423: From Theater to Fine Dining: Sam Ohnesorge on Crafting Memorable Club Experiences

Transcript

WEBVTT

00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:14.683
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.

00:00:14.683 --> 00:00:20.362
Whether you're a club veteran just getting your feet wet or somewhere in the middle, you are in the right place.

00:00:20.362 --> 00:00:22.086
I'm your host, denny Corby.

00:00:22.086 --> 00:00:23.609
Welcome to the show.

00:00:23.710 --> 00:00:48.284
In this episode I am chatting with my new friend, sam Onusorgi, who is the director of food and beverage at Aaron Hills in Wisconsin, and what a wonderful story and journey he has taken from a musical theater major dreaming of Broadway to becoming a certified sommelier and leader in some of the most prestigious clubs in the country.

00:00:48.284 --> 00:01:01.286
Aaron Hills is a really cool and very fascinating unique club that is open to the public and they do more in F&B in about four or six months than most clubs do in an entire year.

00:01:01.286 --> 00:01:08.671
But we're diving into how Aaron Hills creates a member for a day type of experience.

00:01:08.671 --> 00:01:16.847
We talk about the importance of personalized service, the magic of hosting unforgettable events like the US Women's Open they have coming up.

00:01:16.847 --> 00:01:26.650
Plus, he has some fantastic stories about mentorship, wine and what it's like to work at a club that blends Midwest charm with high-end luxury.

00:01:27.180 --> 00:01:29.088
This is a great episode, great conversation.

00:01:29.088 --> 00:01:31.542
Cannot wait for you to dive in Before we do.

00:01:31.542 --> 00:01:39.524
Big thanks to some of our show partners Kenneth's member vetting, concert golf partners and golf life navigators, as well as myself.

00:01:39.524 --> 00:01:41.963
The Denny Corby experience there's excitement, there's mystery.

00:01:41.963 --> 00:01:43.028
Also there's magic.

00:01:43.028 --> 00:01:48.676
If you're looking for one of the most fun member event nights your club can have, check out DennyCorbycom.

00:01:48.676 --> 00:01:51.727
So, private Club Radio listeners, let's welcome to the show.

00:01:51.727 --> 00:01:53.451
Sam Onasorgi.

00:01:53.680 --> 00:01:57.290
Fortunately I saw you're going to the Midwest regional one.

00:01:57.290 --> 00:01:58.504
Yeah, over in, is it?

00:01:58.564 --> 00:01:59.528
Illinois, this year I think.

00:01:59.528 --> 00:02:00.704
I think last year was Minnesota.

00:02:00.980 --> 00:02:02.242
Yeah, it's right outside chicago.

00:02:02.242 --> 00:02:07.682
Yeah, um, I've got I'm out of town that week, but it was a fun time.

00:02:07.682 --> 00:02:09.667
It's gonna be a blast actually.

00:02:09.727 --> 00:02:11.651
Yeah, those are always fun.

00:02:11.651 --> 00:02:16.243
Um, how do you pronounce your last name?

00:02:17.104 --> 00:02:28.683
ona sorgi, so it's actually german, like the german sorgi yep, the german pronunciation is onaazori and it means without worry, so no worries.

00:02:28.683 --> 00:02:32.250
Hakuna matata, that's basically by mantra.

00:02:32.250 --> 00:02:35.219
The german hakuna matata and anyone that knows me.

00:02:35.219 --> 00:02:41.306
They're like oh it's 100 fitting for sam say it again onus sorgi onusasorgi.

00:02:41.626 --> 00:02:47.951
Oh, so the H is kind of silent oh no, no no, well, not really Ona, oh, okay.

00:02:49.032 --> 00:02:50.835
Yeah, onasorgi.

00:02:50.895 --> 00:02:53.540
Yeah, harji, yeah, my.

00:02:53.540 --> 00:02:57.830
When I see a name, my brain just goes you're screwed yeah.

00:03:00.221 --> 00:03:01.622
I mean I've gotten all pronunciations.

00:03:01.622 --> 00:03:09.919
I remember there was one time growing up playing sports in high school when it somehow came out like it was like Japanese and I was like I don't know where that came from.

00:03:10.060 --> 00:03:11.983
It was like Onosaki and I'm like what is?

00:03:11.983 --> 00:03:18.673
Going on right now Yo that is funny, that is good, that is good.

00:03:21.061 --> 00:03:22.246
It's never pronounced right.

00:03:22.246 --> 00:03:29.765
It took me to turn like 14 before I could spell it right I remember.

00:03:30.165 --> 00:03:45.510
So in in pennsylvania, where I'm at scranton, we used to have the area code 717 and then I forget how old I was and they were like, because of like so many numbers and they expect we're, you know this, your area is now going to be like five, five, seven, zero.

00:03:45.510 --> 00:03:46.193
I think.

00:03:46.193 --> 00:03:48.217
I was like I don't know like eight or something.

00:03:48.217 --> 00:03:48.457
I don't.

00:03:48.457 --> 00:03:55.668
I don't want to say too, too, too young or too old, but I remember they changed and I was like how am I gonna like I just learned my phone number.

00:03:55.668 --> 00:03:57.554
How am I gonna like this?

00:03:57.633 --> 00:04:01.302
this update just ruins everything that's like you lose the cloud.

00:04:01.302 --> 00:04:02.645
You're like I don't know a single per.

00:04:02.645 --> 00:04:07.873
I think I could maybe name three phone numbers in my phone, like off the top of my head.

00:04:07.894 --> 00:04:12.770
I think I know three of them I thought about that, that recently I was going through my head I'm like, would I be able to?

00:04:12.770 --> 00:04:15.909
And I was like five, seven, and I was going through like, was it this or this?

00:04:16.560 --> 00:04:20.869
it was like, oh my god, like this is embarrassing yeah, well, it's like going to get one call in jail.

00:04:20.869 --> 00:04:23.372
I'm like I just need to remember a phone number to make the call.

00:04:23.372 --> 00:04:25.958
Like I don't think I would know if I was in jail ever.

