Food & Beverage Updates

BY BRANDON STREICHER | FOOD & BEVERAGE COMMITTEE

The Food and Beverage Committee has been busy the past couple months and we are excited to share a few updates.

We welcomed a new Director of Food & Beverage in March. Jen Keeler joined us after working several years with Great American Restaurants and has already begun to drive impact. Please say hi and introduce yourself next time you are at the Club.

The new April menu is getting ready to launch. Chef Travis Simmons continues to impress the membership with diverse weekly specials and putting his personal touch on long-time Springfield favorites.

We are appreciative of the members who completed post-dining surveys over the past three months. We received over 500 responses which enabled us to develop a baseline understanding of our performance and gain insights on where we can improve. As always, we’d like to hear from you you can reach us at FandB@sgccva.org.

Jen Keeler was born in Washington D.C. and grew up in a Marine Corps family—“Semper Fi”—moving every one to three years. Her great grandfather, Frank William Crilley, won the Medal of Honor and Navy Cross for display of extraordinary heroism in his profession going above and beyond the call of duty during a dive operation. She is the eldest of five siblings, and some of her most memorable childhood experiences occurred while living in Hawaii where she learned the Japanese language, hiked to waterfalls, went to the many beaches on weekends, took up water rescue, and made leis from the plumeria trees in front of her home. Jen has a passion for reading, writing, and public speaking. She moved near the Quantico Marine Base in 1983 and later attended St. Mary’s Academy in Alexandria and then NOVA and George Mason University.

Jen began her career with Great American Restaurants in 1994 at the Carlyle Grand. She worked to develop and train systems and standards and was a part of the opening teams of Best Buns Bakery, Sweetwater Tavern Merrifield and Centreville, and Silverado. She has a passion for excellence and worked her way up in the company to become a Managing Partner responsible for overseeing all the day-to-day operations within the restaurant.

Jen was an avid runner and competed in local races. She is most proud of her accomplishment battling and winning breast cancer and then going on to run the MCM Marathon with two of her siblings and running the RAGNAR 200-mile relay race from Maryland to D.C.

Jen loves to host parties at home and is known for her themed murder mystery events. She is a part of a parent “wining and hiking” group who love to hike and then finish the day celebrating at one of the many wonderful wineries we have here in Virginia.

Jen has three boys. Jake (20) and Andrew (18) both attend Virginia Tech University. Her youngest, Matthew, is a junior at St. John Paul the Great in Dumfries. All three boys were successful runners, and Andrew’s Cross Country high school team won VISA State his senior year. Jen is actively involved with their sports and you can always find her cheering them on.

Jen is very excited and proud to be a part of the team here at Springfield Golf and Country Club. She looks to provide an experience for the members where they can continue to call this their home away from home and create great memories that last a lifetime. 

Did You Know?

All candidates for membership are posted on the Club website on the “Governance” page for seven days as part of the application process.

If you have information that a particular candidate would endanger the good order, welfare, or character of SGCC, please reach out to Membership Chair Jon Danforth at danforth.jon@gmail.com and CC Assistant General Manager Jordan Willis (jordan@ sgccva.org) within seven days of the posting date.