Royal Dornoch Winter Newsletter 2024

House Convenor’s Report
In last winter’s Newsletter, I highlighted the
difficulties we had experienced at the beginning of
the year, post Covid, in achieving a full staff
complement, both in the Kitchen and Front of
House. Eventually, our recruiting efforts were
repaid and we managed to deliver a successful year’s
service for the Club.
I am pleased to be able to report that we have built
on last year’s successes, and now by and large, we
have a stable staff complement both Front of
House and in the Kitchen, although we do need
to recruit one or two staff in this area before the
2024 season commences. The effect of the Covid
pandemic, with many in the hospitality industry
opting for a more congenial and family friendly life
style leaves this sector with a continuing shortage
of suitable, well trained candidates to fill posts
advertised. Whilst it must be recognised that we
are not alone as an organisation experiencing these
issues, it is a challenge to our existing staff who
have to work that bit harder and do the extra shift
to ensure that our food and beverage offering
remains at a high standard.
It would be remiss of me not to mention how
successful our existing staff have been over the past
season. We have maintained the high levels of
service of 2022, and in many of the offerings,
especially special dinners for events, have exceeded
the levels of quality achieved during 2022, and
which have received much praise from members
and visitors. The quality of offering we are now
receiving from the kitchen and the service
provided by front of fouse staff deserves more
recognition by more members supporting our
Winter Events Programme, our Sunday Roasts and
other related offerings.
Despite previous pessimism on the recruitment
front, we have been very fortunate to recruit a new
Food and Beverage Manager, Graeme Twaddle,
whom we welcome to the Royal Dornoch team.
Graeme joined us in October. I am sure by now
you will all know him and appreciate his courteous
and welcoming demeanor. Graeme has long
experience in the Catering and Hospitality
Industry. He is not unfamiliar with Royal Dornoch
having been a member in the distant past. We look
to him to hone the skills and attentiveness of our
Front of House staff and I believe he is not averse
to doing a turn in the Kitchen.
We have decided that all F&B facilities will be open
seven days a week, and have extended our seasonal
opening hours to provide opportunities for the late
afternoon golfers to dine after their round. As ever,
we would encourage members to indicate their
wish to dine after their round before teeing off.
Financially, the F&B performance against budget
has seen an improvement over previous years,
which is an indication of our improved offering.
The operations of the Halfway House has
continued to be successful, and we are looking at
ways in which what is on offer could be improved,
and that supplies of snacks and sandwiches are
readily available. Space in the Halfway House is
very constrained and limits the equipment we can
accommodate, therefore we have embarked on an
exercise to see if the building can be extended so
that we can offer extended services, and be more
efficient in what we already do, but that will be for
the longer term.
One issue that we have spent much time
deliberating in our meetings this year has been that
of staff accommodation. Our northerly location
19