MCC Wine Expo

The Wine Expo held at Manhattan Country Club on November 13th was a huge success.  What a great way to bring people together to socialize. A big thank you goes out to the 40+ members in attendance that helped select some of the wines for our upcoming wine list.  There were a lot of opinions shared and the feedback was excellent.  Several wines were neck and neck in the blind scoring and many of them would fit nicely on our list. In the end, it was obvious that several wines were home runs with our membership.

I couldn't have asked for a smoother event.  Members got to sample 24 wines in total and experience at least 17 completely new options.  The cheese boards and cracker displays were also a big hit.  Perhaps my favorite aspect of the whole event was that membership got to play a role in developing our wine list.  This concept is something I have been working on for quite some time now with the assistance of Chad Bowmann from LDF Wine and Spirits LLC.  

I wanted to create a list that was both fun and unique to our members while also making our selections affordable and readily available.  The challenge was fighting personal preference and customer bias toward certain varietals.  I asked Chad to help me find a wide variety of wines not offered at other spots in town that would give Manhattan Country Club a one-of-a-kind mix.  We wanted members to take ownership in making the list one they would consistently drink and promote to friends and colleagues.  The blind tasting was a great way to get folks to try something new and I think many were pleasantly surprised by the wines they enjoyed.

Now that the expo is over, I can make some informed decisions regarding member taste.  I hope to have the list out and operational as soon as possible.  It will be really sleek in design and much more contemporary than our previous wine list.  I think everyone will enjoy it.  Until then, stay tuned and send me any suggestions you may have.  As always, feel free to swing by the office.  My door is always open.

Matt and Brandi 11/11/11

Veteran's Day 2011 was great.  Not only did  Manhattan Country Club participate in the local parade, we also played host to a lovely wedding reception for Matt and Brandi Crubel.  Check out a few pics from their party.  We wish you the best of luck in your new lives together and hope you always remember your anniversary.

Tom and Ann Tie the Knot

Members Tom Kirk and Ann Nemachek tied the knot a few weeks back and celebrated with family and friends at MCC.  A big thanks to everyone who helped with the decor and setup of the event. 

Enjoy a few photos from their reception.

Fall Has Arrived

A few photos from a recent round of golf.  Shout out to Cliff Dipman and staff for the excellent work they do maintaining the course.  Welcome to Fall in the Flint Hills.  Go Cats!

Did You Know?

There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes at Manhattan Country Club that you might not know or have thought about.  A lot of time and effort goes into making each experience special for our membership and their guests.  I want to use this post to provide everyone a bit more insight into our daily operation and how it works.  For instance, did you know that every piece of silverware is polished by hand for both a la carte and banquets?

If you said yes, are you aware that we have over 1800 individual pieces of flatware?  That's a lot of sliver to maintain and upkeep.

The same can be said about glassware.  We have over 1500 pieces of glassware in house as well.  While not all of these can be used at one time, there is quite a bit of turnover.  For instance, our 300+ water goblets used in Club XIX and Banquets are washed and polished on average, 4 times each week.

So that's a quick look at polishing.  How about napkins?  Our staff has a variety of uses for linen napkins at our facility.  Each use requires a different fold which adds a more personalized touch to our level of service.  Every bowl of soup served up gets its very own artichoke napkin fold.  Artichokes, if you cannot remember or do not know, look like this:

Banquets, depending on their level of service and food selection, are given a multitude of folds from table tents, pope hats, bishop hats, flower folds, rolled, fans and many others.  Other napkins that are folded on a daily basis include fork pouches for buffets or beverage stations, bread pouches for dinner service and silver pouches for use in Club XIX.

Perhaps the most unsung effort of our staff is their efforts in setting banquets every day.  Manhattan Country Club does not do a great deal of large scale banquets, but we have enough small banquets (Referred to as SMERF's:  Social, Military, Education, Religious, Fraternal) to make it seem as though we are constantly setting for those large events.  Moving and rolling tables between rooms and storage closets, organizing buffets, skirting tables, setting beverage stations, stacking chairs, moving furniture and cleaning up after banquets are all very time consuming, not to mention physically taxing.   These are basic expectations of our service staff on a daily basis regardless of which area they are working in that day.

I would like to thank our entire staff for the work they do on a regular basis.  Without them, our operation would not be possible.  It takes a great deal of time, teamwork, effort, organization and communication to make our club function.  I hope this quick look behind the scenes was beneficial to everyone reading.  Please take the time to thank your server(s) next time you are at the club.  They are all rockstars doing a ton of work to make the membership happy.  It's always nice to get a simple "Thank You" in what is often times a thankless industry.  As always, feel free to share your suggestions with me.

Another Successful Wedding

This past weekend, we welcomed Denise and Brian Duglosch to MCC for another great wedding reception with friends and family.  We had a lot of fun working with both families and enjoyed the opportunity to be creative with our decor and setup.  Thanks to everyone involved in making their special day.  See pictures from their reception below...