The Arbutus Club is a private club and recreation complex situated on seven acres in a beautiful Vancouver neighborhood. Founded in 1964, the club offers a range of sports, activities and amenities that include tennis, fitness classes, hockey, basketball, aquatics, pickleball, skating, and youth programs.
Exceptional cuisine is de rigueur at a venue like the Arbutus Club, and overseeing the culinary program is Executive Chef Michael Couzelis and Chef de Cuisine Serge L’Ecuyer. There are multiple dining areas inside: the casual and comfortable Bistro downstairs, the Lounge upstairs between the pool and main ice rink serving comfort food amidst big screen TVs, and the Fireside, a more intimate dining space with a large covered patio for socializing and entertaining.
There are also event spaces for weddings, meetings and catered events, like the Quilchena Terrace room with a wall of sliding glass doors that open onto the patio with a stunning view of the valley below. A large meeting room downstairs accommodates up to 350 guests, and a rooftop patio is available for weddings in the warmer months.
Staff turnover at the Arbutus Club is low – the team of Couzelis, L’Ecuyer and Arbutus Club CEO Brent Elkington have worked together for over two decades – and many had grown accustomed to a certain way of doing things. But the kitchen footprint is on the small side, and when it was time to renovate, a primary goal was to find equipment that is versatile and multifunctional. So when Couzelis replaced two convection ovens with two stacked RATIONAL SelfCookingCenter® 62 gas combi ovens, the senior chefs and sous chefs were a bit nervous, but it was short-lived.
“Once they saw how easy it is and how consistent the results are, their worries melted away,“ Couzelis says.
