Tom Mulhern makes his living designing innovative and engaging customer experiences for a wide range of organizations including restaurants, retail stores and health care systems. Here is how he describes one of his favorite retail experiences:
When I walk into my favorite store, the first thing I see is an ad for an ice cream cone. Then a clutch of brightly colored, super-well-designed strollers. Somewhere between the play-while-you-shop kids section and cafeteria full of healthy tasty food, it strikes me (for the hundredth time), “These people have thought of everything!”
And they have, IKEA has encircled the furniture shopping experience with everything you need to shop—great carts, simple bags, pencils, measuring tape, and roof racks—and everything your need to stay—food, play, theater.
What’s cooking?
Can your members say the same about your club’s dining experience? Do your members make the club their first choice when choosing where to eat? Or are they just as likely to frequent this week’s trendy café or out-of-the-way diner?
Clubs may consider taking a page from IKEA’s playbook and deliver an immersive dining experience, one that cannot be easily duplicated by commercial restaurants.
Clubs are not without their unique advantages in this competitive tug-of-war. But there is a counterintuitive battle plan to win the hearts and minds—and the stomachs—of their members.
Serve the food, deliver the experience
Effective marketing must sometimes look beyond food and beverage sales. In other words, dining is often about more than the menu items being served. Ted Levitt, who taught for decades at the Harvard Business School, famously warned managers not to be so preoccupied with the products they are so enthusiastically selling that they entirely miss seeing what their customers really desire.
“Marketing Myopia” was Levitt’s memorable diagnosis for this common affliction—a shortsighted failure that can simultaneously obscure our view of both opportunity and threat.
Here’s the bottom line: Customers want their problems solved, their minds eased and their hearts gladdened. They may purchase ¼” drill bits, says Levitt, but what they really want is ¼” holes. Low calorie whipped cream? Not so much. Guilt-free indulgence? Exactly. By extension, let us imagine that members come to their clubs for dinner, but what they desire is something more ineffable and experiential.
This desire is likely to vary across people and occasions. It will take some closer inspection and attention to the attendant details to see this bigger picture.
The Experience Map
Mulhern recommends a methodology that walks step-by-step through the customer’s mind as he or she moves from start to finish through the total process (and maybe a step or two beyond that). By literally mapping the customer experience, we can better identify what works and what doesn’t.
The “experience” map has its origins with social scientists and has now made its way into mainstream consumer research.
Here’s what it looks like at a high level:
| Entice> | Enter> | Engage> | Exit> | Extend |
| Anticipation grows; appetite whetted. | Signposts guide you in;
the stage is set and the performance begins |
All senses participate and connections deepen. | Signposts guide you out to a new and better state. | Reminders keep you connected to the experience. |
Source: Tom Mulhern (2002), “How to Find Buried Treasure Using Experience Maps.” Conifer Research.
There are two levels to the experience. There is a formal process that defines the steps one goes through in dining out: choosing the destination, reserving a table, having a drink, placing an order, paying and leaving. The club can smooth and even eliminate some of these steps with thoughtful design and facility arrangement, by anticipating members’ needs, and through the extension of club amenities and hospitality.
But there is also an informal process that parallels eating out. These are things that diners must do or want to do that potentially enrich (or possibly detract) from the total experience, such as seeking to balance family priorities or mark a special observance, talk privately, or make connections with their larger social circle among others.
When clubs anticipate or support these new layers of experience two important outcomes are supported. First, the club differentiates its dining offering from nearly all other competitive, commercial options. It also delivers wholly new value.
3 T’s to Improve the Dining Experience
1. Track. As Yogi Berra famously said, “You can see a lot by just looking.” A few photographs or small segment of video can provide a fresh perspective on what’s going right and what’s not. Focus group interviews and staff debriefings also provide a rich source of data that can be further supplemented by occasional dining surveys and the quantitative quality measures they generate. The experience map can help sort the impressions and metrics into useful categories, which collectively stitch the dining experience together.
2. Target. Try to see things less from the employees’ eyes and take in the experience through the diners’ point of view. Sometimes formal issues like “placing an order” can be less consequential than a parent’s need to placate an impatient child. In all this, look for key “moments of truth” and “bright spots”—those times when people seem to be having a genuinely good time. Look for “hot spots” with telltale signs of frustration or uncertainty or disengagement. Finally, look for gaps, where resources or other help is not offered to the diner. When do transitional moments get poorly handled or missed entirely?
