| POA Board receives final F&B report from consultants |
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Restaurant consulting group to report findings
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| The Clubhouse at Lake Sconti. (Photo by Herm Doll) |
bschneider@bigcanoenews.com
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| View of Lake Sconti from The Clubhouse. |
The findings from MMV’s 10-week study and 79-page operational audit showed several areas, for example large group functions and catered events, operating very successfully while many aspects of daily a la carte dining needed improvement.
The report focuses on improving deficiencies by more rigorously following Industry Best Practices, more effective attention to detail and instituting a system of operational controls. The report urges the POA to hire an experienced food and beverage director with broad-based restaurant and club background to implement the recommended changes; the Board has authorized a search to fill this position.
Big Canoe property owners can learn more about the details of the MMV report in Roger Klask’s “Administrative Notes” column and by attending the POA Town Hall meeting on August 21. John Boozer of MMV, Inc. will present the firm’s findings to property owners.
Smoke Signals sat down with POA Board President Terry Bacigalupo and General Manager Roger Klask on July 19 for an overview of the report.
What was the reason for the MMV study?
RK: In fall 2009, before Jim Story resigned as Big Canoe’s director of Amenities, a property owner presented the POA Board with a long and detailed list of questions about Food and Beverage operations. Senior staff looked at that list and, after adding some questions of our own, decided we need a fresh set of eyes looking at our operation.
TB: At that time, F&B was tracking toward a $400,000 loss for the year. Rather than try to answer property owner questions ourselves, we decided to engage industry professionals to provide a thorough operational audit. We wanted a group with a real understanding of the restaurant/club industry to give us professional feedback on everything from our facility and food to staffing and inventory control. In early 2010 we sent a request-for-proposal to four companies.
RK: The firm we selected, MMV, Inc., is not a classic consulting firm. Rather, the consultants are a confederation of professionals with diverse skills that cover a broad range of commercial, restaurant and club food and beverage experience. We hired them to assess our food, service and facility from the perspective of quality and cost.
Did MMV provide answers to the questions you wanted answered?
TB: The final report exceeded our expectations. They fulfilled the requirements outlined in the RFP and then some. It is a detail rich, comprehensive report that shows their industry knowledge and “connects all the dots” for us. They know their stuff. That said, the report covers all aspects of the F&B operation. We will study and digest their findings then prioritize the recommendations and put together a short-term and long-term action plan.
What’s the first action the POA Board will take as a result of the report?
TB: Organizationally we need a Food and Beverage director with club and restaurant management experience to run the place and implement the Best Practices included in the report. We haven’t had an F&B manager in almost two years, since Michael Pantall left.
Roger needs a quarterback with the responsibility and accountability to implement the recommended cost and quality control procedures. Once we have a new F&B director in place we can make decisions on other needs and the person we hire will have ideas about what else is needed to be successful.
RK: We have already started to improve controls, to drill down to details such as weekly inventories. F&B financials exceeded plan for June; we have made some progress on costs versus revenues. Matt Lockwood from accounting is working at the club about half time to generate management information systems such as labor tracking and cost analyses.
The recommendations in the study should result in great improvements in quality and cost. There are systems and details needed that never got established in the beginning when we opened the club. Another priority is establishing better inventory control, using waste sheets for example—basic restaurant management practices.
When can property owners expect to see changes at the club?
RK: Over the next few weeks, property owners should start to see the benefits of implementing industry Best Practices, beyond just cost controls. For example, by establishing food preparation standards—right down to photos on the line of what the presentation should look like—we will provide consistency in the quality of food.
In terms of service, we will raise the professional level of service across the staff. We might have a shortened menu based on the most popular items and we plan to offer more specials.
We are also looking at a rewards program for 2011 similar to frequent flier awards for those property owners who eat at the Clubhouse most frequently. There are a lot of details to work out on that, though before we roll it out.
How will property owners learn more about the details of the WWV audit?
TB: John Boozer of MMV, Inc. will present his report to the community at the POA Town Hall Meeting at the Chapel on Saturday, August 21. We will have a Q&A at the end of the program.
And, we will continue to update the community through POA communications, POA coffees and meetings as well as articles in Smoke Signals.