West Clubhouse Pool Deck Upgrades

The West Clubhouse's pool deck has received multiple upgrades this season. Assistant General Manager Gerard LaRuffa and West Clubhouse Executive Chef Jess Madsen speak with Membership Director Rodney Stoyer about the elevated service, updated bar and new Poolside Café on the latest episode of the Missouri Athletic Club Connections Podcast. Click here to watch.

The Poolside Café's hours are as follows:
Monday-Thursday | 7 a.m.-7 p.m.
Friday | 7 a.m.-8 p.m.
Saturday & Sunday | 10 a.m.-8 p.m.

Missouri Athletic Club Connections highlights the foremost private club in St. Louis known for attracting exceptional people and enriching lives for generations.

Transcript

0:02

Hi, and welcome to the Missouri Athletic Club Connections, a podcast highlighting Missouri's only premier athletic club. The MAC is recognized as the foremost private club in Saint Louis, known for attracting exceptional people and enriching lives for generations. I'm MAC membership director Rodney Stoyer, and we've taken this podcast outside. We're out of the studio to talk about the new Poolside Café. Here with me is assistant general manager Gerard LaRuffa and West Clubhouse executive chef Jess Madsen. Thank you both for coming on the podcast today. Glad to be here. Absolutely! So we have this great bar set up here, everything behind us. The pool looks wonderful and right inside is the Poolside Café. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about the food and beverage operations here at the West Clubhouse for the summer. Well, I mean, when we came into the season, we are you know, we've had a typical set up for years. And what we’re trying to do is add more dining options out on to the pool deck. So in order to do that, we had to kind of maneuver some things. And so we actually took the bar and we elevated it up and over. And you can kind of see it over my shoulder here. We elevated where you can see the whole pool. You can grab a cocktail, you can buy a nice refreshing beverage, and then you can overlook the pool. It again, it gives us from an operations standpoint, gives us the ability to see the entire pool. But then from a membership standpoint, you get to see the activity up there. It reminds me, I want a drink. Yeah. Yeah, it really does. Yeah. So we did that. We added a ton of service out on to the pool deck, including a new what we're calling a pool concierge. When you’re walking in, we're giving you a towel, we're greeting you. There's a water station there, There's the ability to drop off old towels, and we're just a larger presence on the service piece of everything outside. Yeah, I think outside without any massive construction, it's still a very nice, elevated experience, right? Sure. Sure we are. I call this a transitional year for us. Yeah. If we did this podcast this time next year. Yeah. You know, a noticeable difference just from the appearance. New furniture in the way we're going to be doing things. So it is a transitional year. We're going to implement all of our service pieces and then next year it'll be more of a look and feel. Yeah, we'll put that on the calendar. We'll do this again same time next year. It’s a date. We’ll do this again. So all wonderful stuff. So happy to hear all that. Now let's talk specifically about the snack bar itself, doing the upgrade there. Now that's obviously inside, but let's talk about the upgrades that happen there. Kind of the same thing. Right, Gerard? It had been the same operation for years and years. Give us a little idea, first of just from a construction standpoint or what's changed. So the biggest change that we did is last year we had an eight foot hood and the capacity on that was just that eight foot worth of equipment. We increased that by 40% or excuse me, 50%. So now we have a 12 foot hood and that just increases the overall capacity. What we can do, instead of just having a flat top and a fryer, Now we have a combo oven, which could be a roaster, could be a steamer, could be a smoker in some cases. We have actual burners where we can saute and we can the all of our sauces can be made here versus up top. And it's now it's an open kitchen. So whereas before we kind of hid everything, now it's an open kitchen where the membership can come in, they can see the activity, what's going on. Another piece that we've added that is hopefully here this week is an espresso machine. yeah, yeah, yeah. And so the espresso machine is kind of the center of the entire operation where in the past the pool operation has only been 14 and a half, 15 weeks. Now the pool operation, excuse me, the snack bar operation. That name probably is going to change, but is going to be open year round. And it's going to be a healthy breakfast fitness oriented. We're also going to have the ability to do the coffees and espressos and cappuccinos and lattes, but also like a quick grab and go. Recovery drinks, beef steaks, boiled eggs, things that as if somebody is going in to work out or just working out might be nice and quick, easy in and out and we'll get year round use out of it, and then I'll let Chef explain some of the ideas down to the future. But breakfast, lunch, at some point we're going to introduce some dinner as well. Wonderful. Well, let's let's talk, obviously, Chef, about what we're going to do and see this year with the expanded kitchen, with everything, what can we expect to see? With the full resort service that we're offering? We're also going to be seeing a full array of options for our menu. So whereas in the past, you would just be coming down, maybe you wanted some chicken tenders and fries or grab a little plate of nachos for the kids. We have everything available here for you. So if a family is here enjoying the day at the pool, you don't have to leave the pool to have lunch. We have it all right here. Servers are coming to you and they'll take your order. And then we have options of salads, and entrees, appetizers, whatever you might need without having to leave your experience and your moment with your family. So that's great. I mean, the MAC’s been known for really good chicken strips, but every now and then, you know, that might make the kids happy. But every now and then we want a little bit of elevated experience. Yeah, that's fantastic. And in the past. Right, we you'd have to at least cover up to some standpoint. You'd have to change your clothes. You have to do whatever go up to the Stan Musial Grille. But yeah, now we're doing it poolside. We're doing it inside, ordering everything else. Exactly. Everything right there for you and tons and tons of options. You know, somebody wants a burger. We have that. If you're feeling something a little bit lighter, we have our bowls and other options like that that are a little bit lighter and more bathing suit friendly, of course. So, yeah, it's really great. And, you know, since the tease went out there, you know, the idea is it's not going to close after the pool season. Any teases? I mean, Gerard mentioned a couple, but anything that we can maybe expect or any hints about the future once pool season is over. One thing that I'm really excited about for sure is getting to work with the nutrition team just to kind of develop some options as far as that goes that we can have that are quick and available for people that are just come down and pick up, that are going to fit within those standards for that day. Right? So I think that that's going to work for you after your workout or something that you can take with you to the office maybe. So finding what fits into our healthy lifestyle that we promote here at the Club is is definitely one of the major goals that we have for sure. Well, and I love that we've we've had I mean, we all everybody here knows this, but it was a little known thing that, you know, sure, we could always make you a protein smoothie. We could do those things. But if you kind of, you know, I'm not sounding rude, you kind of had to just go stand next to the kitchen door and wait for it, right? Yeah. So now there'll be a spot for that. A dedicated spot. You'll know where those things are. They'll be the, I'm sure, the menu and everything else. So one of the things that Paul, Paul Helfrich, our fitness manager, and Maggie, our nutritionist, they're a filter for us now you know, as she creates and drinks are created, we're pushing it through them. They're going, What if you change this? What if you did this? This would be more friendly towards the athletic and the fitness piece, right? So it's a great option to have. And yeah, definitely a market we’re trying to hit, for sure. Yeah. Well, and I like the fact that, you know, there's going to be that shock of the snack bar again. That's the old name. But that shock where, you know, was there anything healthy there before, you know. So it'll be a wonderful, wonderful enhancement to have those options. Yeah, I love that. So we can't forget about hours. What are the hours that are going to be for the summer outside? So for the first month ish, we have our swim team. And they come in, they practice 8:00 in the morning. They are going to be here and they'll be here till noon.

