David Eichstaedt, General Manager, UMass Club
Invest: spoke with David Eichstaedt, general manager of the Umass Club, to learn why Boston is such an important hub for industries, how membership drives their growth, and the challenges of planning networking events.
What are some significant highlights or achievements for the club over the last 12 months? What are some challenges with inflation and the economic environment?
The biggest achievement has been that our fiscal year ends June 30th, and it will be the busiest yet. Our revenue is up over 10% of our previous highs, and membership and club activity has been solid. Overall it has been a great year so far.
In terms of challenges, everything is more expensive coming out of COVID. The average wage of our staff is up 20% and the cost of goods is up. We tried our best to not increase prices too much, but if everything is more expensive to us we need to increase prices. We have been busier, so that helps to absorb some of that, but it is an everyday struggle to keep costs in line without pricing people out of the market. That is our niche is that we are in the middle price-wise so that attracts a lot of people.
What value does the UMass club provide to its members?
The value that it provides is that it is an inviting comfortable environment. We have a great location next to the state house, so it is very convenient for people that work there. We have incredible views from the 32nd floor, and our food quality and service are excellent. We provide a great dining experience for folks that have events here. It is a good blend of social and business events. We are not pigeonholed into one thing with a good blend of events.
What makes the Boston business community unique or special?
What is great about Boston is that there are so many great universities in and around the city. It is such an education, research, finance, and biotech research hub. There are so many different industries in and around Boston plus Harvard, MIT, Boston University, and UMass. It is a great base of education and world class hospitals. Boston is a very easy city to navigate with a big city feel, but it is easy to get around. It is convenient for people coming in and out of Boston because of the Logan Airport which is 15 minutes from downtown. It is a progressive city that is easy to manage and has a lot to offer.
What opportunities for growth do you see for the club in the near future?
Our biggest area for growth is our membership base. We can definitely accommodate more members, and that is a great opportunity for us. When new members come here, then more people book events and come in to dine. There is room for growth with membership, but we will get to a point where we will book all our event rooms and we will reach capacity. Membership is an area where we can sustain a lot of growth. We have been trying to foster relationships with other campuses in and around Boston. There are a lot of schools that don’t have a private club, so if we can create a program in downtown Boston, then we can grow our membership base. The name of our club is deceiving because you don’t have to work or be an alumnus to be a member, but anyone can join and there are different tiers and pricing levels based on whether you are alumni or not.
How has demand shifted for the UMass club? How are remote and hybrid work models impacting your services?
In the event business, things have come back around and are even better than they were before COVID. We are located near the financial district and state house, and there used to be two other clubs here, but they both closed during COVID. We are the only club of our type left in downtown Boston now, so it is getting a lot busier. We have to be careful that we are booking the right events and maximizing the revenue for the space, because we can’t limit our opportunities to generate revenue. We have seen a change in our flow of business. Friday and Monday used to be our slowest lunch days, and that used to be different during COVID. A lot of people are working in the office Tuesday and Thursday, but working at home Monday and Friday. Our decor has been described as a timeless elegance, but not pretentious. It isn’t men only and people smoking cigars — it is professional, but relaxed. It is not an uptight atmosphere, because we are very relaxed and more open-minded than other clubs.
How are you positioned to expand the networking component of the club?
We do a monthly networking event, but it tends to be a lot of the same people. We are trying to figure out how to get newer people involved. We have struggled with when to schedule those events. We tried doing them in the morning and evening, but it is hard to accommodate everyone, and we need to figure out what the best time and formats are for our members. It is important because we want to connect young alumni with older alumni that creates work opportunities, and we need to maximize that opportunity.
What is your outlook for the club and your top priorities over the next two to three years?
Our priority is to keep growing our membership base and overall revenue. We need to continue creating a current updated club that provides a great experience for our members. We are going on nine years of being here, and there is facility upkeep and upgrades that need to be done. We are in the process of switching our back-office provider so we can provide better online services for our members. Our new platform will provide better technology for our guests. Our biggest challenge going forward is to keep the trajectory moving upward, and to keep our current membership base happy, and then supplement it with new people coming on board. One of the most important things is that the UMass Club is open to all. Our growth comes from events where people that have never been here before come up for an event. They like the food, service, and space, and they want to come back and join. Anyone can join here, but we need to get that word out there.