00:04:25.958 --> 00:04:30.209
I was like I don't know who I would call because I know, I swear to God, I have three phone numbers in my phone.

00:04:30.209 --> 00:04:31.291
That's so funny.

00:04:31.500 --> 00:04:33.925
Thank you for coming on, thanks for being on the show.

00:04:33.966 --> 00:04:35.470
We're going to have a fun chat.

00:04:36.052 --> 00:05:26.367
I mean, we already had a fun chat, because our first conversation was a blast Probably more more laughs than I'd like to, to admit, but no, it was just a really cool fun story of lateral moves, which which I don't want to say are important, but are just just just happen and moves or moves, but, but from the lateral move and then also from just going from private clubs to now a public club, that that I want you to talk about, because you have so much cool stuff going on there, so much is happening in a short amount of time, because it's only open for you know, a certain amount of time, but you pack a lot into it and giving people and you you've phrased it beautifully, which is giving people the private club experience who might not have access or the ability to have it, but just a beautiful club.

00:05:26.367 --> 00:05:31.649
But give us, give us a quick update of your background what, what got you?

00:05:31.649 --> 00:05:33.947
You know the 30,000 foot foot view.

00:05:33.947 --> 00:05:37.829
You know what got you into clubs and what, what, what got you to here?

00:05:38.779 --> 00:05:47.182
Yeah, so I was I think we talked briefly last time too was I was a musical theater major in college and I had no clue what I was going to do.

00:05:47.182 --> 00:05:52.543
You know, wanted to be the big Broadway star and kind of realized quickly that that wasn't going to happen.

00:05:52.543 --> 00:06:03.846
Um, not that I was not good or anything, not, I don't know how to toot my horn but um, realized it wasn't like a path I wanted to take and was going into my senior year, had no clue what I wanted to do.

00:06:03.846 --> 00:06:09.192
No, I loved the game of golf and enjoyed working in the food and beverage side.

00:06:09.192 --> 00:06:12.523
You know, kind of growing up bartending, serving everything like that.

00:06:12.523 --> 00:06:15.711
And one of still my best friends today, sarah mcguire.

00:06:15.711 --> 00:06:20.108
She's the clubhouse manager out at southampton bath and tennis.

00:06:20.108 --> 00:06:26.552
We were in college at the time and she's like hey, we've got this trip with our CMA group for the UW Stout chapter.

00:06:26.552 --> 00:06:28.644
You know, everything's paid for.

00:06:28.644 --> 00:06:33.725
All you have to do is pay for your plane tickets, so your lodging is taking care of everything.

00:06:33.786 --> 00:06:37.766
I'm like OK, it's spring break, this was the conference down in San Antonio.

00:06:37.766 --> 00:06:39.750
I said what do I have to lose?

00:06:39.750 --> 00:06:48.172
So I jumped on a plane, had no clue what I was getting into, walked in blind to my you know, the CMA conference.

00:06:48.172 --> 00:06:49.036
They're like, oh, it has to be suit and tie.

00:06:49.036 --> 00:06:51.305
I don't think at that point I owned a suit or maybe even a tie.

00:06:51.305 --> 00:06:56.822
So I remember I went down to, like the local thrift store and I was like I just need a suit.

00:06:56.822 --> 00:07:02.913
Did not fit Like it was totally way too big, but I was like I need a suit, I need a tie.

00:07:02.913 --> 00:07:10.880
I was a college kid, I was broke, got on this plane to San Antonio, texas, and the first night everyone I was with was like, oh, we're gonna get some rest.

00:07:10.880 --> 00:07:13.569
You know they're really nervous for this club managers conference.

00:07:13.569 --> 00:07:14.151
You know it's a big.

00:07:14.151 --> 00:07:19.444
You know, as I see now, it's like a big time for students to get internships or jobs or anything out of school.

00:07:19.444 --> 00:07:24.709
And I'm like I'm in San Antonio on spring break, like I'm going to, I'm gonna go have a couple of drinks, like I'm going out of the town.

00:07:24.709 --> 00:07:41.581
Um, I sat at a bar and sat next to at the time who was the assistant manager at Chinook Hills and I didn't know it, and we sat and chatted for three, four hours and just you know, I remember he ordered a Patron silver on the rocks and I'm like, well, and I'm like, well, that's a drink.

00:07:41.581 --> 00:07:44.742
And then we just chatted, we sat and talked, never came up.

00:07:44.742 --> 00:07:46.223
What are you in town for?

00:07:46.223 --> 00:07:47.384
You know what brings you here.

00:07:47.384 --> 00:07:50.026
And then we kind of left that night.

00:07:50.346 --> 00:07:55.329
The next day I walk into the conference and he's like I want you on my team.

00:07:55.329 --> 00:07:58.509
He's like I'm offering you a job, I don't need to interview you.

00:07:58.509 --> 00:08:02.052
He's like I want you as a person, I'll teach you everything you need to know.

00:08:02.052 --> 00:08:09.375
And obviously I knew like Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, right Growing in the golf world, and I remember I walked out and I called my dad.

00:08:09.375 --> 00:08:13.976
I was like Dad, I already accepted a job at this small semi-private course in Wisconsin.

00:08:13.976 --> 00:08:16.317
I don't know how to tell him no or what do I do.

00:08:16.317 --> 00:08:30.487
And he's like it's Shinnecock Hills, like you get on a plane and you go to the Hamptons and you'll figure it out.

00:08:30.487 --> 00:08:40.581
So I went out to the Hamptons, had no clue I'm from a town of 4,000 people in Wisconsin and I walk in, I get off the airport, he picks me up from the airport and I'm all of a sudden in like the Hamptons and I'm thinking like white chicks, like all that stuff you think of the Hamptons.

00:08:40.581 --> 00:08:43.244
It's nothing like that at all.

00:08:45.446 --> 00:08:51.850
And the first night we had like a wine dinner for like 150 people and I kid you, not my manager.

00:08:51.850 --> 00:08:52.851
He looked at me.

