While many clubs have seen their hold on membership utilization weaken with inroads into the high-end golf experience and the rapid expansion of out-of-home dining alternatives, Westmoreland Club has become a leader in the renaissance of the city club by offering what no one else can consistently deliver: a premium experience that blends sophistication and style with celebratory social occasions and a dining program that captures the diverse settings and distinctive tastes that young and old alike now expect as part of a new urban vibe.
Here at the fringes of the Pocono Mountains in northeast Pennsylvania, where coal was once king, Wilkes-Barre—together with its nearby neighbor, Scranton—comprises a metropolitan area of around a half-million people. Memories of its booming past have been slowly but substantially eroded by economic decline. This has challenged area residents to think about not only economic reinvention, but social as well. The residents of Wilkes-Barre in general and the members of Westmoreland Club in particular have risen to this challenge and succeeded in carving out a new and diverse urban identity.
The hand dealt to Westmoreland Club was an especially tough one to play in that questions about the area’s economic prospects overlapped with uncertainty about the viability of city clubs. Retreat from the urban center, changes in business work patterns and a general proliferation in dining and social opportunities chipped away at the city club’s core membership market, leading many to ask what could reverse the decline. Yet this is precisely what the Westmoreland Club has done, steering its way from past to present, from the old way of doing things to a new approach that meets the urgent imperatives of a membership with changing tastes and habits.
It was only as recent as 2001, says General Manager/COO Robert Williams, whose tenure at the club has stretched 19 years, that the club’s orientation still hewed to a more business or tradition style. The expected ambiance tilted toward a decidedly formal, at times even buttoned-down appearance, in which a child’s presence in the member dining room was enough to elicit surprise or even disapproval.
Williams and club leaders changed members’ perceptions by signaling new and exciting possibilities. Holding that function follows form, the club took a giant step forward with its renovation the second floor of their facility and creating the Downtown Grille—a move that would essentially phase out formal dining.
“That changed the way members looked at using the club,” says Williams. “Before that, the club was more of a special occasion destination, and not necessarily an every day place you would go. “
Fast forward to the present and, taking a wide view of the work completed at the club since those early days, a picture of the Westmoreland’s “everyday” character comes into focus:
· The opening of an Internet café, “The Nook,” where members can charge their laptops and grab a coffee and a quick bite.
· Concierge services that facilitate member’s entertainment, travel, business, and personal needs, ranging anywhere from theatre tickets to meeting planning to spa treatments.
· A 5,000-square-foot outdoor courtyard, “The Porch,” constructed in 2011 to accommodate banquets and special events for up to 500 people.
· An outdoor gardening area where fresh ingredients are grown, harvested and worked into the seasonal club menus.
But while facilities have provided the stage for Westmoreland’s new offerings it has been the delivery of new services, activities and events that transformed the club and made it the trend-setting institution it has become.
With more than 50 unique social events spread throughout the year (a mix of formal black tie, traditional jacket and tie, and some with business casual attire), Westmoreland focuses on crafting special experiences that establish a new level of excitement and anticipation among members. At the very same time, it has attracted new members in substantial numbers because these social occasions have now attained an enviable “can’t miss” reputation.
This philosophy takes flight each year when the club pulls off spectacular events with bold conceptions and skillful execution. In 2012, for example, Westmoreland conjured up a re-creation of the last dinner aboard the Titanic on the 100th anniversary of its ill-fated inaugural voyage. The nautically themed event featured an ice sculpture glacier, in-character actors, a replicate menu, and a lighting feature that simulated the movement of water across the dance floor. These one-of-a-kind events have established the Westmoreland Club’s reputation. There is now an innovative and pervasive culture across the club, among members and staff alike, that facilities, creativity and club tradition will consistently come together in a most remarkable way. It’s become a part of the club’s identity—signature events that achieve an inimitable brand with which people want to participate.
The Westmoreland Club retains an admirable continuity with the city club tradition. Like all premier city clubs, Westmoreland places special emphasis on dining. The dining experience is a central element in both its high profile and regularly offered events. It is inextricably linked to the club’s identity as a whole.
“Having an amazing culinary program is a key to a pure city club,” says Williams. “You’ve got to be the best in your market and you’ve got to deliver that now with what members are looking for, which is not just products and services, but an experience.”
Executive Chef Frank Priore has nearly 15 years experience at the club and in that time has presided over a kitchen and a culinary team well versed in classical cuisine, but skilled too at striking off in new and innovative ways.
Winter member specials this year include a Chop House steak and chop menu and Lobster night along with another member favorite, “Old Forge Night,” featuring handmade pastas and a local cult hit, the white and red Old Forge pizza (a double-crust pie prepared in a pan and stuffed with a blend of cheeses, topped off lightly with olive oil and rosemary).
Some of the club’s popular custom-made creations include Capri-style ravioli with a crystal clear dumpling shell as well some of the “molecular” creations—at one event, chefs deployed a gun-like device on diners’ hors d‘oeuvres, instantly smoking them—which lend a bit of theater to the dining experience.
So the upshot here is not just that Westmoreland has cultivated this year-round anticipatory buzz, but that it has managed to do so in a way that makes the club indispensible to its members—nowhere else is there style and substance, creativity and tradition, fun and festiveness in such an inviting and socially appealing way.
This resurgent city club in the midst of a medium-sized city has reinvented itself. Amidst all the telltale signs of an old economy—coal, steel and manufacturing muscle—it’s all the more delectable to be treated to gastronomical novelties, to attend intricately designed and executed themed events and, as happened this past November, to celebrate the club’s entry onto the Distinguished Emerald Clubs List.
Of course, it is this vital and stimulating role that Westmoreland plays in its members’ lives that sustains its success and will be its key to a dynamic future. Here in what was we once labeled old coal country, Westmoreland Club has tapped that most reliable source of renewable energy: human ingenuity.
Club Trends Winter 2015