3. Transform. Creatively think of how persistent problems get solved, expectations exceeded and moments of delight reliably delivered. Ideally a team effort, successful innovation typically depends upon a surfeit of ideas. The best inventors and entrepreneurs frequently shed ideas like dandruff—most are bad and not worth pursuing, but out of an abundance of brainstorming and speculation will typically come the rare gem. Farmington’s food truck venture was hatched in precisely this way (see “Food on the Go,” page XX). Of course, not all breakthrough innovation enters as a remedy to a particular problem. Managers and members alike can build on successful bright spots. Northwood’s hugely popular fruit waters were a staff perk, typically enjoyed out on the golf course—served out the back door at the halfway house (see “Recipe for Innovation,” page XX). The secret is out and now enjoyed by all. Good ideas are out there. They just need to be discovered, amplified and distributed. Make the turn!
[Sidebar – Distinctive Dining at the Club]
Here are a few examples of what clubs are doing to create experiences that are distinctively there own.
Menus: Old school can sidle up to hi-tech. New offerings can be posted in chalk on the menu board or pop-up on an iPad. Instagram and Twitter are great social media tools to both showcase enticing food presentation and then to announce its imminent arrival. The Union League of Philadelphia has developed a nice personalized touch for its members. Its iPad menu not only has a la carte dining options for that evening, but also the contents of that member’s own personal wine collection, which is stored on site in a personal wine locker.
Atmosphere: Once synonymous with formal, clubs have now successfully turned the tables and can plausibly lay claim to offering all manner of dining styles. Just as club-within-club interest groups have broadened the range of activities and interests served by clubs, food and beverage operations have similarly proliferated beyond one style and/or a single dining room. Consequently dress codes seem to be less of a flashpoint, as dining reaches across the club domain. Al fresco or outdoor dining continues to trend. Poolside food is hardly restricted to ice cream bars and hot dogs any longer as innovative preparation techniques and smart service choices combine with the diverse activities and needs of families having fun in the sun. For that matter, club food now seems fully capable of following the member: out to the driving range or along the hiking trail. Food follows a social atmosphere—and this serves club purposes.
Facilities: Food facilities have never been more important to club success. Dining styles are proliferating; the chef’s knowledge and craft are moving front-and-center; parties and banquets are key to the club’s symbolic and financial performance; and the members’ own interest and participation in the food continues to grow as the commercial and entertainment sectors stoke this passion. At least half the space in most clubhouses now is devoted to dining. Furthermore, when clubs renovate or expand dining areas, the upswing in dining volumes is quite significant—usually 20 to 30 percent. Kitchen improvements must therefore keep pace. The upshot is that clubs need to improve and expand with careful planning, strategic insight and a clear sense of mission. The best master plans will take into account how back-of-the-house kitchen infrastructure serves not just front-of-the-house dining facilities, but also how membership experience gets elevated across the full slate of club activities and services. Recent emphases in dining facilities are providing enlarged outdoor and terrace dining with platform roofing and heating elements that can extend the season in northern climes. The traditional bar design with drinkers perched on their bar stools and their backs to the rooms are passé, having been displaced by various layouts that make these scenes lively, active and social. The more sedate atmosphere of the dining room now gives way to the bonhomie of the English pub and its American cousin, the sports bar. Designs encourage movement and interaction with such features as fireplaces, high-definition screens and thoughtful integration with (or partition from) the grill rooms.
Make it Special: At the center of the experience map is engagement, which can, in the proper situation and with the right people, elevate the dining to something quite valuable and memorable. This should be a strong suit for clubs, especially when hosting private parties such as wedding celebrations or special events that include such perennial favorites as Mother’s Day, Christmas and 4th of July celebrations. The very best clubs have taken these traditional or expected occasions and made them so much more. Westmoreland Club in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. now offers themed events where design, food and atmosphere combine into big splashy events that are eagerly anticipated, dramatically presented and thoroughly enjoyed (see case study, Winter 2015). But special need not always be big and dramatic; special should, however, get wrapped around a member’s club experience: the egg sandwich before the first tee and the flavored drink at the 19th hole can provide bookend enhancements that make club golf especially satisfying and meaningful. More generally, club chefs and managers typically strive to know what special favorites or diet preferences individual members might have and are ready to serve those whenever and wherever possible. Aidan Murphy, former chef and now GM at the Old Warson Country Club in St. Louis, has this rule-of-thumb: “If it’s in the kitchen, we’ll get it to the table!”
