The University of Saskatchewan
Faculty Club
Creating New Traditions
g r e y s t o n e h o u s e n e w s • j a n ua ry / f e b r ua ry 2007
This has been our most exciting year as far as physical improvements
to our Club. First, and foremost is the installation of the elevator,
allowing access to all levels and services of the Club to all people.
We use it even more than we anticipated
We also want to thank Innovation Stoneworks Inc, Appl Custom
Woodworks and Centennial Plumbing for our new fireplace in
the Red Room. Innovation Stoneworks also provided the beautiful
granite vanities in the main floor washrooms. Thank you all for
your generous donation to the Club.
If you so choose, you too can continue to contribute to the Club’s
physical capital fund via University Advancement and still acquire a
tax receipt. Just be sure to mark your gift as designated for the Club.
Our lounge is comfortable and elegant and if you haven’t seen it yet,
drop in for a glass of wine.
And, as always, I need to acknowledge the support and service that
we always receive from our own Facilities Management. They keep
us in business. Thank you!
Our Future:
The staffing challenge isn’t going to improve anytime soon. We
want to ensure we retain the excellent staff we have now and work
on ways we can continue to attract and retain the best.
We know that people have a growing appreciation for food and wine
and we are committed to updating and revising our wine list and
advancing our wine and food education.
Other issues we will be focusing on include the sourcing, purchasing
and implementation of a new Point of Sale system. We will need to
address safety concerns in our product receiving area, and we have
to start thinking in the long term about solutions for our outdated
and tiny kitchen.
Our service team:
If you ask any of our staff team what our vision is here at the Club,
they will tell you that we provide exceptional food and first class
friendly and personal service. I am extremely proud of our staff team
here at the Club and I would like to end my report by introducing
the team responsible for our success.
The largest component of our service team is employed on a casual
basis, both in our daytime and catering departments. We employ
in excess of 20 of the most amazing dining staff anywhere. Many,
but not all, are UofS students and many are international students
(between them they speak an incredible array of languages).
Our permanent staff:
Wendy Sharpe - Daytime kitchen porter.
Marta Kilanwoski - Garde Mange. (Cold Side Buffet)
Crystal Parton - Daytime Supervisor
Candace Eggum - Catering Supervisor
Lyle Kirkpatrick - Head Bartender.
Jeff Bryce - Sous Chef
Kevin Calder - Executive Chef
Susan Schmidt - Assistant Manager
Board Notes:
At the Annual General Meeting on October 25, 2006 the issue of tipping was raised, discussed and eventually referred to the Board of
Directors for decision. At the meeting of the Board of Directors on
Wednesday, December 13 it was unanimously decided that the tipping policy at the Club should remain unchanged.
Members shall be entitled to tip at their option. Tips can be processed
through member accounts and members may indicate a percentage
on their chits. The tip will be calculated on the total before taxes.
It has been my pleasure to be your club manager for the last seventeen
years. It is my job is to manage the club’s culture, custom and traditions
and collectively lead this team that give your club its substance.
Upcoming Events:
March/April 2007
Upcoming chef’s table evenings - march 24 & april 21
St. Patrick’s day pub - friday, march 16 - featuring kevin’s
award winning guiness stew
Easter brunch - sunday, april 8
Staff appreciation week luncheon buffets
Monday april 23 - friday april 27
Staff appreciation champagne breakfast - tuesday april 24
May/June 2007
Mother’s day brunch - sunday, may 13
Faculty club annual lobster night - friday, june 15!
Burgers & beer on the patio with jazz - friday, june 1 &
friday, june 8
Patio opening jazz bbq - friday may 18
Printing Services Document Solutions • 966-6639 • University of Saskatchewan
Happy New Year!
BREAKFAST AT THE CLUB
Join President MacKinnon for breakfast in the
Fireplace Room at the Faculty Club every Friday
morning 7:30 to 8:45 am. Breakfast will be informal
with an opportunity for faculty and staff to discuss
university issues. Cost is $5.00 per person. Please
reserve space by calling 966-7777 at least two days in
advance. If the President is unavailable, one of the
Vice-Presidents will attend.
Manager’s Report to the Membership
University of Saskatchewan Faculty Club Annual General Meeting
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
(Abridged)
It is my pleasure to provide a report to the membership on operations of the
Club for the past year.
Financial:
We successfully re-negotiated and settled our union contract with our employees
and this contract is retroactive to July 1, 2005. Although we did budget for an
increase there will be a financial impact in the current year. Please see the
graph below for net income synopsis from 2000 to 2006.
Membership History
BROWN BAG DINNERS
Don’t feel like cooking tonight?
Enjoy home cooked meals from the Faculty Club.
Brown Bag Dinners are available for pick-up, Monday,
Tuesday and Thursday. Call us at 966-7777 for our
fax information sheet.
LOUNGE:
Relaxed and comfortable, that is the feeling evoked in
our redecorated lounge space. Leather couches and
soft lighting make this a great spot for drinks with
the group or a sophisticated space to celebrate your
special occasion. Come and see for yourself!
Membership Numbers
Our Building:
As most of you are probably aware, there is an extreme shortage of food service
workers in the city. As a result of this shortage we anticipate that we will see
increased costs. We also want to ensure that our working environment is
equitable with other establishments in the city. It helps that we are now able
to process tips through member accounts allowing members (at their option)
to acknowledge service excellence in this way. It is important to us to be an
employer of choice.