00:08:52.851 --> 00:08:54.273
He's like all right, sam, start opening wine.

00:08:54.273 --> 00:08:56.975
And I looked him like dead in the eye Again.

00:08:56.975 --> 00:08:59.697
I was like he's like you don't know how to open a bottle of wine.

00:08:59.697 --> 00:09:03.745
I was like you told me to teach me everything.

00:09:03.745 --> 00:09:06.051
So he started, just he's like here, go, go, go.

00:09:06.051 --> 00:09:13.548
And like after that first night kind of just fell in love with not only food and beverage but wine in general.

00:09:13.548 --> 00:09:17.784
Kind of took that education, ran with it, advanced on the sommelier court of sommelier side.

00:09:19.520 --> 00:09:20.807
I was in the Hamptons for four years.

00:09:20.807 --> 00:09:22.205
I loved every second of it.

00:09:22.205 --> 00:09:45.144
It is as beautiful as people think it is, played some amazing golf courses and then I was at the point where Shinnecock Hills was a seasonal club, so they're on the open end of May till election day and then they shut down and they are a place that is straight golf and lunch, no breakfast, no dinner.

00:09:45.144 --> 00:09:51.828
We would do private dinners and such every once in a while, but it wasn't a massive food and beverage operation.

00:09:51.828 --> 00:09:53.177
They were strictly.

00:09:53.177 --> 00:09:54.582
They knew what they were really good at.

00:09:54.582 --> 00:10:01.403
They were a really good golf club and it was awesome but wanted more and we had the US Open in 2018.

00:10:08.674 --> 00:10:12.832
And a gentleman by the name of Will Duthie, who at the time was the GM of Columbia Country Club in Washington DC, was a really good friend with my GM at the time, nick Conlon.

00:10:12.832 --> 00:10:14.136
He came up and helped out for the week.

00:10:14.136 --> 00:10:15.760
He was just a helping hand.

00:10:15.760 --> 00:10:36.605
I mean, there was one day where you know, us Open security is tight and one of our famous drinks the Southside uses a lot of mint and I'm like I swear I ordered enough mint for literally like 17 weeks and we were out of mint and I told Will I was like I need you to go to the grocery store and smuggle mint in here, like I need you to put it in your trunk and get through security.

00:10:36.605 --> 00:10:41.759
And he got in his car, went to like every grocery store in the area, brought back mint and we got it in.

00:10:41.820 --> 00:10:48.707
And two weeks later he called me up and he's like hey, I spoke with Nick and, if you want, like I would love to have you as part of my team.

00:10:48.707 --> 00:10:49.408
I know you're kind of.

00:10:49.408 --> 00:11:12.264
We talked about how you're looking for something more and you know so, flew down to the DC area, checked it out, loved it, loved the vibe, and then ended up taking the job and moving down there and that's going from, you know, shinnecock Hills Golf Club serving lobster BLTs and fescue rescues to Columbia Country Club in DC that you know, on a regular night you'll have five, six banquets going on.

00:11:12.264 --> 00:11:18.043
We had three restaurants that served out of one kitchen that was about the size of maybe a half a kitchen.

00:11:20.477 --> 00:11:23.385
You just kept being like thrown into, like the lion's den.

00:11:23.505 --> 00:11:27.403
Yeah, from one extreme to like the next.

00:11:32.554 --> 00:11:33.418
Yeah, and kind of fell in love with it.

00:11:33.418 --> 00:11:36.971
I mean, that was that columbia country club is a 12 month operating club.

00:11:36.971 --> 00:11:39.260
You know their busiest food and beverage month is december.

00:11:39.260 --> 00:11:48.043
You know, between christmas parties, the restaurants all three of them rock and roll and you know, christ Christmas day, we're doing 1400, 1500 people for a buffet.

00:11:48.043 --> 00:11:53.490
Um, and really learned a ton there and learned a ton underneath will as well.

00:11:53.490 --> 00:12:14.265
And then, uh, this was now three years ago, will myself, uh, and the management team had been working on this, uh, capital improvement to renovate the clubhouse and roughly say, a 15 million dollar project, um, and it passes with like a 93 approval from membership.

00:12:14.265 --> 00:12:15.831
You know, 1500 members too.

00:12:15.831 --> 00:12:16.634
Like that's impressive.

00:12:17.578 --> 00:12:18.984
And will goes, hey, let's go grab a beer.

00:12:18.984 --> 00:12:22.355
And I'm like, yeah, let's go grab a beer, celebrate this just passed.

00:12:22.355 --> 00:12:23.057
And he sits down.

00:12:23.057 --> 00:12:27.197
He's just like white in the face and he's like I took another job and I'm like what?

00:12:27.197 --> 00:12:29.924
Like I never would have expected it.

00:12:29.924 --> 00:12:50.986
I mean, everyone there would have thought will would have been there for you know the rest of his career, um, and he moved up to round hill club and unfortunately didn't have the opportunity to go with him, um, and so I'm like, well, I'm going to sit through this renovation, get through it and learn some things, as I kind of again thrown into the lion's den like, here we go, sam, figure it out.

00:12:51.548 --> 00:12:59.216
Um, and then a week later I got a call from Aaron Hills and they're like hey, your name's been thrown around, are you interested?

00:12:59.216 --> 00:13:00.822
We're looking for a director of food and beverage.

00:13:00.822 --> 00:13:07.347
Um, and I'm originally from Wisconsin and there aren't a ton of you know, private clubs in the state of Wisconsin.

00:13:07.347 --> 00:13:09.934
It's not a big industry in the state of Wisconsin.

00:13:09.934 --> 00:13:21.485
I didn't even know about it until I went down to San Antonio and flew out here, stayed overnight on property and I remember I woke up at like 5 am just to see the kind of property come to life.

00:13:21.735 --> 00:13:28.489
And it's a pretty amazing property 650 acres, one 18-hole golf course, no pool, no spa.

00:13:28.489 --> 00:13:30.260
We've got a dining room.

