“A Disaster Beyond Your Imagination Will Occur”

This isn’t really a supper club story, but rather a funny story with a supper club moral at the end that it is never a bad idea to have pizza as a backup plan.

Jerry MacDonald is a buddy of mine that has run major arenas around the country. He ran the arenas where the NBA’s Heat play in Miami and where the Rockets played in Houston. He now runs the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in Houston, the number 1 ranked outdoor amphitheater in the world. He also opened the Pyramid arena in Memphis back in the early 1990’s.

The night that they opened the Pyramid there was a concert by the Judd Sisters and they had planned a gala event afterwards with a sit down dinner of tenderloin and jumbo shrimp for all the key notables in the city. Jerry had been working for two years to get the arena built and this was to be a real celebration.

Jerry had gotten invites for me, my wife and another couple telling us about the scrumptious feast planned. As we drove to the event I mentioned to my other friend that having been through major events like this before that something would go wrong that 99% of the people there wouldn’t notice, but would drive Jerry crazy.

About half way through the concert I noticed the arena staff placing rolls of carpet around the sound/light control station and the back of the arena like a moat. Then the staff came out with squeegees. Unbeknownst to 99% of the people in the building was the fact that there was a major plumbing issue. When the first patrons flushed the toilets all the toilets in the arena flushed. There was a real risk that the concert would have to be called off because of flooding. With the quick thinking of Jerry and his staff, crisis was averted and the show was an enormous success.

The gala “feast” also went on. The ballroom was beautifully decorated and dinner was served. But, instead of surf and turf the waiters brought out Pizza Hut pizza from the concession stands from the upper floors of the arena. The event was delightful. Speeches were made and congratulations flowed along with copious amounts of alcohol.

As the event wound down my friend Jerry finally joined us. I asked what happened to the surf an turf dinner. He explained the plumbing issue and the fact that the building’s kitchen was on the lowest floor. To make his point he asked: “Do you remember the movie Caddy Shack? Well right now we have “Baby Ruth” bars flowing through the kitchen. Check out this scene from the movie to refresh your memory;

Caddy Shack Doodie in the Pool:

I guess the supper club moral of this story is that it is always good to have pizza as a backup plan.

Check out the recipe:

It is also good to know that it is now standard procedure across the country that when you open an arena you have boy scouts troops come in the week before to test the plumbing with a practice flush.

If you enjoy this blog and similar other stories/supper club lessons subscribe to get future blogs at www.impromptufridaynights.com/blog and be on the look out for my book Impromptu Friday Nights a Guide to Supper Clubs due out from Morgan James Publishing on January 30, 2018.

Failure is Not An Option (Part Two)

Failure is not an option for your supper club. Or at least it shouldn’t be. In talking with people about supper clubs I often hear that: “We used to have a great supper club, but… “. Following is a list of the second five reasons (yesterday’s blog outlined another 5) a supper club fails and some fixes to avoid them:

Fixes to Supper Club failures

Too expensive

This shouldn’t be an issue. Supper clubs are an economical way to socialize over a meal. If cost is an issue you can write menus with inexpensive ingredients. A pasta menu could be very affordable. Alcohol can be a real cost driver. To manage costs you can make it a BYOB party. Problem solved!

Recipes too hard

I get this complaint from my wife all the time. Her point is that what is easy for me is not easy for everyone. She is right, again. The solution is to write easier menus. You can insert packaged solutions. I make a béarnaise blush sauce that uses Knorr sauce mix and whisk in tomato paste. It cannot be easier and people think you are a culinary genius. The solution is to listen to Susan.

Food isn’t healthy

Yes the calorie count in most supper club meals is high. My theory is that we all try to eat healthy during the week, but it is fun to splurge a little at a dinner party. Check out the blog I wrote on Healthy Menus:

Different standards

We ran into this challenge in our neighborhood club. We have over 30 members so you get a lot of opinions. There is the old line: “Opinions are like assholes, we all have one”. Some people like simple. Some people like gourmet. We had one guy who was studying for his sommelier certification and considered himself a real gourmand. Our club wasn’t a good fit for him. In general we have a mix of simple and more challenging menus. If you think a menu is too hard you can opt out. My buddy Joe figured out a solution to this one…Invite Paul and he will do the cooking. Check out the blog on this solution:

Alcohol

If you don’t drink supper clubs and socialization in general can be a challenge. It shouldn’t be. We all have good friends that don’t drink. We have to find solutions where they are comfortable. One simple solution is to exclude the cost of alcohol for a dinner party

In the end there is the famous Will Rogers quote: “There is one guaranteed formula for failure, and that is to try to please everyone”. Sometimes you have to cut the cord on certain individuals to save the club.

Failure is Not An Option (Part One)

Failure is not an option for your supper club. Or at least it shouldn’t be. In talking with people about supper clubs I often hear that: “We used to have a great supper club, but… “. Following is a list of the top five reasons (tomorrow’s blog will outline another 5) a supper club fails and some fixes to avoid them:

Fixes to Supper Club failures

Loss of interest

The fix is involvement and variety. Talking with those that are losing interest and getting their input is a great way to renew commitment. Make changes or maybe partial changes to add variety. When people feel that their ideas are being heard they take ownership and reengage

Too much work

Quite often you will hear that hosting a dinner party is too much work and not a priority. This might be an opportunity to insert a “low work option”. In Impromptu Friday Nights we outline what I call a “I don’t cook but I know where to buy” option. This is a club where everything is bought via takeout or at a market. Make it easy.

Scheduling conflicts

Everyone is busy and has conflicting interests. It becomes a real pain if you or other club members can’t make a dinner party. Finding substitutes can be a nightmare. One very easy solution can be having a dinner party on a night other than Saturday. We have had club meetings on Friday and Sunday nights and folks were generally more available.

People move

A big challenge when you have clubs where people are career centric is that people will move quite often to further their careers. This really becomes a challenge when key people in the club move. The answer to this challenge is to be constantly encouraging new members. Talk up your club with friends and acquaintances. Encourage people to become subs to have them find out how much fun it is

Personality conflicts

It is human nature for people to not get along. It just happens. We have been in clubs where folks have had major differences. The easy solution is to schedule your way around conflicts. If you know Harry and Sally have a problem with Joe and Kathy keep them apart. Keep it simple.

When things look really bad and you need to pull in the heavy artillery to save your supper club you can always serve the Spiced Chocolate Mousse.This will make everyone happy and save the day. I hope!

Check out the recipe

Tomorrow’s blog will go through another five challenges and outline fixes. Just remember:

FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION!