New Year Ruminations

Members of the Board’s executive committee talk Club dining, value, Olympic opportunities and the importance of listening.

This month marks the seventh anniversary of the Club’s new Azabudai home. The Pelli Clarke Pelli-designed facility, opened on January 18, 2011, is the sixth clubhouse in the Club’s 90-year history.

From its inception in 1928, the Club has evolved from a place for a few dozen American businessmen to meet up for drinks into a storied institution with a modern, multiuse facility that caters to a large, international membership.

As a nonprofit organization, the Club’s Board is made up of elected volunteer Members, who serve two-year terms. Following the most recent election, INTOUCH sat down with the five members of the Board’s executive committee, Michael Alfant (representative governor), Jesse Green (first vice president), Alok Rakyan (second vice president), Michael Benner (treasurer) and Machi Nemoto (secretary), to discuss what the year holds for the Club.

INTOUCH: Member satisfaction was at an all-time high in the recent membership survey. What are your thoughts?

Alfant: While it’s great that the numbers look really good…I would look deeper in there at areas where there was constructively critical feedback and see if those are areas we could address. The obvious one that pops out immediately is food and beverage. I think we need to take a critical look at the quality of our service offerings—the food, the service, the ambience, the presentation, the diversity of the menu—and level those up.

Green: I think it’s something we’ve been talking about for a number of years, and this needs to be the year we make some improvements in this space. It’s not to suggest that our food and beverage offering is poor, but the opportunities for us to enhance our offering are clear.

INTOUCH: As Tokyo’s food scene accumulates even more Michelin stars, what should the Club’s approach be?

Green: In my mind, there is nothing at the Club that is purely iconic of this Club. For us to have something where we can say the American Club has the best of this and I need to go there for that, that’s where I want us to be.

INTOUCH: CHOP and American Bar & Grill have focused on American cuisine. Is this what should separate us from potential competitors?

Benner: The core of that iconicism is American culture and, ergo, different varieties of American food, so finding really premier, representative American food is critical for us. The one thing we do very well is, on any given day, we have three different salad bars, and that is quite unique. A lot of Members ask about organic or vegetarian offerings and the number of calories in the food. We’ve worked on some of those areas, but we still have a lot more we can do.

Rakyan: I don’t think people are coming here for a particular cuisine. People are [eating] here because [it’s convenient] when everything you want is here, you can park here and your children are here. The great thing about the Club is they are really helpful and will often make something off the menu for you. As far as menus are concerned, they need to be a bit more eclectic and exciting.

Alfant: I don’t think we need to aspire to Michelin stars. I don’t think we need to serve unique food. I think we need to be the best at what we say we’re going to do, which is American cuisine. What I would like to see is a focus on improving that. I think CHOP is very good, and it gives me cause to be optimistic that we can improve everywhere else in the Club.

INTOUCH: The idea of a Japanese restaurant has been proposed by a number of Members. How realistic is this?
 
Nemoto: To serve Japanese dishes, I don’t think you have to buy Japanese fish and vegetables. So instead of a hamburger, it could be a hamburger steak with rice and a Japanese-style horseradish. Without buying extra commodities, we could serve what Japanese consider Japanese dishes. I hear that guests staying at the [Guest Studios] often ask if we have Japanese food. I think it could be nice to have a few items.

Alfant: I think the suggestion Machi has is interesting, which is sort of a Japanese mask on top of American food. Maybe that’s something that is achievable.

Green: People come here, including Japanese Members, looking for American cuisine. The other thing is yakisoba [noodles] or something is very easy for us to do, but for some of your more involved Japanese dishes, it’s not what we do. Also, the options that are available in this city will far surpass…what we’re focused on.

INTOUCH: One area that was lower in the survey was value. What does membership value mean?

Green: There’s intrinsic value in the Club [through the various] services and facilities available to you. I think the true value exists not in what you get from the Club but what you put back into the Club. It’s about how you participate in the Club and in the community.

Alfant: I think it’s incumbent upon us to constantly strive to improve the value proposition to each Member. I see it as a sort of push-pull: we’re trying to remove impediments and, at the same time, trying to increase opportunities, options, perspectives for Members.

INTOUCH: What kind of impediments are you talking about?

Alfant: It could be dress codes, age restrictions, the types of machines we have in the [Fitness Center], the hours the Club is open, the number of parking spaces. There’s any number of things that could impact your perspective on value. We’re constantly mindful of making sure that we don’t overweight one Member demographic over the other in trying to preserve this value proposition.

INTOUCH: Is the Club reasonably priced?

Benner: We’ve created an ecosystem where, in food and beverage, for example, we have multiple price points and styles of dining to cater to [a range] of Members. The feedback we have gotten from the Membership…is that people aren’t necessarily so concerned with how much they’re paying for the Club. They’re perhaps a little bit concerned with how much quality they’re getting for what they’re paying. One of our initiatives for 2018 is focusing on improving that quality within that same price point.

INTOUCH: The current facility has undergone a number of renovations over its seven years. How key are such improvements in helping the Club to stay relevant?

Green: The Fitness Center, for large parts of the morning and in the evening, was overrun. And so it was imperative for us to look at alternative ways to refit it to support this growing demand. The demographic of our Club is changing, the culture is changing and what I’ve witnessed over the years is a constant transformation: sometimes more family-oriented, sometimes a little more business-oriented. And if we’re not listening to what our Members want, we’re not actually providing the value we were talking about earlier.

INTOUCH: How do you decide which changes should be made?

Alfant: I would give a shout-out here to the committees. In our governance structure, change bubbles up from the bottom. So the Board is not making pie-in-the-sky assessments. The committees are the ones closest to the Members who utilize the facilities and services under their auspices. When we talk about renovations or changes, we somehow think of big projects and construction equipment. Sometimes, renovations are better furniture, new tablecloths, curtains or repurposing a room and sprucing it up a little. In the interest of Member value, we should always look for opportunities to reinvest in the Club.

Benner: I would add here the contribution of the management and staff. They’re on the frontline every day and Member feedback through them and great ideas are being presented to the governance structure to help keep the Club relevant. On another point, the additional [Member] participation levels we have seen are because we have had an increase in a feeling of community in the Club. People want to get involved and attend social functions.

INTOUCH: The Club will host Team USA as USA House during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. How can the Club benefit from this relationship?

Alfant: The emphasis will be on opportunities for Members to engage with the US Olympic Committee and US athletes. We are endeavoring to provide Members with an experience they could not otherwise have.

Rakyan: One of the biggest points is the chance for children to be able to see and be inspired by their role models. That is vital.

INTOUCH: What’s your one hope for the Club in the coming year?

Benner: We’re in a really good position financially. But it’s at those times you get hit by a new surprise. So we need to be planning for the next unexpected contingency…and our long-term evolution.

Alfant: The most gratifying thing for me is seeing the engagement of Members in the governance of the Club and in the usage of the facilities. So my hope would be to see that increase.

Nemoto: I hope Members will respect the rules to ensure a more comfortable and fun place for everyone.

Rakyan: We should never get complacent and remember there is always more scope to get better and increase Member participation.

Green: I would like to see our Members get more involved. Even if it’s something small, like you didn’t have a good meal, I want you to write a Tell TAC and tell us about it, because the only way we can do something about it is if we know about it. And if you had a great experience, I want you to tell somebody else, because you, our Members, are our greatest ambassadors.

Words: Nick Jones
Image: Benjamin Parks