Meet Our UClub Staff

Alena Gleich - Food & Beverage Manager

One face many of our members are familiar with is our ever-delightful, everaccommodating Food & Beverage Manager, and front-of-house guru, Alena Gleich. Whether you have attended a special event here at the Club or have come in for dinner or drinks, you will almost certainly have had the pleasure of meeting Alena and seeing her in action.

Born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, Alena found her way to Santa Barbara for college, pursuing a business degree at Santa Barbara City College while working in hospitality.

Specifically, Alena started her career at the Ritz-Carlton Bacara, working as a hostess. From there, the diligent and quick learner moved her way up to fine dining food runner and then expeditor (responsible for ensuring efficient order flow between waitstaff and kitchen), followed by time spent as a server working with a very exigent, vocal French chef. “All of these positions helped me learn how to serve in a fine dining environment. I learned all of the steps for proper service,” she notes. Alena then also began working at Enterprise Fish Company as a cocktail waitress during the “crazy 4-8pm happy hour! There were 100 open seats and just 2 cocktail waitresses. It was the opposite of Bacara –fast-paced, multi-tasking, and chaotic. But I loved it. I thrive when I am busy.” For Alena, this combination of very different roles was ideal, preparing her for her responsibilities here at the UClub. “It really rounded out my hospitality skills well,” she says with a characteristic smile. When Covid hit Enterprise closed and her former manager recommended her for an open server role here at the UClub. After just six months as a server, and recognizing her background and potential, she was promoted to the Food & Beverage Manager position.

“I love working here, and especially the people,” Alena relates. “It has been so nice to work somewhere that is not open to the public. I have the opportunity to get to know our members better and to build relationships –getting to know what they like and being able to better serve them. And also our staff –we have such an amazing staff and all of our servers are so great to work with.” On that note, Alena wants members to know that she enjoys getting feedback: “Please do not hesitate to let me know if you have any questions about your food, your drinks, or our service. I am always happy to hear from you!”

One of Alena’s favorite events here at the UClub is our 1st Thursday Wine Maker’s Dinner, not only because of the elevated service aspect of it (“The glasses, the silverware, and table-settings –it all brings me back to my fine-dining days at Bacara”), but also because of the challenge of hosting such an evening, something Alena revels in. “I also love the Wine Maker Dinners because we get to meet the wine makers and I get to learn about the wines and wineries alongside our members.”

When not working, Alena can be found enjoying nature –hiking, going to the beach, or riding her bike– with her dog, Ziggy. “He’s a Beagle-Jack Russel mix, but he is very chill. He is a rescue from the pound and he is almost fully blind.” Alena has an adventurous side as well. During her college years she did a semester of work-study on a farm in the middle of the jungle in Hawaii, walking a quarter mile each way to a little shed –the only place with wi-fi– to attend her online classes and take proctored exams. “It was always really funny when the person giving the exam would see my background and ask where I was.”

So what does the future hold for this modest yet capable and industrious lady? “In ten years? I would maybe like to own my own restaurant... or I could see myself someday as a restaurant/bar rescue consultant.”