

00:23:53.326 --> 00:23:54.448
I think that it's great to test things in the summer.

00:23:54.448 --> 00:23:58.151
I feel like summer in Florida a lot of times is when people kind of pump the brakes and you know they.

00:23:58.151 --> 00:24:03.737
They say you know we just had a busy season, we're going to relax a little bit, which is awesome, Trust me, we do that too.

00:24:03.737 --> 00:24:11.269
But I think that, you know, we really came into the summer thinking, okay, how are we going to test things out to make it even better for next season?

00:24:11.269 --> 00:24:20.106
So we wanted to plan our calendar, we wanted to get events on there that they've never seen before, and we wanted to do that by first testing it over the summer with a smaller group.

00:24:20.647 --> 00:24:29.440
I think that, you know, our summer members give us a lot of feedback because they're there year round and they're kind of like you don't do anything for us during the summer.

00:24:29.500 --> 00:24:35.047
You know it's just all a cart and we're like, okay, we're going to change that perception and we're going to make it special for them.

00:24:35.047 --> 00:24:44.719
So we put on a ton of pop-up events, whether it was a wine dinners or wine one-on-ones or the progressive dinner or speakeasy and we said, look, we're going to put on all these.

00:24:44.719 --> 00:24:46.922
And we had great turnout for them too.

00:24:46.922 --> 00:25:02.693
We even had some members who kind of saw the marketing that we were doing and they flew in from wherever they were up north just to come down for the weekend, to come to one of our chef's tables or whatever it was, Because we can't physically do all these things during season when we have all of our dining rooms full.

00:25:02.693 --> 00:25:10.602
So they're like if we want to come, we have to come now, and so kind of seeing how we can add those back into the calendar and allow more people to come during season, Cause we had really great feedback.

00:25:10.842 --> 00:25:11.583
That is so cool.

00:25:11.583 --> 00:25:17.667
That has to be a great feeling for like you and the club and everybody's going like they're flying in just for our little chefs.

00:25:17.667 --> 00:25:18.529
That's so cool.

00:25:18.529 --> 00:25:19.451
That's so cool.

00:25:19.451 --> 00:25:25.766
And to get people to come back from the north to Florida in the summer, that's a huge accomplishment, congrats.

00:25:26.507 --> 00:25:27.990
Exactly, exactly.

00:25:27.990 --> 00:25:29.511
It was a really great feeling.

00:25:29.511 --> 00:25:34.119
So overall it was a great summer and we're excited to add some of the events back for the season too.

00:25:38.500 --> 00:25:38.903
That's awesome.

00:25:38.903 --> 00:25:41.105
Anything else you want to add?

00:25:41.125 --> 00:25:46.692
talk about any cool stuff you're working on Anything that got you excited, on Anything's got you excited.

00:25:46.692 --> 00:25:47.853
I think you know post hurricane prep.

00:25:47.853 --> 00:25:50.635
I think that you know us as a club and our team.

00:25:50.635 --> 00:25:55.402
You know, for better or for worse, these hurricanes that we go through.

00:25:55.402 --> 00:26:06.030
They more or less bring us together and it's cool to see you know we come in and whatever dirty clothes we have and you know we're slucking mud and everything and then we feed the members lunch every day just on the grills.

00:26:06.070 --> 00:26:15.310
Since we were out of power for a while I think we actually just got it back this weekend but it's just cool to see us all come together and I feel like it's a great kickoff for season as well.

00:26:15.310 --> 00:26:29.648
So just really looking forward to that and kind of how we can make you know that community feel and that home feel and being an extension of the members home is really what we're always striving for and working for and creating that like world-class member experience.

00:26:29.648 --> 00:26:37.655
I mean we have members who are very well-traveled and they provide really great feedback that we're kind of doing things better than they've seen overseas.

00:26:37.655 --> 00:26:44.693
Or you know they've seen some of the coolest, nicest hotels and resorts and just that they still just want to come to hideaway because they love it so much.

00:26:44.693 --> 00:26:47.218
So, yeah, it's just a great feeling.

00:26:49.441 --> 00:26:54.670
Any season plans or events or things you have planned that you're super stoked about or that the members are excited about.

00:26:57.455 --> 00:26:59.266
Again just trying to add in these events.

00:26:59.266 --> 00:27:04.871
So we started the new series of our chef's table where they actually dine in the kitchen, which we had never been able to do before.

00:27:04.871 --> 00:27:06.413
So great feedback on those.

00:27:06.413 --> 00:27:10.152
Definitely want to add some of those to the calendar, more of the progressive dinners.

