The California Club and the Yale Club are big city clubs, and as such are quite formal. The Bradenton Yacht Club in Palmetto, FL, on the other hand, is less so. Its regular Sunday brunches attract crowds of 180-200, quite large considering that its membership is 570. The Bradenton also hosts other regularly scheduled monthly buffets and a variety of themed buffets throughout the year, including popular seafood nights, country and westerns, and an Oktoberfest. For Sunday brunch, James Valentine, general manager of the Bradenton Yacht Club, uses his centrally-located casual dining room and his formal dining room for buffet setup.
Members then serve themselves and choose to sit in either area.
They can also sit in the lounge if they want. Sometimes, a member comes in off a boat and they're dressed very casually. Valentine takes the buffet into an even more relaxed realm when he creates his poolside cookouts for the Fourth of July or Memorial Day. Again, members can choose where they want to sit. Bradenton finds that the families with children tend to sit around the pool, while the older members go inside to get out of the Florida heat.