Club Managers Association Student Chapter Hosts New England Area Workshop

In March, the UMass Student Chapter of the Club Managers Association of America (CMAA) at Isenberg, in cooperation with UMass Dining and UMass Catering, hosted this year’s New England Club Managers Association (NECMA) Workshop.

The “Return to Academia” Workshop encouraged the review and consideration of the development of Millennial trends within the field of club management for the top managers of NECMA. At this two-day workshop, nearly 50 club managers from across New England explored the trends of the generation born between 1982 and 2004, many who are of college age today and will be future club members. The goal of the workshop was to provide education through concepts, trends and initiatives in how to enhance and adapt to these pending changes and to begin to accommodate for this future generation.

Over the two-days, managers heard from keynote speaker Kate Edwards and the key players, Ken Toong, Van Sullivan, Chris Howland and Garett Distefano, from the UMass Dining Operations on trends and habits of the Millennial Generation. Kate Edwards touched on the topics of her book, Hello! And Every Little Thing That Matters, and encourage managers to consider ideas about how to enhance the member and guest experience through innovative ways and she also highlighted the importance of striving for excellence in every detail. To compliment her session, Dr. Melissa Baker from the HTM Department and graduate student Tiffany Shin shared research on the trends within food service and how companies are using these changes to re-energize their products and services for today’s and tomorrow’s generation of members.

Innovative trends evolving within the industry were showcased in a way to inspire managers to challenge the status quo at their clubs. Concepts of providing healthy, flavorful, world cuisine using freshly prepared, sustainable ingredients were examined and the managers were encouraged to be prepared for the coming changes that Millennials will demand. Sessions included interactive cooking demonstrations and exhibits of how sustainability, recycling, locally sourced foods and innovation in food and eating trends are affecting the UMass Dining operations as they serve Millennials. The ability to “tell the story” of the food and the source of the food was highlighted throughout the educations sessions. Managers were prompted to have an open mind and to continue to develop and build upon their operational strengths as well as to focus on striving to enhance their options for Millennials by adjusting to these evolving trends.

These themes were also showcased through the UMass Dining Operations with demonstrations from a variety of locally source food vendors and UMass award winning chefs. The managers who spoke about the operations conveyed the importance of why change is needed and how to best to adapt to locally sourced and sustainable food products to the Millennial Generation.

Alumnus Jeffery Isbell, CCM, said “The recent (NECMA) event I attended at UMass was top notch. It made me proud to not only be an UMass alum but also for the achievements of UMass Catering operations and UMass Club Management students. The culinary experience with local vendors and the education put in was outstanding.”