00:13:30.260 --> 00:13:35.847
We serve breakfast, lunch, dinner and then we do events as long as they're tied to golf.

00:13:35.847 --> 00:13:41.434
And it went back to kind of like that five months we are busy from May to October.

00:13:41.434 --> 00:13:53.345
We do about $2.1 million in food and beverage alone in that month, in those months, and then we shut the doors and we don't open until next May.

00:13:53.345 --> 00:13:58.402
So getting that, you know there were some personal things going on with my family.

00:13:58.402 --> 00:14:10.941
That was just a time to get closer to home was the first real time that I took a lateral move, probably to just get closer home and get closer to family, and I wouldn't change it for anything.

00:14:11.743 --> 00:14:12.804
Yeah, I mean you.

00:14:12.804 --> 00:14:16.142
It sounds like you have a pretty, pretty decent schedule and like the club is amazing.

00:14:16.142 --> 00:14:19.096
I mean to do those sorts of numbers some clubs don't even do that.

00:14:19.096 --> 00:14:22.100
You know, in in a 12 month period.

00:14:22.100 --> 00:14:24.585
Um, you know the uh, um, the CMAA and NCA and club benchmarking did the did a study.

00:14:24.585 --> 00:14:29.370
There's only you know the, the CMAA and NCAA and club benchmarking did the did a study.

00:14:29.370 --> 00:14:37.941
There's only, you know, of the clubs there's, you know there's only a handful that make it over like a million dollars, like a year, and that's and that's like everything.

00:14:37.941 --> 00:14:39.442
So you guys do that just in food and beverage.

00:14:39.442 --> 00:14:40.698
You're not even open for others.

00:14:40.698 --> 00:14:41.360
That's an.

00:14:41.883 --> 00:14:51.160
that's impressive your is your lodging is that open all, all year long, or is it?

00:14:51.160 --> 00:15:16.291
Everything shuts, yeah, everything shuts down and kind of the crazy when you get into, like the, and that was the other piece that I kind of wanted to learn about when I moved here and that doesn't fall, you know, necessarily under my responsibilities or my roles, but I wanted to learn the lodging side because I've never, I've never been with it on um the private and so we surprisingly had, I think last year, finished at about a 98% occupancy rate, which is we're pretty much full every night.

00:15:16.695 --> 00:15:26.289
And the weird things is the days that we aren't for, like July 4th, Memorial Day, Labor Day when all these other clubs are crazy busy we are extremely slow.

00:15:28.400 --> 00:15:29.287
But the lodging side.

00:15:29.287 --> 00:15:33.539
So we have five, four bedroom cottages and then we have an 11 bedroom lodge.

00:15:33.539 --> 00:15:46.107
So roughly, um, you know, on a regular night we'll have 50 to 60 ish people staying over um and creates that really intimate feeling.

00:15:46.107 --> 00:15:51.407
You know we could bust open another 30 bedroom hotel, yeah, but we don't want to.

00:15:51.407 --> 00:15:55.145
We want it to have that intimacy, we want it to feel like a private club.

00:15:55.145 --> 00:15:57.764
We don't want to be turning and burning tables.

00:15:57.764 --> 00:16:11.922
We want people, if they sit down at five o'clock and want to sit there for four and a half hours, like, let's, let them sit there and enjoy the sunset and the view for four and a half hours you know that that is a, that is something to be said.

00:16:12.462 --> 00:16:23.787
Um, because I think, whether people know it or not, sometimes, and even if they don't have to like flip a table, like they, they give you that like feeling of you know, like do I have to?

00:16:23.787 --> 00:16:24.489
Like leave?

00:16:24.489 --> 00:16:29.778
Like some people just give it off, that vibe, like I think we have to go, like they want this out, but that is so.

00:16:29.778 --> 00:16:31.683
Is that giving them the stink eye Like let's go?

00:16:31.683 --> 00:16:40.765
So is that like instilled into the staff, like don't rush.

00:16:40.765 --> 00:17:08.737
Like you know, obviously, if you want to get people's meals out accordingly, but like actually, I should say too, that's one thing I always appreciate is that at a really good restaurant, when the server can like watch and almost like feel, like you know, sometimes, like everything just comes out like it's not timed well, but like you just go to certain restaurants like it's just a really, it's just almost like a seamless, like right, as you're about to question where the food's at, like everything just comes at like the perfect time.

00:17:09.238 --> 00:17:11.624
Um, so is that part of the training there too?

00:17:11.624 --> 00:17:14.340
And kind of with the staff, like hey, listen, people are here for a good time.

00:17:14.340 --> 00:17:20.162
This could be their first time and their last, whatever, but like you just give them that like world-class experience.

00:17:20.162 --> 00:17:21.065
Like don't rush them.

00:17:21.065 --> 00:17:22.076
This is not churn and burn like.

00:17:22.076 --> 00:17:23.097
Is that part of the culture?

00:17:23.097 --> 00:17:23.779
Is that part of?

00:17:24.160 --> 00:17:26.766
yeah, so so our it's, I guess, a little bit differs.

00:17:26.766 --> 00:17:30.779
Our, our, our lunch is very, um, fast, casual.

00:17:30.779 --> 00:17:43.142
It's like sandwiches, salads, you know people are either they had too late of a night and they're late to the first tee, so they're looking for a sandwich in two minutes or they're grabbing a bite before they have to go hit a plane.

00:17:43.142 --> 00:17:47.028
Um, so lunch is kind of very, you know, fast, casual, more or less.

00:17:47.028 --> 00:18:00.327
And then we get into dinner, and dinner is interesting because a lot of golf resorts or public resorts they may be a public resort but anyone could come in from down the road and come have dinner at their property.

00:18:00.327 --> 00:18:09.281
Where, at Aaron Hills, you can only dine with us at Aaron Hills if you're staying or playing on the T-sheet that day.

00:18:09.281 --> 00:18:14.988
So people down the street aren't picking up for a Saturday night reservation at 7 o'clock to celebrate an anniversary.

