Party-on, Yale Club

During the 2000 presidential campaign opponents liked to joke that George W. Bush had a pretty wild time partying while studying in the elite environs of Yale University.

Since then Bush quit drinking and got down to work. But it’s not so clear that other alumni of the Newhaven, Connecticut-based Ivy League school have followed suit.

It seems that members of the Yale Club of New York City, which resides in an elegant building on Vanderbilt Ave. right next to Grand Central Station, have been drinking up a storm. Documents filed with the IRS show that the club’s members, who are mainly graduates of Yale University, drank their way through beverages, including beer, wine and liquor as well as coffee and soft drinks, costing approximately $505,000 during 2004.

The lavish but hushed surroundings of the Yale Club’s second floor lounge might not look like party central – three sedate looking portraits of Bill Clinton, George H. W. Bush, as well as Bush junior, look down on members resting in deep leather couches. But perhaps that tranquility masks the fact that there seems to be a lot more boozing going on at the Yale Club than at the Club of a rival.

Members of the Harvard Club of New York City, which is which is also located in midtown Manhattan, chugged down a mere $387,000 for a similar period. That means that Yale Club members drank 30 percent more than did members of the Harvard Club.

But a simple comparison of raw numbers doesn’t give the Yale set enough credit by far. There are actually only half as many members of the Yale Club of New York, than there are of the Harvard Club, according to figures provided by member services at each organization.

The Yale Club boasts 10,000 members, who pay over $100 per month in subscriptions, and are also charged for each drink consumed. Not all club members are resident in New York City, or use the club house regularly. That compares with approximately 20,000 members at the Harvard Club.

When viewing the numbers it is important to remember that these are the wholesale costs, or what the Yale Club and Harvard Club each spent buying liquor and other beverages, rather than what they charged their well-heeled members. The actual retail value is likely to be much greater.

Anne McBride, of the Culinary Institute of America, notes that wine is typically marked up four times the cost when sold by the glass. Meaning that a $10 glass of wine may have only cost the restaurant and bar $2.50. And she says that other beverages, such as beer and liquor, provide even higher profit margins.
Chuck Hunt, executive vice president of the New York State Restaurant Association, says bar managers mark up alcoholic beverages other than wine by five times, meaning that a ten dollar whiskey may only have cost the restaurant only two dollars. He also notes that soft drinks typically have even higher profit margins.

Both the Harvard Club and the Yale Club are organized as not-for-profit organizations, and as such must make annual filings with the Internal Revenue Service detailing information about revenues and expenses. For calendar year 2004 the Yale Club raked in revenues of $23.4 million, versus $19.5 million for a similar period at the Harvard Club.

Business managers at the Yale Club, or the Harvard Club, did not return calls.