MANITO COUNTRY CLUB: FUN AND FOOD YEAR-ROUND
Location:
Spokane, WA
Scope:
Foodservice Design, Equipment Specificaiton & Installation, Furniture
For members at Manito Country Club in Spokane, Wash., golf used to be a seasonal sport. Once the cold, wet months of winter set in hitting the links was out of the question. But General Manager Dan Veliz and his steering committee had an idea for livening up the club year-round – golf simulators. With the help of Boelter’s design team, Manito Country Club built a brand new facility that includes four golf simulators, a bar and restaurant that together can serve up to 150 people, and a kitchen that not only services the bar and restaurant but also the pool patrons in the summer and golfers as they make the turn at hole nine.
“We were looking for a way to become a year-round facility, and indoor golf seemed like the perfect fit,” Veliz says. “This project not only enhanced the foodservice we were able to provide members at the pool and golf course, but brought people a way to experience golf no matter what the weather. Since our grand opening in July 2022, we’ve been extremely busy, and it’s great to see how the golf simulators are driving business. The whole project was a great investment and a big hit with our members.”
The Boelter Advantage
Veliz brought in Jim Palm, director of sales at Boelter, early on in the planning process. “We knew we had to get a lot accomplished in a relatively small space for this kitchen, and Jim’s expertise helped guide the project from the beginning,” Veliz says. Palm has worked with many country clubs through his career, giving him insight and understanding of the intricacies of working with this type of foodservice client. “One thing that’s different with country clubs is that not only are you working with a general manager, but at different steps of the process things have to go back to a committee for review and approval,” Palm says. “It’s helpful to understand that going into the project and adjust the timeline accordingly.
Palm also was familiar with a country club’s need to be versatile. “The kitchen had to be built to accommodate people coming to dine at the restaurant and bar, as well as serving the pool guests and golfers as they take a break after the ninth hole,” Palm says. “Our team worked to create a design that would make the most efficient use of the space available in the kitchen, with window service to the pool area and a grab and go case for golfers to help service guests wherever they want their food.”
A Kitchen with Multiple Goals
The new facility at Manito Country Club serves many purposes, but the primary focus was the installation of golf simulators to increase year-round traffic. The foodservice aspect includes the bar and restaurant that accompany the indoor golf, but the kitchen serves much more than that. In the summer months this new facility takes some of the burden off the clubhouse kitchen, producing the grab and go food for the golfers and food for people at the pool. During the winter this is the only kitchen open, so it needed to be designed to fulfill all the needs of the club.
Equipment choices played a large part in the flexibility of the design. This kitchen has its own walk-in cooler, freezer and warewasher, making it completely self-sufficient when the clubhouse kitchen is shut down for the winter. A griddle, fryer, broiler and combi-oven provide versatility in cooking, allowing for a menu that can serve plated, hot food items to diners at the restaurant, snacks to the pool and grab-and-go selections for golfers.
“We appreciated Jim’s willingness to work with myself and the chef on the kitchen design,” Veliz says. “If we asked for something different than his recommendations, he was always very accommodating and found a way to make it work.” One example was the fryers. The chef was afraid the fryers initially recommended were too small, so Palm sourced a bigger fryer and found space in the kitchen to fit the equipment double the size of what he’d originally suggested.
The Boelter team stepped up and designed an efficient space where everyone working can get the job done comfortably. Two aspects helped maximize space in the facility: an order window for pool-side diners and a double-door glass display case for golfers. “It was important to have the kitchen serve the pool area, and this window allows people to order food directly from the kitchen without walking all the way to the main clubhouse for food, or lining up inside this facility and taking up valuable space,” Palm says.
The grab-and-go component was a new addition as well, adding an opportunity for golfers to pick up easily transportable food when making the turn after the ninth hole. From chicken salad to sandwiches and fruit cups, the staff makes everything fresh in the kitchen to stock up for hunger players.
The custom-built stainless prep tables help bring everything together. “Boelter was able to utilize a local fabricator for all of the custom equipment, which made it easy to source and oversee fabrication, delivery and installation from start to finish,” Palm says.
Furnishing More than Equipment
The Boelter team’s work at Manito Country Club didn’t stop with the kitchen. “Most people know we do kitchen design and equipment sourcing, but Boelter offers a full-package deal which includes sourcing the furnishings for front of the house spaces,” Palm says. “We worked closely with the interior designer on this project to design furniture with the fabrics and finishes that would put the right type of finishing touches on the project.” BGD, a furniture company based in Minneapolis, Minn., built the furniture, including booths, tables, chairs and bar stools.
“It was great to have Jim work on the furniture,” Veliz says. “There’s a lot more to it than just picking out a chair, you have to think about the types of material that will wear well with use over time, be easy to clean, and be easy to get in and out of. But most importantly we wanted it to look good, to have something that makes an impression on people when they walk in the facility."
The multi-functional aspect of country club foodservice rings true at Manito Country Club, and thanks to the team at Boelter the new facility has been a big success in all aspects, from serving patrons of the golf simulators all winter long to alleviating the stress on the clubhouse kitchen. “Our goal is to serve our members the best way possible, and this new facility has been a great addition to better service members year-round,” Veliz says.