00:18:15.816 --> 00:18:22.689
The number of times I get that if someone finds out I'm from Aaron Hills and they're like well, you used to be open to the public.

00:18:22.689 --> 00:18:24.596
When is that going to happen again?

00:18:24.596 --> 00:18:25.757
Never.

00:18:25.757 --> 00:18:33.083
But our philosophy is really you know it goes back to I think you said it before is people may never be here again.

00:18:33.083 --> 00:18:42.310
We need to give them the best experience that they can possibly have, and we really train and hire on just hire good people.

00:18:42.310 --> 00:19:05.796
You know, we don't need the best servers, we don't need the best bartenders, we need the best people here, because at dinner I want you to sit out there and have a conversation with them for 20 minutes and if the kitchen's got food in the window, we'll take care of it and run it for you here before.

00:19:05.816 --> 00:19:13.523
We have a small little note card I'm wondering if I have one around here that our servers fill at the end of the day and it's really Denny Corby Is he staying overnight?

00:19:13.523 --> 00:19:14.286
Where is he staying?

00:19:14.286 --> 00:19:15.304
Has he been here before?

00:19:15.304 --> 00:19:17.051
What are his preferences?

00:19:17.051 --> 00:19:22.864
Right, he loves, he thinks cheese curds are the same as mozzarella sticks.

00:19:22.864 --> 00:19:25.413
So don't offer the cheese curds.

00:19:25.413 --> 00:19:36.986
But and then we take that information and we use you know, jonas, like many private clubs do, and we plug that information in.

00:19:36.986 --> 00:19:44.500
So next time when our reservationist picks up the phone and answers that call, you know they have those notes in front of them.

00:19:44.500 --> 00:19:50.518
And that's another kind of unique aspect about us is you can't book anything online at Aaron Hills.

00:19:50.518 --> 00:19:53.752
You have to pick up the phone and call a reservationist.

00:19:53.972 --> 00:19:54.653
So it's not.

00:19:55.576 --> 00:19:59.573
We're not running on golf now or Expedia or anything like that.

00:19:59.573 --> 00:20:06.333
You physically have to pick up the phone and speak to someone on that first call and that's our first touch point of that human interaction.

00:20:06.333 --> 00:20:10.444
That's cool, yeah, and you know it's um.

00:20:10.444 --> 00:20:37.933
I think that's a cool point because people sometimes are like blown away by that Like whoa, like I actually talked to somebody, it wasn't an AI robot, it was a human being who's at Aaron Hills, who we train on you know the property, we train on our history, we train on our operations and we really set the tone from kind of that first phone call and going back to that, you know, have you seen the show the Bear?

00:20:37.933 --> 00:20:39.016
I have not.

00:20:39.676 --> 00:20:43.023
So great show, especially like if you're in the food and beverage and some of it's played up.

00:20:43.023 --> 00:20:59.823
But there's an episode in season two called Forks, where one of these grizzly brothers is like staging in a restaurant and he's literally just polishing forks for like a week and he asks the kitchen expo and the maitre d' like how do you guys do this every day?

00:20:59.823 --> 00:21:03.174
Kitchen expo and the maitre d like how do you guys do this every day?

00:21:03.174 --> 00:21:08.392
And the response was basically you never know, like the reasoning why people are here or if they can never come back here or ever afford it again.

00:21:08.392 --> 00:21:09.273
They're like.

00:21:09.273 --> 00:21:09.855
You know.

00:21:09.855 --> 00:21:20.211
Their mom may have saved up for a whole year to send their son to aaron hills to play one round of golf, and we get the opportunity to make that magic once they're here on property.

00:21:20.211 --> 00:21:30.265
Yeah, so yeah, that's really our kind of mantra is just be really good people, serve really good food and have really great conversation.

00:21:31.205 --> 00:21:33.013
Yeah, Now I'm looking at you.

00:21:33.013 --> 00:21:33.998
Have a great site too.

00:21:34.799 --> 00:21:45.162
Yeah, and you can kind of like you see the clubhouse over top of it that looks out over the golf course, and the sun sets over the golf course every day, so it's one of the like most beautiful sunsets.

00:21:45.743 --> 00:21:47.773
so you can get it.

00:21:47.773 --> 00:21:50.141
Was it remind me, was the club?

00:21:50.141 --> 00:21:54.491
Did it used to be a private club or was it like a public city club or was it so?

00:21:54.491 --> 00:21:55.973
That's kind of a crazy story.

00:21:56.515 --> 00:21:57.576
Um, it used to be a farm.

00:21:57.576 --> 00:21:59.880
Like it was a farm, it was a.

00:21:59.880 --> 00:22:03.531
It was a cattle farm here in Aaron, wisconsin, and there was a.

00:22:03.531 --> 00:22:14.061
The original owner came out to the property and his goal was to bring a US open to the state of Wisconsin and he said this is the landscape that I can build this on.

00:22:14.061 --> 00:22:26.403
Original owner basically put everything he had and he made money off of like calendars, like Hallmark calendars and put everything in was put.

00:22:26.403 --> 00:22:29.807
Everything had this dream of bringing the US open to Wisconsin.

00:22:29.807 --> 00:22:32.869
Unfortunately didn't have the funds to kind of continue the process.

00:22:32.869 --> 00:22:37.000
So our current owner ran out of time, ran out of money.

00:22:37.730 --> 00:22:38.797
The calendars, the calendars.

00:22:38.797 --> 00:22:40.888
You know, the iPhone came out, I think, and people money, because the calendars yeah, the calendar stuff.

00:22:40.909 --> 00:22:48.858
You know, the iphone came out, I think, and people didn't buy calendars anymore and current owner bought it.

00:22:48.858 --> 00:23:05.540
And then, you know, a little bit little while after usg announced they're bringing a us open to wisconsin and it's really exploded on its growth since our current owner purchased it, you know, rebuilt a clubhouse up here that sits on top of the hill.

