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The Berger of Burger
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Bob Schmuck has become an institution at Blue Mountain G&CC, even though hamburgers aren’t really his thing - By Ted McIntyre
Like most courses, Blue Mountain G&CC was used to running its own food and beverage operation. However, in 1990 the semi-private Georgian Bay area club realized it was better off outsourcing for its financial well-being. It just took a little while to get it right—that is, until Burger Bob Schmuck, a man cursed by two names, entered the picture.
Schmuck got his start in the food business in the winter of 1976 thanks to Blue Mountain Resort President Gord Canning, who helped rally a food services department that had remained in turmoil since the sudden passing of the resort’s founder, Jozo Weider, in 1971.
“I was mainly interested in skirt-chasing and drinking,” remembers Schmuck. “There were five of us hired. We were really just ski bums—glorified grill cooks, which, I think, is why we all got the nickname ‘burger.’ There was Burger Ted, Burger Phil…”
The rest of the fivesome came and went, but Bob stuck. And for good or bad, so did his sobriquet. Thirty years later, he’s still known by that tag, even though hamburgers are not really his thing—honest!
“I have people ask me, ‘What’s your real name?’” he relates. “I say Schmuck, and they go, ‘Yeah, right.’ But that nickname is sort of redundant. It should really be Barbecue Bob, since that’s my specialty—spit roasting.”
According to the Blue Mountain G&CC board of directors, the head of their food & beverage department is officially titled Chef Bob, a designation they accorded him after a half-million-dollar clubhouse renovation this past spring to upscale the club. But it’s hard for most members and area residents to break with tradition.
“Burger Bob’s Catering has been with us now for 11 years now, and it has worked out extremely well,” says the club’s general manager, Jim Malley. “Because we’re in the Collingwood area, his staff can find employment at ski resorts in the winter months before returning to be part of the golf program here.” The problem of staff retention, a concern for many clubs, is thus resolved.
Blue Mountain has an agreement to take back a percentage of Burger Bob’s gross sales, and the club’s liquor license is in the caterer’s name, which works out well for all concerned, says Malley. “We get the food and beverage service we’re looking for, a pricing structure we’re quite happy with, and the overhead for the golf club is kept in the minimum. We don’t have to worry about liquor issues, food and beverage spoilage or stock going out the back door. Nor do we have associated labour costs. And Bob’s a real character—the members love him.”
“It’s gone well for both of us,” admits Schmuck, who works with the club to develop an annual menu along with plans for special functions, from quick meals to lobster-fests, and from barbecues to fine dining. “We’ve increased sales in our department about 50 percent in the past ten years.”
And redundancy aside, Schmuck does not regret being slapped with his famous moniker back
in 1976.
“After the first 25 years of living with the nickname Schmucky,” he says, “I was
glad to be Burger Bob.”
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