28 | Taranaki Business Excellence Awards - New Plymouth Club T T Sue Russell Welcome award for revitalised club The New Plymouth Club is a vibrant social hub for its members and guests. Membership grew from 4000 to over 10,000 in 2024. “We feel we are leaving a legacy in this city, one that our members and community can be incredibly proud of.” REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT After transforming itself into the very welcoming, accessible, and fun place it is today for people of all walks of life and ages to get together to socialise, overlooking the Tasman Sea, the New Plymouth Club received the Hospitality Excellence Award in last year’s Taranaki Business Excellence Awards. “It was totally unexpected, but very much wanted,” was the club’s response to the win. And as marketing and events co-ordinator Donna Yeats explains, “It was the first time we had entered in the business awards as we had been so focused over the past five years in revitalising the club, rebranding its look and feel by opening 1908, our iconic café, bistro and bar facility that lies at the heart of the club today,” After putting the club’s name forward for the award, the club’s management team went to intense interviews in front of a panel of judges. They were asked questions on everything from training staff, working conditions, how professional development is structured, and the list goes on. “They wanted to learn about various events we had staged at the club, which gave the judges a really solid feel of our values and culture,” says Donna. Now, the New Plymouth Club is a vibrant social hub for its members and guests. Membership grew from 4000 to over 10,000 in 2024, and continues to climb. This growth has been made possible by a complete transformation of how the club presents itself to the community, removing barriers to joining, streamlining processes, and extending a welcoming hand to serve and support the community it proudly belongs to. “A club is quite a traditional concept, whose origins stem from a different era. What made our transformation so successful was so many people recognised the need for change. With that strong mandate, management and executive got stuck in and made decisions as to how this would be achieved,” Donna says. For Donna, part of the process was undertaking a massive research project, speaking to well over 1000 people in the community, who had never been to a club or belonged to one before. Today, the club carries the values of the past into the future, in a new way of expressing a modern, club look and feel. Membership fees have been substantially reduced, removing financial barriers, and there’s an easy feel to the social spaces, which have been substantially upgraded. Bringing the existing membership along during the journey of revitalisation was also carefully thought through, as Donna explains. “We staged the renovations so that members would see the progress and the changes over a period of time, letting them get used to what was happening, and see we were committed to keeping them informed. We understand not everyone copes with change easily, and because they could see the stages unfolding, it helped with the adjustment.” As a not-for-profit organisation, Donna stresses, the New Plymouth Club exists to provide services to the community. Drawing on the examples of the Australian Surf Club concept assisted in defining how the physical spaces would change. “Above all, we wanted the New Plymouth Club to be an easy, welcoming space to come into.” One reason why the club is thriving is its small but very passionate management team, with everyone responsible for a specific part of the club’s operation, and the executive who contribute their time and energy into club events. “Because they contribute so much, we can run events extremely cost-effectively. It’s their kindness and generosity to the club that really underpins its success.” Looking back on the past few years, Donna says everyone is proud of what has been achieved and to now receive recognition from the Taranaki Business Excellence Awards is like the icing on the cake. “We feel we are leaving a legacy in this city, one that our members and community can be incredibly proud of. Our success is also a reflection of how great the people in New Plymouth are too – we have such a thriving and strong community spirit here.” PROUD TO BE WORKING WITH THE NEW PLYMOUTH CLUB & PROUD TO OFFER OUR SERVICES NATIONWIDE
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