00:23:05.540 --> 00:23:17.665
It was actually a small world modeled to get the kind of same view you get at Shinnecock, with the patio, you know, and sitting and dining and overlooking the golf course, peeking it up.

00:23:17.665 --> 00:23:19.573
There was a lot of back and forth on.

00:23:19.573 --> 00:23:29.339
You know, people aren't going to want to walk up the hill after walking this whole 18 hole golf course, um, and now people come up just to see the view and check it out and everything like that.

00:23:29.339 --> 00:23:31.976
But yeah, so it's always been public course.

00:23:31.976 --> 00:23:36.186
Um changed a lot since really 2007.

00:23:36.587 --> 00:23:41.299
Um, but very young, we've hosted, uh, multiple USGA championships.

00:23:41.299 --> 00:23:50.153
We're one of like very few courses that have hosted or are set to host all of like the USGA's majors.

00:23:50.153 --> 00:23:53.701
So the women's open, the men's open, the men's amateur and the women's amateur.

00:23:53.701 --> 00:24:12.384
We just had another slew of major championships with the USGA, announced a few months back and really just focus on the game of golf, growing the game of golf and making it a great kind of destination place for people to travel from all over the world.

00:24:13.550 --> 00:24:19.530
What's it like going from a you know all the privately owned clubs to now this?

00:24:20.299 --> 00:24:21.222
Yeah, it's different.

00:24:21.222 --> 00:24:21.865
It's weird.

00:24:21.865 --> 00:24:24.162
It's a when you're on, I always joke.

00:24:24.162 --> 00:24:29.550
When you're on the private side, it's once you understand the operation and the people like it's easy.

00:24:29.550 --> 00:24:31.522
You know, it's the same things.

00:24:31.522 --> 00:24:40.903
Where Denny comes in and we know he always gets a, a Tito's martini dirty, you know and you come, you know pretty damn close.

00:24:40.923 --> 00:24:42.809
Side, pretty damn close.

00:24:43.701 --> 00:24:50.929
The food and beverage side is like you come into the bar we know exactly what you're going to have, we know you're having this, or we know you drink Miller Lite, or we know you do this.

00:24:50.929 --> 00:24:56.050
You like ice tea, no lemon, and you develop those relationships with people.

00:24:56.050 --> 00:25:18.353
You know there's people from DC and even New York, that members out there that still reach out and you know say hey, merry Christmas, sam.

00:25:18.353 --> 00:25:28.041
Maybe they're coming back later or coming back again, but creating the relationships has been kind of a void right now in the sense like you miss that side.

00:25:28.041 --> 00:25:54.050
You miss, you know, when you run a place that's kind of rocking and rolling for five months, you really just knock down the operation side and focus on that rather than, you know, really on the private side, honing on those special crazy moments I think we talked last time about it was a Christmas uh day and one of the members in DC was like looking forward to the rack of lamb.

00:25:54.211 --> 00:25:54.551
Yeah.

00:25:54.571 --> 00:25:57.105
We have the rack of lamb on the buffet.

00:25:57.105 --> 00:26:01.559
And he was just he was kind kind of joking, nudging me about how he was so disappointed.

00:26:01.559 --> 00:26:04.405
It wasn't, it wasn't like he was actually disappointed.

00:26:04.405 --> 00:26:09.726
And I went to our chef and I was like hey, I know we've got rack of lamb on the menu downstairs.

00:26:09.726 --> 00:26:13.523
Can we rip up some lamb and grill it off and I'll serve it to his table?

00:26:13.523 --> 00:26:18.482
And we grilled off some lamb I dropped at his table and this guy still like I have a voicemail in here.

00:26:19.044 --> 00:26:25.862
He called me like three weeks ago and he's like I was just remembering the lamb and I just wanted to you know, hope you're doing well and give you a call.

00:26:25.862 --> 00:26:35.329
And you know those relationships is I think sometimes you overlook them on the private side, like creating that relationship.

00:26:35.329 --> 00:26:41.411
You know they want to know about your family, they want to meet your family, you you know.

00:26:41.411 --> 00:26:52.488
So sometimes that's a different side and as far as you know, like the legislation and stuff goes like we don't have a board Right, um, we are a single owner.

00:26:52.488 --> 00:26:57.813
Our GM is um works remote 90% of the year which is a little bit interesting.

00:26:58.520 --> 00:27:15.508
Uh, he's based out of Denver, um, he's on property maybe five or six times or so a year, but really hires people because he thinks they're really good at what they do and trust them and instills like hey, if you want to do something you think it's right for the operation, go ahead and do it.

00:27:15.508 --> 00:27:19.545
Also, if you pick up the phone or shoot him an email, gets right back to you.

00:27:19.545 --> 00:27:27.393
So it's not that it's a negative side, it's just an interesting side from my end where it's like all right, you have this is your department.

00:27:27.393 --> 00:27:29.647
What you see fit, you know, go with it.

00:27:29.647 --> 00:27:32.348
If you need to run anything by me, I'm here to run it by.

00:27:32.348 --> 00:27:36.186
So yeah, different side you don't have committees.

00:27:36.186 --> 00:27:38.162
I don't have a host committee meeting.

00:27:38.162 --> 00:27:39.503
You don't have a house committee meeting.

00:27:39.503 --> 00:27:41.405
You don't have, you know, all these different committees.

00:27:41.405 --> 00:27:43.488
So it's definitely a little bit different.

00:27:43.548 --> 00:27:48.472
And sometimes it's easier, like if we want to change something, we change it.

00:27:48.532 --> 00:27:50.275
We don't have to jump through a bunch of different hoops.

00:27:50.635 --> 00:28:11.836
Yeah, and we switch it up and we do something different and we want to really kind of keep evolving and growing at the same time, you know, holding on to our roots and who we are and what we do here, yeah.

00:28:11.856 --> 00:28:13.160
So what's next on the uh, on the horizon, with, with the club?

00:28:13.160 --> 00:28:16.186
Yeah so, um, this spring actually kind of it's not really on the horizon.

00:28:16.186 --> 00:28:17.692
Now it's almost right in front of us.