Membership:
Our paying membership category has decreased from a high in 1989 of 809
members to the current 633, a significant decrease of almost 200 members (see
graph above). This decrease is proportionate to the increase in our retiring
members. Our active paying membership base has continued to be pretty
much static over the past eleven years, despite the fact that we are recruiting
approximately 30 new members each year (we seem to lose about that
number to retirement, attrition and for other personal reasons). Maintaining
membership fee revenue will continue to be a challenge in the coming year.
I would encourage all of you to introduce your friends and colleagues to the
Club. We are always happy to show our club to potential members, so if you
know someone who may be interested in becoming a member, just bring them
in and we will show them around and tell them all about the advantages of
membership.
Continued on back page
Saturday, January 13
Dinner of Introduction
Chef’s Table
Join us for an evening of fabulous
Asian themed food and great
wines – a formal introduction to
our Culinary Team!
Menu
Friday, January 19
Wine Bar Evening
Join us for a relaxing evening featuring fine
wines by the glass and fabulous jazz by:
The Skip Kutz Trio
Admission $10.00 per person
(Includes admission and a “welcome” cocktail)
For reservations please call 966-7777
Amuse Bouche
A “surprise treat” from the chefs
to entice your taste buds
for the evening to come!
Amati concert and dinner Series
Saturday, January 27
Enjoy Dinner at the Club
and then over to Convocation
Hall for the Concert. We have
a limited number of tickets
left for the January dinner (the
final dinner in the 2006/07
series will be Sunday, April 1st).
Reservations are required, so
please call early.
Menu
Appetizer:
Appetizer
Executive Chef:
Kevin Calder
Fine Music & Fine Dining
Grilled Shrimp & Chorizo served with Sour Cherry Gastrique
and a Parmesan Wafer
Giant Sea Scallop, Slow Rendered
Pork Belly, Micro Greens Salad
with a Blackberry Merlot
Reduction
Soup:
Classic Lobster Bisque with a splash of Brandy
Main Course:
Soup
6oz. Beef Tenderloin with Forest Mushroom Jus
Porcini Mushroom Risotto
Roasted Baby Beets
Deconstructed Asian Chicken
Noodle Soup
Granite Course
Dessert:
A house made Ice to cleanse
your palate
Crème Bruleé and Chocolate Pâté Duo
Coffee and Tea Service
Main Course
Sous Chef:
Jeff Bryce
Cocktails: 6:00 pm
Dinner to Follow
Seven Courses - $ 54.00
Per Person – Members &
Hosted Guests
($ 58.00 – Non-Members)
Please call 966-7777 to
book your table early!
Crispy Skin Breast of Duck with
Apricot Glaze
Duck Confit
Wok Seared Market Vegetables
Shitake Mushroom Risotto
Salad Course
Organic Greens with
Imported Cheese
Dessert Course
Lemongrass Crème Bruleé &
Chocolate Pâté Duo
Tea and Coffee Service
KUDO’S FROM OUR GUESTS
Dear Donna,
I would like to thank you and your staff for the very kind
welcome we were given during the BBCS conference in
Saskatoon last spring. It is very nice to be made to feel
at home.
Your club is very comfortable, congenial, well run,
and the food was excellent. Best regards
Good morning ladies,
I just wanted to let you know that we appreciated all
your help in making our dinner last night a success.
Everyone enjoyed themselves and the food and service
were excellent as usual.
Saturday, February 3
Tapas Night
Join us for an evening of nibbling, featuring
Mediterranean Pan/Asian Tapas
$ 19.95 Per Person
Cocktails and Tapas 7:00 PM
Wednesday, February 14
11:30 am until 1:30 pm
A beautiful way to celebrate Valentine’s Day
Lunch Buffet will feature “Surf & Turf” with
Charbroiled Flat Iron Steaks, Steamed Crab Legs with
Drawn Butter and lots of other goodies. Finish up with
our famous Chocolate Fountain.
❤❤❤
With Each Buffet purchased you are entered to win:
Valentine’s Day Gift Basket
Wine, Flowers, Candles and Bath Treats for you or for
your Valentine!
Register for Faculty Club E-Mail Notices
and Sneak Peeks.
To stay abreast of all of the new and upcoming Club events and fun
functions, be sure to register your email address with the office. Just
give us a call or email me, Donna, at donna.cram@usask.ca and
you will receive email remainders and advance notice of upcoming
events.
ACUC News:
Membership in the University of Saskatchewan Faculty Club
automatically grants you access to over 100 university-based clubs
all over the world.
Below please find a personal invitation from our friend and
manager Noelle Vickers at the William Goodenough Club in
London, England. 23 Mecklenburgh Square, London, England
WC1N 2AD Tel: 0044 (0) 20 7837 8831
Website: http://www.club.goodenough.ac.uk
“We are the only ACUC member in the UK and have been
a member for nearly two years now and so I thought it would
be helpful to remind you that we are here and very much
welcome visiting academics to stay with us whether on research,
attending conferences or on holiday with their families.
We are becoming popular as a central point in Europe for
partners in collaborative projects to meet, work hard and enjoy
our close proximity to the centre of London.
I would really appreciate it, if you felt it appropriate, to
let your members know how we can support them – be it
requiring a student room, a suite or our high quality Club
accommodation.
I look forward to hearing how the Goodenough Club may be
able to help you!”
You can contact me directly at: Noelle@goodenough.ac.uk.
With kind regards, Noelle