CREATIVITY
# 127
Extraordinary Products
- The Key To Success
Executives in private clubs often overlook what is going on in the commercial
sector. Obviously, they need to key in on their own members desires and wishes, but they
can not overlook the new and innovative. No longer can clubs survive by simply being a
private club. The exclusive entity (club) that by its very nature attracts customers
(members) is a thing of the past. Executives must compete with what is going on in the
hospitality world.
If you are a reader that wants to break away from the norm, thereby becoming
distinguished in the eyes of your members, we suggest you investigate some of the
following avenues. First, it is important that you look beyond your own backyard.
Don’t assume that your only competition lies with other clubs in the community.
- It can be within the traditional, such as participating in the CIA (Culinary
Institute of America) or within the new and innovative offered by the International Food
Service Technology Exposition.
Go to the Internet. There are many, many web sites that specialize in unusual
foods. The CIA has a unique site called the "Digital Chef," and many have come
up with the unusual via the NRA home page.
Enroll (or have your clubhouse manager enroll) in marketing courses at local
universities or adult education classes. Deliberately pick courses that are not oriented
towards the hospitality industry - - go the "different route."
Enroll in one of the many week long seminars given in small towns in France and
Italy. There is one in Positano, Italy that is a real "eye opener." Think your
club can’t afford to send you? You never know until you ask, and if done in the
proper way, our bet is that you will succeed.
Join organizations outside the sphere of the traditional club operation. To
mention a few . . . . The National Association of Catering Executives, the International
Special Event Society, and the Meeting Planners International.
Surfing the web can be very time consuming, but why not have your office or
catering manager do it for you. One of our readers picked up some extremely unusual ideas
from Australian, and found a complete history of cod fish that he added as an insert to
his seafood menu.
Go (or again send one of your employees) to the local library. You can pick up
ideas ranging from unusual party decorations to exotic foods.
An encyclopedia on a CD ROM will produce ideas you never dreamt about. Just a
few that we found . . . unusual accommodation systems, service gimmicks, and various
cultural approaches that varied radically from those in our country.
Every time a new or unusual restaurant opens in your area, or even in the next
town a 100 miles away, make a point of dining there. Don’t restrict yourself to the
classical restaurants . . . . also go to the theme fast food houses, You will be amazed at
the ideas you will pick up.
Talking to our readers that used one or more of the above systems to create the
unusual and extraordinary, produced the following . . . . . along with many more that we
do not have space to list.
- Convert a main dining room area into guest rooms and feature "Bed &
Breakfast" specials promoted during the slow fall and winter months.
A sushi bar that was limited to an area called the "Junior Room,"
where only Junior members were allowed in the room.
A "moveable wine feast" was created in the dining room of the club. An
iced punch bowl for white wines and a normal wine rack holders for the reds was placed on
a cart. Samples were offered to the diners, whether they were, or were not, going to have
wine with their dinner.
Steal menus from the local restaurant that has become an icon of the industry
over fifty years or more, and create a "Night at Louie’s" party. Attendance
will be high, if only from the oldsters that enjoyed the great days at
"Louie’s."
In summary, the successful clubs are looking for the unusual and unique. If
they offer something not common to their area clubs or restaurants, the members appear to
be "beating a path" to their door.
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