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Several years ago, Old Warson Country Club in St. Louis found itself faced with what is perhaps one of the most common operations dilemmas in the club industry - their kitchen facility was past its prime, and - in some aspects -beyond repair.
"After 44 years, we were still operating out of the club's original kitchen facilities," said Wolfgang Von Dressler, CCM, CEC, AAC, general manager of the club for the past nine years. Periodically the most distressed pieces of equipment would be patched-up and put back together, but as time wore on, the problems persisted and grew worse.
Eventually the Band-Aid approach was no longer enough, and Executive Chef Aidan Murphy, CEC, and Von Dressler knew the time had come to approach the board with their vision of a kitchen that could carry the club into the millennium. That vision would ultimately become a reality with a $1.4 million state-ofthe-art addition/renovation rivaling those found in the finest restaurants.
Built in 1953, the 24,000-sq.-ft. Williamsburg-style clubhouse is located in the heart of one of St. Louis' most affluent suburbs. Old Warson has a very formal, elegant feel, reflecting the tastes of the club's 400 active members, 80 percent of whom are over 45 according to Von Dressler.
Members expect a lot from their club's kitchen and Old Warson was no exception. "Our members have eaten at the best restaurants in the world," said Chef Murphy, "and they definitely expect that kind of quality and creativity at Old Warson."
In the Spring of 1996, Chef Murphy and Von Dressler found themselves at a breaking point in trying to meet those expectations. They were confronted with the need to replace five 14-year-old stoves/ovens, a broiler, two fryers, and a dish washing machine, just short of its 25th birthday. Replacement parts were simply not available. In addition, the walk-in refrigerators were being kept alive by periodic transfusions of freon, a practice that was no longer in step with environmental and governmental regulations.
"The kitchen renovation project really started when we found out that the cost of the new stoves was going to be $100,000, and that we would need an entirely new hood system which would bring the cost to $400,000," said Murphy.
Faced with that kind of...