Catering Sales Manager at Brynwood Golf & Country Club
While At hofstra university, Jennifer Andrle thought she’d build a career in television production. But an internship at MTV convinced her otherwise. “I thought, ‘Oh my god, what have I gotten myself into?’” she says. “A few months before I graduated, I decided I’d go into event planning. It’s pretty similar, but I liked being able to get to work with my clients on a more personal level.”After graduation, Andrle, who lives in Greenwich, Connecticut, gained experience in event planning while working in administrative and sales positions at Castle on the Hudson in Tarrytown, Crabtree’s Kittle House in Chappaqua, and Grand Prix New York in Mount Kisco. Two years ago, she landed at the brand-new Brynwood Golf & Country Club in Armonk, hired to be the club’s sole sales catering manager, booking, marketing, and planning all events catered in Brynwood’s ballroom, from weddings to bar mitzvahs to corporate parties. “I had to build my department from the ground up,” Andrle says. “I was hired and told, ‘Here’s an empty gutted ballroom—go to town.’”Andrle created banquet menus, pricings, policies, and procedures for all private events at the club. Through lots of marketing, networking, and hustling, she increased sales more than 450 percent in the two-year period.—DS
