Cypress Cove Resort

CH 9 CS: Cypress Cove Resort

Cypress Cove Resort is an upscale resort that operates year round, but generates 70 percent of its annual reve- nue between Memorial Day and Labor Day. The resort operates with a skeletal year-round staff. Seasonal staff is hired to accommodate the guests during the high season. Most of the seasonal staff members are college students, including interns from a number of college hospitality and culinary programs around the United States. Most of these workers arrive for training one week before Memorial Day. Don Hanson joined the Cypress in January as an executive chef. The previous chef had been with Cypress for three years and left for a position with a larger resort. Before leaving, the previous chef provided Don with the training schedule, manuals, and other materials that had been developed over the years to train the seasonal staff that would be part of the Cypress culinary team. Don was previously the sous chef in a hotel similar in size to the Cypress. As sous chef, Don had done some one-on-one specialized training for a few culinary team members. Don’s executive chef, however, did any large-scale training that was required while Don over- saw the day-to-day operation of the kitchens. The train- ing that Don had done involved very little formal preparation. He had merely noticed that a team mem- ber needed assistance with perfecting a particular skill and arranged a time to work with the team member on that skill. Don admitted to himself that he enjoyed the one- on-one training that he had done, but the thought of conducting a full week of training for 30 people was intimidating. During the winter and spring, Don reviewed the materials and training schedules the previous chef had given him. He made very few changes because he was sure that the materials had been created by people who knew more about “that sort of thing” than he did. Thetrainingobjectivessounded“alright,”andhefigured if they were not quite on target it would not really matter. He did introduce new recipes and removed old recipes to accommodate changes he had made to the Cypress menu. Don considered the timeline to be reasonable. If anything, he felt that too much time was allowed for lecture, demonstration, and question-and-answer ses- sions. He thought trainees should just have the opportu- nity to “get in there and practice doing it.” When Labor Day arrived, all of the year-round culi- nary staff said that it had been one of the most difficult seasons they had ever had. “The seasonal folks just did not seem to be able to get the hang of it.” Don had the same thought that had been recurring to him through- out the season: “These college kids just do not get it! They will never make it in the industry!” Based on what you have learned from previous chapters and the content of this chapter, answer the fol- lowing questions:

• What is the overall reason for the challenges that occurred at the Cypress Cove Resort?
• What are the primary causal agents for the chal- lenges that occurred at the Cypress Cove Resort?
• What role did leadership and supervision/manage- ment play in the challenges that occurred at the Cypress Cove Resort?
• What specific steps could have been taken to avoid the challenges that occurred at the Cypress Cove Resort?
• What, specifically, can be done to avoid a repeat of the challenges next year for the Cypress Cove Resort?