00:28:17.692 --> 00:28:19.162
Uh, end of may, the us women's open.

00:28:19.162 --> 00:28:20.022
So it's a really cool time of us.

00:28:20.022 --> 00:28:20.964
End of May, the US Women's Open.

00:28:20.964 --> 00:28:24.329
So it's a really cool time to be in women's sports.

00:28:24.329 --> 00:28:34.084
I think you look at like Caitlin Clark, she's not a golfer by any means, but she's really put kind of that women's sports on the map.

00:28:34.084 --> 00:28:36.647
That's coming up here end of May, first weekend in June.

00:28:36.948 --> 00:28:38.971
So how do you prepare for that?

00:28:38.971 --> 00:28:40.634
What are you doing to prepare for that?

00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:45.661
Yeah, so what we'll do?

00:28:45.661 --> 00:28:46.522
So it's a little bit interesting.

00:28:46.522 --> 00:28:48.326
So you look at like their big, big championship for the USJ is the men's US.

00:28:48.346 --> 00:28:48.607
Open.

00:28:48.607 --> 00:28:53.942
You know, the women's US Open is about a third of the size, a third to half, um.

00:28:53.942 --> 00:29:08.329
So USJ comes in and everything on course, like your concession stands, your VIP tents, anything really on course that'll be manned and managed by the USGA through a catering company.

00:29:08.329 --> 00:29:29.275
What our team will be responsible for that week is we will use our clubhouse and we are going to be in charge of USGA VIPs, future sites, so any private club or public golf course that is hosting this event in the next two, three, five, eight years.

00:29:29.275 --> 00:29:45.134
They usually send out Usually it's like a GM or a club president, so I'm sure a lot of people from the private side will be out here as USGA future sites VIPs and we'll run that for that week.

00:29:45.420 --> 00:29:49.852
And it's not going to be a crazy kind of busy week.

00:29:49.852 --> 00:29:52.086
I shouldn't say crazy busy, it would be crazy busy.

00:29:52.086 --> 00:30:00.532
We have open ones open here, but numbers wise it won't be, you know, unmanageable or anything kind of out of what we can really knock out of the park.

00:30:00.532 --> 00:30:09.550
But it's exciting to have USGA future sites, um, cause then it gives us an opportunity to really show off.

00:30:09.550 --> 00:30:10.193
I mean, we want to do cool stuff.

00:30:10.193 --> 00:30:12.505
We want people to be like Holy cow, they did this at Aaron Hills.

00:30:12.505 --> 00:30:18.683
You know we don't want to be, you know their coffee was terrible or you know we don't want the negative side.

00:30:18.683 --> 00:30:28.776
So we're going to kind of put all of our efforts into blowing that experience for USGA VIPs and future sites when they're here on property to really enjoy that time.

00:30:29.141 --> 00:30:36.403
And there's got to be a great buzz in and around the club before, during and after, like leading up.

00:30:36.403 --> 00:30:42.240
There must be an afterwards because, like the new people who are now coming in to you know play there, they must have a bunch of questions.

00:30:42.240 --> 00:30:43.665
So the staff must get like excited.

00:30:43.665 --> 00:30:48.613
There must be this like camaraderie, almost like tell me all about it, like who is it Like?

00:30:48.613 --> 00:30:49.460
I don't know.

00:30:49.460 --> 00:30:51.887
The cool thing is there's going to be a ton of like TV coverage.

00:30:51.929 --> 00:30:53.481
You know the deals that they sign.

00:30:53.481 --> 00:30:56.444
Now you know it is.

00:30:56.444 --> 00:30:57.767
I don't believe it's NBC.

00:30:57.767 --> 00:31:01.570
So, like Peacock will have coverage, nbc's main channel will have coverage.

00:31:01.570 --> 00:31:12.667
There'll be a ton of coverage and people are going to be watching this, especially if you're coming, say, the week after you're in a lock in and be like you know, lydia code just shot, hit this same shot.

00:31:12.667 --> 00:31:15.260
I'm about to hit and they'll probably duff it 12 feet.

00:31:15.260 --> 00:31:22.259
But like that's the cool experience you know and people will really lock into that experience.

00:31:22.259 --> 00:31:31.547
They were even doing it, you know, at the end of last year and we really try to arm and give our team as much information so they can share that with the guests.

00:31:31.547 --> 00:31:41.228
It's funny anytime I hire someone like do I need to know about golf Because I've never played or have no clue, and I'm like no, no, no, we'll fill you in with everything you need to know.

00:31:41.840 --> 00:31:43.848
Let me tell you how I started.

00:31:45.221 --> 00:31:46.045
Yeah, let me give you a hint.

00:31:46.045 --> 00:31:47.486
You ever open a bottle of wine before?

00:31:49.619 --> 00:31:54.148
Yo, your GM that night definitely went home and was like who did?

00:31:54.390 --> 00:31:54.971
I bring in.

00:31:55.952 --> 00:32:00.163
What did I do, Honey?

00:32:00.163 --> 00:32:01.047
How was his first day?

00:32:02.340 --> 00:32:06.444
Yeah, this is gonna be a working project, but it's also crazy.

00:32:06.444 --> 00:32:07.901
There's a funny story too, is?

00:32:07.901 --> 00:32:13.525
I somewhat did the same thing a couple of years later, as I hired this gentleman.

00:32:13.525 --> 00:32:18.871
His name's Logan Block and no food and beverage experience.

00:32:18.871 --> 00:32:20.887
He was from the same.

00:32:20.887 --> 00:32:23.429
He actually grew up in the same hometown as me.

00:32:23.429 --> 00:32:25.535
He was four years younger.

00:32:25.797 --> 00:32:28.186
That's funny, but I knew he was a good kid.

00:32:28.186 --> 00:32:38.230
I knew he'd work his tail off and I knew he really wanted to learn and so I brought him out to Chinook Hot Hills and his first day we just did this brand new basement.

00:32:38.230 --> 00:32:47.030
We put this massive service elevator in there and it used to be like an old school, like dumb waiter, like the rope was probably 70 years old.