So the pool will open 12: 8:04

15 and the pool itself will close at 9:00. The snack bar typically will close one hour in front of that. So the snack bar again in the morning

will be from 7:00 to 8: 8:16

00, Monday through Thursday.

It'll be 7: 8:21

00 through nine or excuse me.

Yeah, 7:00 to 7: 8:25

00, Monday through Thursday, 7:00 to 8:00, Friday,

10:00 to 8: 8:31

00 on Saturday and Sunday. Yes. I'm sorry. We're kind of going all over the place. no, it's okay. It’s all new. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, perfect. Well, that's wonderful. A lot of really, really good hours. What about the cold beverages? Now we see the bar in the background again. Nice. Reminds you that we are a private club and, you know, a nice bar is central to some of the things we do. Sure. Any different options? Full service out here? So one of the things that is not changed is that we still have Louis manning that line and Louis is out here and he's killing it. Everyone loves to see Louis from the littles all the way to mom and dad. And so Louis will be at that bar the majority of the times. We added a couple of taps. So and on taps are not beers. We have cocktails. We have what we're deeming the freshest margarita. Our version of a Skinny Margarita, three ingredients, fresh lime juice, silver tequila And then we're also doing agave nectar as a sweetener. Nice. That's it. Over ice, lime, done. And then we also have the lemonade. We have our raspberry lemonade that we're doing out of that as well. And they're right on tap. We have a summer full of new cocktails, new signature cocktails that Karen and her team and Louis, they all kind of created. So we're always trying to keep it fresh, trendy and what's happening in the world of drinks. Nice. Very good. And then also the last thing I love what you said, Chef, about that resort environment now, right? Yeah. So it's no longer just a club pool. We're feeling much more resort like. So what about ordering? Obviously, you said there may be servers, but we've got the new app options there as well. Yeah. So currently with the new app, we, we've, we're trying to get our feet underneath us at the snack bar. So we're we're testing our, our team inside and what we're doing with them the more servers that are outside and in orders coming in, we're trying to work out some of the kinks there. Perfect. But in the very near future we'll turn that app on and you'll be able to sit at your chase lounge and you’ll be able to order and we'll bring it right to you. So, yeah, the app is definitely in the works. You can order here from the menus up top in the main dining rooms and we'll bring it down to you. That's not the issue. The issue at this point is just like I said, just getting our processes down first before we add more. Because again, all new, right? I mean, we're not we've not been doing the poolside service like that or anything else. So this is all wonderful. So. Right, perfect. Well, Gerard, Chef, thank you so much for being with us. This has been a wonderful and the weather certainly cooperated today. So I have a feeling this will be a very, very busy day for the Club. And everybody's getting used to all the new amenities and everything we're doing here. And the cicadas are almost gone. The cicadas are almost gone! By the time this probably airs and goes out to our members, cicadas should no longer be an issue, so we should be good to go. But again, thank you so much for all of that. We appreciate all the hard work and everything. And to our viewers, thanks for tuning in to another amazing episode of Missouri Athletic Club Connections. Stay connected with us through the events calendar, the MAC app and social media. And we'll see you again soon.