Storytelling: Private clubs want to own that place in their members’ minds reserved for memorable dining experiences. This means consistently excellent food served up in premium facilities with high quality service. “Extend” on the experience map insists that an enduring imprint in the member’s memory is not something that clubs should leave to chance. Clubs, with their growing arsenal of communications tools, should memorialize the club’s dining experiences in ways large and small. Newsletters and photo galleries can capture the drama and fun and replay it the next day, week or month. With social media steadily growing, we can expect the members (with the encouragement of club staff) to recap and remember the poolside party or last night’s celebration via Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. With the Food Channel also attracting big audiences these days, isn’t it about time for you chef to start sharing his magic touch on a YouTube channel?
Dining Forecast Trends
[CV1] Listed below are five key dining predictions illustrated with verbatim comments from NCA’s Navigating the Future study of the private club industry:
Trend #1 – Casual with a new twist
“Grazing Stations and Pubs for Clubs are winners and future for clubs. Fast food is in and on the run for the active member. Formal dining is only for the holidays.”
“Many more casual options that change frequently—a gathering mentality like Starbucks will be the norm.”
“Food service will continue to become more informal and varied. I expect that ten years from now, most clubs will have a limited service casual option like Panera Bread. Most clubs would welcome a Panera Bread experience today if they could figure out how to make it happen.”
Food for thought: Members value ease, comfort and expediency in dining, as in life. Their preferences have transformed the food and beverage dimension of private clubs into a convenient extension of the faster-pace, on-the-go lifestyle. But fast need not mean hurried. The best casual offerings will maintain a stylish presentation and facilitate socializing. Formal dining, for its part, will decline, becoming more event- and holiday-centered.
Trend #2: Attention to value
“Great food, excellent service, great drinks all at a value will give you loyal, consistent member dining. Few places offer high quality dining at all price points. If you have a hot dog—have the best hot dog. If you have a steak—have the best steak your market will buy.”
“The quality needs to be the best in the area. Clubhouse dues should cover clubhouse expense so that dining pricing will be more reasonable than local establishments.”
“Remember that value still has a place in a private club. Good wines and high quality food is a must but never at ‘gouging’ pricing.”
The Bottom Line: Price is what you pay. Value is what you get. Maintaining high quality and exceptional service at reasonable prices will allow clubs to set the standard for value. In this way, clubs can achieve an advantage over competitive market offerings that is both significant and durable.
Trend #3: Interest in food grows deeper and broader
“Small plates, healthier kids’ options, and a broader range of international cuisines will all be popular.”
“Dietary information on menus, a broader variety of ethnic selections that is healthy and enticing. Menus will need to be more accessible with deeper nutritional data, perhaps via an iPad type instrument which will allow the member to go as deep into nutritional and origin of ingredients.”
“Nutrition and responsiveness to food preferences and allergies is increasingly important and will continue to be.”
Take-away: Members will desire to know more about the food they eat, its source, ingredients, preparation and nutritional aspects. Clubs will need to respond with easy-to-access information that is both useful and transparent.
Trend #4: The chef escapes the kitchen
“Chefs will be as well known to members as the GM and golf pro.”
“Clubs will hire and celebrate to its members “name” chefs who will offer a dining experience equal to popular local restaurants.”
“Club foodservice will evolve and feel more entrepreneurship, like privately owned mini restaurants – think Las Vegas! Still all owned by the club—offering multi concepts—with great culinary and chefs. Clubs will feature more culinary and cooking training.”
Hail to the chef! Many clubs will seek to hire an influential chef who, if not popularly recognized, is at least professionally established and capable to stoking member interest in food and participation in the club’s dining program.
Trend #5: The membership engages over food
“Food and beverage represents a great opportunity for clubs. Winning clubs will fully integrate members into the food process: chef’s tables; display kitchens, cooking classes for adults and kids; organic; farm to table; community and spice gardens, etc. It’s endless and opportune.”
“At the same time, clubs will vary menus and offer more special food experiences, some with members able to participate in planning and preparation.”
“Follow dining trends! Create new settings for food. Focus on casual dining, incorporating outdoor spaces as much as possible. Broader menu offerings. Focus on farm-to-table. Organic garden with reserved areas for members to grow their own vegetables. Showcasing the Chef will remain important. Continue to improve the catering operations.”
Members are the added ingredients: Member preferences are essential for both improving current offerings and anticipating new ones. This membership participation is the logical extension of the growing interest in all things food.
Club Trends Fall 2015