A club’s food and beverage program should support how members use the property, from a quick drink after a class to a meal with guests. Define those occasions, the membership promise and the operating responsibilities before committing to a menu or kitchen design.
Key takeaways
- Design around the member’s daily routine before choosing a restaurant concept.
- Separate included amenities from purchases and explain the distinction clearly.
- Match the offer to storage, preparation, service and cleaning capacity.
- Assign responsibility for food, fitness and membership decisions where they overlap.
What role should food and beverage play in membership?
Start with the member’s reason for being there. A place built around training has different dining needs from a social club where people stay through the evening. A residential club has another obligation: serving people who may consider the property an extension of home.
Write down the occasions you intend to support. Consider arrivals, the period after a class, working between appointments and bringing a guest. Decide which occasions matter enough to build around and which the club will not serve.
The promise needs to be specific. “Healthy food all day” leaves unanswered questions about preparation, availability and service. “A café for a quick breakfast and a place to stay after a class” gives the team a clearer brief.
How do you turn a member routine into an outlet plan?
Map the visit from arrival to departure. Someone leaving a treatment may want quiet and a quick handoff. A member meeting friends may want to sit, order again and stay. Those uses can share a property without sharing the same service process.
Use the following questions before adding equipment or seats:
| Member occasion | Service question | Space question |
|---|---|---|
| Before a class | Can the order arrive before the member must leave? | Where does a short queue form? |
| After training | Is the offer easy to understand and collect? | Can pickup avoid the next class arrival? |
| Working or meeting | What level of attention does the member expect? | Can conversation coexist with equipment noise? |
| Dining with guests | How are guests welcomed and charged? | Is there a clear arrival and seating process? |
| A member event | Who approves the menu and service plan? | What happens to ordinary club service? |
Treat the table as a planning exercise. It is not a prescription that every club needs every occasion.
What can hotel experience contribute to club planning?
At Life House Hotels, I built the food and beverage department across a portfolio of about 55 hotels, 18 with food and beverage. That work included portfolio-wide standards, programs and the technology platform. It required thinking about an outlet in relation to the property around it.
That same question matters in a club. Food and beverage can support the broader reason someone joins, while still requiring clear standards and a credible operating plan. The property’s other departments cannot be treated as background.
A café beside a reception desk shares more than a wall. It shares arrivals, questions and the consequences of a delayed order. Someone must decide how the teams communicate when those activities collide.
How should the menu fit the club’s identity?
Build from the occasions, then give the menu a point of view. A wellness setting does not require every possible smoothie, supplement or dietary substitution. An expansive offer can create ingredient complexity without making the member’s choice easier.
Identify which dietary needs the program can accommodate consistently. Define ingredients and approved substitutions in the kitchen bible. Give staff a clear route for questions they cannot answer, including allergy requests.
Be precise with wellness language. The FTC’s health products guidance is a useful reference when assessing proposed health claims. Avoid treating words such as recovery or immunity as decoration. Have the meaning and supporting evidence reviewed before using them to sell a product.
The menu should sound like food people want to eat, with descriptions the team can stand behind.
What needs to be decided before the space is designed?
A small menu can still require considerable support space. Trace ingredients from delivery to storage, preparation and service. Then trace used dishes and waste in the opposite direction. Do these routes conflict with member circulation?
Ask the design team to test ventilation, washing, refrigeration and equipment access against the intended offer. Include where deliveries wait and how replenishment happens during busy periods. A polished service counter does not solve a missing preparation area.
For Florida projects, use DBPR’s plan-review guidance to identify questions for the appropriate agency and design professionals. Confirm the requirements for the proposed activities. Do not assume that describing the food offer as an amenity settles its regulatory treatment.
How should included amenities and paid purchases work together?
Separate the membership promise from the individual purchase. If certain refreshments are included, define availability, guest eligibility and how the team records usage. If another item is purchased, make the distinction understandable before the member orders.
Review the P&L with those choices visible. An included amenity still consumes ingredients, staff attention and storage. A restaurant open beyond the club’s busiest periods needs a reason for those hours.
Do not judge the entire program by a single measure. Ask how dining supports member use and how the operation performs within the promise ownership has made. The existing guide to what a private club should expect from dining explores that balance further.
Who owns the decisions between departments?
Name the person responsible for the overall food and beverage experience. Then identify the decisions that require membership, fitness, events or property leadership to participate.
Consider a simple example: a class finishes late and members arrive at the café after its normal closing time. Who decides what remains available? Who communicates the exception? Staff should not have to negotiate the policy in front of members.
At Kiki Group, I built corporate infrastructure across functions including HR, events, marketing and reservations. Clear responsibilities matter because the guest sees one experience even when several departments contribute to it.
Use an operating manual for shared policies and kitchen or bar bibles for product standards. Documents should answer real recurring questions, with an owner responsible for keeping each one current.
How do you judge readiness before members arrive?
Rehearse a visit across departments. Include an ordinary order and an exception: a guest without a member present, an unavailable item or an allergy question. Watch the handoff rather than only tasting the product.
Check that the member-facing promise agrees with the team’s instructions. Review how charges appear, who handles a complaint and where feedback goes. An excellent recipe cannot compensate for confusion at every transition.
Leviathan’s club, wellness and residence advice and capabilities address these owner decisions. For properties combining accommodation and membership, the hotel food and beverage guide provides another way to think about outlet purpose.
Before adding more choice, make sure the core offer works on an ordinary day. That is the experience members will return to.
What else should you know?
Does every members’ club need a full restaurant?
No. Start with the visits the club is meant to support and the food offer those visits require. A well-considered café or limited dining offer may serve the purpose better than a restaurant that the membership cannot support. Test the idea against actual routines and the available space.
How should a wellness club approach nutrition claims?
Describe ingredients and preparation accurately, and have proposed health or performance claims reviewed by appropriately qualified professionals. Staff should know what they can say and what should be referred to someone else. A wellness identity does not turn every menu description into a supported health claim.
Should food and beverages be included in membership?
Decide which items support the membership promise and which are separate purchases. Model the operating consequences and make the boundary clear before presenting the offer. Members should not need to negotiate the interpretation of their benefits at the counter.
Can an outside restaurant operator work inside a private club?
It can, provided the operator’s responsibilities fit the club’s service commitments. Agree on access, member recognition, events, reporting and the handling of complaints. A restaurant’s independent identity should not leave members unsure who is responsible for their experience.
When should food and beverage enter the development process?
Before layouts and major equipment assumptions become difficult to change. The intended offer affects receiving, storage, preparation, washing and the movement of people through the building. Bringing those questions into the brief early gives the design team something concrete to resolve.
To discuss a decision for your business, start a conversation with Daniel.
About this guidance
This article provides general operating guidance, not legal, tax, accounting, or investment advice. Requirements and business conditions vary by location and project. Verify current requirements with the relevant agencies and qualified professionals before acting. Contact us about a correction.