Farm-to-table dining is all the rage, so much so that management of Skokie Country Club in Glencoe, Illinois, decided to take the movement to new levels. The private club has three organic gardens—more than 3,000 square feet under cultivation—with possibly a fourth garden coming this spring. Skokie also has a flock of 20 heritage hens and nine bee boxes housing approximately 450,000 bees.
“We did our first organic garden [in 2013],” says general manager Chuck Scupham. “I just wanted something useful in front of the golf shop. It was met with a little skepticism—and I hired professionals to set this up—but by mid-June the members were pretty enthusiastic about it. Stuff started being placed on the menu with the notation ‘Skokie organic garden,’ and by early July they were thinking it was really wonderful.”
The bee boxes and hens were introduced a year after the first garden. For their part, the bees produce roughly 140 pounds of honey annually, Scupham estimates. They can also travel up to five miles pollinating the gardens, flowers and plants around the course. Skokie’s bar uses the harvested honey in a popular Skokie Buzz of the month cocktail.
The hens, which include 11 breeds, live in a custom chicken coop with interior calico curtains placed there by Skokie superintendent Don Cross’ wife. The hens lay purple, blue and brown eggs. “I think only one of them lays white eggs,” Scupham says. “They’re like pets. The eggs are not yet certified to be served in our restaurant, but we bring the eggs home to eat until they are certified.”
Skokie’s restaurant is now a hot ticket. From mid-July until October, vegetarian menu items are exclusively from its garden. The club also has a dry-aging chamber where meats, duck and pork are dried.
“In the club business, restaurants don’t make any money,” Scupham says. “It’s an amenity, it’s branding. But I will say Skokie is exceptional. We’re a 600-member club, so we’re medium-sized. Club Benchmark says Skokie’s $3.6 million in food and beverage put us in the 98th percentile of private clubs, so we get terrific member support.”