00:32:47.030 --> 00:32:53.751
And we put in this brand new service elevator and we needed to set up tables for a meeting or something.

00:32:53.751 --> 00:32:57.930
Later in the day and I was like hey, logan, can you go load up some eight foot tables?

00:32:57.930 --> 00:32:58.811
We need three of them.

00:32:59.601 --> 00:33:06.703
And he puts these eight foot tables in standing straight up, sends it accidentally to the top floor and actually goes through the roof of the clubhouse.

00:33:06.703 --> 00:33:18.473
And in my head I'm like don't you think you'd build a service elevator that has enough clearance and like through the roof and my gym at the time.

00:33:18.473 --> 00:33:20.266
He's like fire him.

00:33:20.266 --> 00:33:21.328
He's not going to make it.

00:33:21.328 --> 00:33:22.141
This hit the other.

00:33:22.141 --> 00:33:24.906
And I'm like calm down, whoa, whoa, whoa.

00:33:24.906 --> 00:33:45.867
And now the guy is the director of business operations at Sand Valley Golf Course, one of the top golf resorts not only in the state of Wisconsin but in the US, same owners as Band and Dunes and all those, and it really just goes back to hey, your first day may be a little rough, but if you get through it you'll be fine.

00:33:47.020 --> 00:33:48.605
His performance was through the roof.

00:33:48.605 --> 00:33:56.093
That's he performance review time through the roof.

00:33:57.020 --> 00:33:57.643
But yeah, now he's.

00:33:57.643 --> 00:34:04.568
You know, he's been really successful in the in the golf industry and every time I see him we always laugh about it.

00:34:04.568 --> 00:34:07.449
And my GM, nick, we always laugh about it.

00:34:07.449 --> 00:34:08.585
He's like I did not do that.

00:34:08.585 --> 00:34:11.028
I was like, yeah, you were ready to send him home from that roof.

00:34:11.028 --> 00:34:15.728
He's like it was a brand new elevator and we just laugh about it all the time.

00:34:16.099 --> 00:34:17.465
Yeah, that's awesome.

00:34:17.465 --> 00:34:21.210
Are you also a sommelier too?

00:34:21.731 --> 00:34:25.565
Yeah, yeah, so I certified.

00:34:25.565 --> 00:34:30.574
I think now 2000 and I think it was 2018.

00:34:30.574 --> 00:34:43.731
Went to the town of Portland, maine, which is one of my favorite cities in the US, certified there and really to go from not knowing how to open a bottle of wine.

00:34:45.523 --> 00:34:48.748
That is where I was going, and literally from like.

00:34:48.748 --> 00:34:51.614
And what was that process like?

00:34:52.420 --> 00:34:52.661
Yeah.

00:34:52.661 --> 00:34:56.311
So it really kind of just fell in In my head.

00:34:56.311 --> 00:35:02.047
It was well, if I'm gonna be in this industry, I need to learn this industry.

00:35:02.047 --> 00:35:09.632
And you know food and beverage a lot of time wine looks into it or feeds into it, and so it was really kind of.

00:35:09.632 --> 00:35:17.302
Once I was done with college, you know love to keep learning reading and that was kind of what I threw everything into.

00:35:17.302 --> 00:35:20.648
Um, you know, my mom would call me on like a Tuesday night.

00:35:20.648 --> 00:35:21.389
She's like what, what are you doing?

00:35:21.389 --> 00:35:24.862
I was like I'm just tasting through some wines and talking through stuff, and she's like it's Tuesday.

00:35:24.862 --> 00:35:31.800
I'm like I'm learning, Um, but yeah, you, um, it's the history behind it.

00:35:31.880 --> 00:35:33.523
You know the art behind wine.

00:35:34.103 --> 00:35:37.548
Um, you know, these winemakers are really just glorified farmers.

00:35:37.548 --> 00:35:44.686
Um, there's a lot that goes into every single bottle of wine that's out there, including like Franzia, you know.

00:35:47.322 --> 00:35:47.786
Isn't that a?

00:35:47.806 --> 00:35:48.030
box.

00:35:48.030 --> 00:35:56.190
Yeah, it's like a box two-buck chuck, but the cool thing is there's just so much history behind it.

00:35:56.190 --> 00:36:04.588
You know so many wines, you know regions that used to be, you know, french, are now Germans because of World War II or anything along those lines.

00:36:04.588 --> 00:36:13.389
Like the history behind it and um being able to talk through it, um, it's just really really exciting.

00:36:13.389 --> 00:36:18.286
And um found a really good group of friends, uh, in the New York area.

00:36:18.286 --> 00:36:28.052
That was hey, hey, once a week let's drink a little wine and talk about wines, and you know taste through some stuff, um, and really just kind of fell in love with it.

00:36:28.052 --> 00:36:31.425
And now you know especially where I'm at.

00:36:31.425 --> 00:36:43.960
You know currently is it's a big part of my, my job, and every time that I get invited over to a holiday party or dinner or something, it's so Sam's bringing the wine.

00:36:43.960 --> 00:36:49.512
I'm like oh sweet, yeah, but but yeah, it's I, I love it.

00:36:49.512 --> 00:36:51.762
You know it's just it's.

00:36:51.762 --> 00:36:58.864
There's so much information and stuff that you can uncover as you kind of dig deeper into the wine world.

00:36:58.884 --> 00:37:14.789
Yeah, yeah, and I'm sure, just based off what I've heard, you know what you were saying about about the place too is now you have these people coming for this experience and now they're going to order a bottle and being able to talk about the yeah, the year and the notes, and whatever.

00:37:14.809 --> 00:37:16.293
Yeah, there's, you know, a lot of times.

00:37:16.293 --> 00:37:21.853
There's, uh, you know, a frequent handful of people that will come here four or five times a year.

00:37:21.853 --> 00:37:25.786
They may be in the Chicago area or they just love coming to this place.

00:37:25.786 --> 00:37:31.646