Opening a Restaurant in a Pandemic

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

OKCGCC opened a new all outdoor restaurant during the pandemic. We transformed our pool deck into a Costal French Bistro; Azure. Azure enhanced our Club's operations as local safety restrictions, and simply the number of cases kept a lot of members away from the Club. We used the safety of the outdoors to prove to our membership it was safe dine at a restaurant, bringing our members back to the Club. After popular demand an idea that was created to offset the lack of traffic inside the dining rooms will now be a staple of the Club.

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

The idea was implemented with the imagination of the staff to turn existing space, and equipment into something completely new. We even grew our own plants to create the desired ambiance at the bar and in the dining room. In order to ensure we kept all our staff on payroll, we pulled staff from other departments of the Club to work at Azure. Dealing with the Oklahoma weather we had limited time to train, but teamwork and success is at our core. It was amazing to see everyone come to together to help create something new and exciting for the members. Azure was open every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and was completely booked every night! Many return guests, but more importantly faces we had not seen since before our "shut-down." The response from the members was fantastic, they are still talking about it, even though we are now in the thick of winter. It was so popular we are already making plans to reopen again in 2021. In the end of the year address from our President he mentioned Azure. "And who can forget Azure, our outdoor bistro by the pool? In my sixteen years at the Club, Azure stands alone as one our most thoughtful and innovative Club offerings." Azure was my passion project, and I am very grateful and excited that it had such an impact on our members.