Family of the Month

How has this idea enhanced your club's operation, etc.?

The idea came from what we themed the year at the Club which was “The Year of the Family”. We wanted to feature a family event each month like Magic Night, Silly Safari, Mother Daughter Princess Brunch etc. and then we came up with the idea to feature a family of the month is our monthly newsletter for 11 months (we are closed in January). How we went about picking the families was first we looked at who had multiple generations of members and the first Family the Grant family was four generations Mr. Grant Senior is a member his son Joe and his wife are members Mrs. Grants parents were members and the Grants two children Katie and Mark are also members so that was our first criteria. Then we looked at how long some of the members where here and we emailed that group and asked them if they wanted to be featured in the monthly newsletter and we had 100% excepted as they all felt like it was a special honor to be picked. What we asked each member to do was get with our Executive Chef to plan the meal they would have at home with their own recipe, and we would duplicate it for the month as our Family of the Month special. We also asked each member to fill out I list of nine questions and send us a picture of their family for the Newsletter the following were the questions asked.

1. Number of years they were members of the club?
2. What was their favorite memory of being a club member?
3. What was the favorite club event to attend and why?
4. What does being a club member mean to them?
5. What made them want to become a club member?
6. What is their favorite thing to do at the club?
7. With whom do they spend their time at the club with?
8. How has club life impacted their social life?
9. How has the club changed since they become members?

This idea of featuring a family of the month enhanced our club over the year tremendous. Whoever the Family of the Month was each month was excited to come to dinner and they talked about their menu special, the staff also enjoyed talking it up. The featured family would bring guest out and talked to their friends about coming out to try their special meal. It really helped in our slow months get more people to the dining room. It was also nice to get to know the members who we highlighted each month and other members get to know them. Our Chef also took a lot out of it meeting with them and getting their family receipts and even doing tasting for a few of them to make sure we had their menu exactly right.

How was this idea implemented, and what have been the club members' reactions?

The member’s reaction was incredibly positive to the point people where asking how they could be the next one, so we have already picked the families of the month for 2024 and I really don’t see and end to this.  This year we are featuring a few of the newer members so they do not feel left out. The members all really enjoyed trying the monthly specials nd those members feature felt so special and enjoyed collaborating with Chef on their menu items. We really had no limit on what they members could pick as their member idea (as you can see it ranged from Coq Au Vin to a Grilled Cheese Sandwich), all we asked was to make it something that everyone would enjoy and priced reasonable. Like I mentioned it was a huge hit and we will be featuring it again in 2024.  It takes very little time and the staff, and the membership really enjoyed it.