Private Clubs
Staffing for clubs where the members know everyone by name
Michelin-trained chefs and F&B directors who understand discretion, precision and the art of membership service.
Chapter 01
Roles we fill, front of house to the kitchen
Private club staffing here runs across the building: clubhouse management, culinary professionals, banquet servers, and front-of-house personnel. Each is a different conversation, and each is approached as part of one team, because members experience the club as a single place, not as departments.
The focus is on people who already understand the etiquette of a member-based environment. Serving a membership is not the same as serving the public. The standards are higher, the memories are longer, and the same faces return week after week.
For clubs that also run a full restaurant program, the restaurant staffing page covers the kitchen brigade in more depth.
A private club dining room with dark wood panelling, white tablecloths and silver set for lunch
Discretion, and the art of membership service
A club's reputation is held in small moments: a server who remembers a preference, a chef who adjusts the menu for the board dinner without being asked. Candidates are evaluated for technical mastery and for the social intelligence that lets them serve an elite membership with absolute professionalism.
Sean J. Lyons, a Michelin-trained chef with over 30 years in hospitality, looks for that judgment in person, because it rarely shows up on paper. Discretion applies in the other direction too: your search, and the candidates in it, stay confidential.
Chapter 03
Placements meant to last through the membership year
Turnover is felt keenly in a club. Members notice when the maître d' changes, and a revolving kitchen unsettles a dining room that depends on familiarity.
Preference goes to professionals with a proven record of stability and team development, which reduces the disruption of turnover and protects a consistent, high-tier standard. The aim is a leader who settles into your club's culture and tradition and stays long enough to shape it.
It helps that the firm founded by a chef understands both sides of the swing door, so the match considers the back of house and the front together.
Leaders who are not on any list
The directors and chefs most worth hiring are rarely on job boards. They are already employed, valued, and unlikely to apply for anything, which is exactly why they are worth the approach.
Three decades of industry relationships make it possible to reach passive candidates who care about culture, leadership and longevity above a headline. If a search is coming up at your club in Oswego, NY or anywhere in the Americas, call (919) 590-7296 or start with the retained search model under staffing solutions.
Sean J Lyons, Oswego, NY. Michelin-trained founder, over 30 years in hospitality. Call (919) 590-7296.