00:27:10.152 --> 00:27:26.480
And then a really, really awesome one was our speakeasy where we transformed our storage basement area where we keep tables and chairs, added some string lights and up lights and cool kind of dungy decor and they had to knock on the door for a secret password and all that stuff.

00:27:26.480 --> 00:27:34.048
So just those little events are really kind of, I feel, like what makes the difference that we're able to do so looking forward to that.

00:27:34.289 --> 00:27:37.252
Before we wrap up, why don't you tell me about the speakeasy event?

00:27:37.252 --> 00:27:43.155
Cause you were talking about that before, but I love the speakeasy feel, the vibe, all that.

00:27:43.155 --> 00:27:45.310
So what was fun about that?

00:27:45.310 --> 00:27:45.992
Tell us about that.

00:27:45.992 --> 00:27:46.193
What.

00:27:46.193 --> 00:27:46.756
What else did you do?

00:27:46.756 --> 00:27:49.989
Like what little cool quirks and things, and yeah, yeah.

00:27:51.424 --> 00:28:01.290
So, again, since we're right on the beach, our, our main floor, right when you walk in, is just our storage, and then our for our member dining room actually starts when you walk into the lobby.

00:28:01.290 --> 00:28:02.752
It's just stairs right away that go up.

00:28:02.752 --> 00:28:10.630
So downstairs in our storage you know members don't go in there it's, you know, just everything for wine storage, beer, all that stuff.

00:28:10.630 --> 00:28:18.334
But we were walking around it as a management team one day and someone we have air conditioning down there, so it's air conditioned.

00:28:18.334 --> 00:28:24.013
And someone was like, well, why don't you know we're trying to come up with these cool ideas again for our summer membership of what we can do.

00:28:24.013 --> 00:28:24.595
That's different.

00:28:25.056 --> 00:28:26.906
And so I was like well, why don't we just do something in this room?

00:28:26.906 --> 00:28:31.450
And you know, we're all looking at it and we're like this is where our dance floor is and our stage and our.

00:28:31.450 --> 00:28:34.057
You know we have to move all these chairs, all these tables.

00:28:34.057 --> 00:28:42.380
And we're like what do you mean?

00:28:42.380 --> 00:28:55.450
And were like you know, we can totally transform the room, we can cap it around 22 people, we can have the chef come and describe each course and we can have a bar in this corner over here and we can be making the drinks, table side, things like that.

00:28:56.212 --> 00:29:00.405
So it was really just with other people spewing ideas of the decor they wanted to buy.

00:29:00.405 --> 00:29:09.460
We got costumes for the staff with that kind of like 1980s feel, and we were just able to.

00:29:09.460 --> 00:29:15.440
We got a live pianist to come down there, which was just really cool.

00:29:15.440 --> 00:29:24.191
So we texted the members on the day of and we said you know, look for this sign, which was a wanted sign of our general manager.

00:29:24.191 --> 00:29:30.586
And they go, you know when you, when you see that sign, knock on the door and then say the secret code and someone will let you in.

00:29:30.586 --> 00:29:43.575
Um, so then we were standing there and we would open the door and lead them into the room and they were just, I mean, they were like we've never even known that this place existed and they were just kind of blown away and they had so much fun and they were there all night and they're like you need to do this.

00:29:43.575 --> 00:29:49.064
You know, every friday we're like, well, I don't know about that, but that's so cool.

00:29:49.104 --> 00:30:02.045
We'll definitely try to do it again next time, what you need to do is try to get like local police to come and like bust the, bust the speakeasy or something, or have like people dressed up as police and come.

00:30:02.045 --> 00:30:03.226
I'd be like this thing is busted.

00:30:03.226 --> 00:30:04.446
Go like I Like I don't know.

00:30:04.446 --> 00:30:09.512
Gracie, thank you so much for coming on.

00:30:09.512 --> 00:30:10.614
I really, really appreciate it.

00:30:11.394 --> 00:30:12.676
Yeah, thank you so much for having me.

00:30:12.896 --> 00:30:14.238
Hope you all enjoyed that episode.

00:30:14.238 --> 00:30:16.641
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00:30:16.641 --> 00:30:21.829
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00:30:21.829 --> 00:30:22.471
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00:30:22.471 --> 00:30:26.527
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00:30:26.527 --> 00:30:28.811
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00:30:28.811 --> 00:30:30.155
That's this episode.

00:30:30.155 --> 00:30:33.308
Until next time, I'm your host, Danny Corby.

00:30:33.308 --> 00:30:35.073
Catch y'all on the flippity flip.