Ryder Cup VIP experience at Bethpage Black commands $40K weekend as luxury dining hub

The Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black has evolved into a luxurious hospitality spectacle, with weekend access priced up to about $40,000 for VIPs who want a front-row experience inside the course’s revamped Metropolitan Lounge. The iconic clubhouse has been repurposed to host high-profile guests, among them President Trump, as Bethpage’s hospitality operation enters its most elaborate phase yet. Lessings, the Long Island catering group behind the project, has built a full-scale kitchen and service plan that stretches across the entire weekend.

Lessings has been preparing for this ramp-up for four years, with a dining and service operation that now runs roughly 1,200 to 1,300 meals per day. The effort is led by director of catering operations Billy Lodato, corporate chef Eddie Michaels, and executive chef Billy Muzio, who oversee a 30-strong team drawn from Lessings’ network of kitchens and locales around the country. The club’s transformation, while subtle from the outside, is comprehensive on the inside, where the clubhouses and adjoining Heritage Club space are wired to serve a steady stream of guests from first light through the late afternoon.

The food itself is purposefully extravagant. A daily carving station rotates meats such as lamb, turkey and flank steak, with a rotating centerpiece like tomahawk steak or Wagyu filet mignon used for special days. Muzio described the approach as flexible enough to respond to what comes off the line, while Lodato emphasized the breadth of offerings, including a seafood-forward lineup for select meals. The operation has to be ready for an early start: team members begin at 3:30 a.m. to have breakfast ready before the 7 a.m. tee offs.

High-roller guests and celebrities alike have been drawn to the corridor of options in the Metropolitan Lounge. The notes describe a dining program built to impress as much with variety as with quality: multiple meat courses, a live carving station, and a want-to-try menu that keeps pace with a nonstop schedule on the course. The team has emphasized the experience as a hallmark of the Ryder Cup’s modern era, where hospitality is as prominent as the competition on the greens. In addition to meat, guests were treated to an emphasis on seafood and luxury touches—live sushi and raw bars featuring lobster towers, crab claws, local oysters and bluefin tuna.

The overall operation rests on the work of about 30 cooks who assemble meals for guests from around the world. That team, assembled from Lessings’ broader network, has adapted to the Ryder Cup’s demands and the expectations that come with such a high-profile event. Attendance has been strong, with the Ryder Cup drawing more than 55,000 people daily, a statistic that underscores the scope of the hospitality effort and the need to move meals, drinks and snacks efficiently across dining spaces.

Guests have not only included American icons but guests from overseas who come to sample New York’s flavor profile in addition to the golf. Lodato highlighted the opportunity to showcase regional touches—such as a Lower East Side-style pastrami and Bronx-Italian-style sandwiches—that travelers might not have expected to see at a major sporting event. The kitchen’s roar, audible from the dining rooms when a crucial moment unfolds on the course, is a reminder of how closely the operation remains tied to the action on the greens.

The high-end dining experience is designed to be all-access within the Metropolitan Lounge: tickets for that tier are described as approaching $40,000 for the weekend, a level that Lessings describes as “an ultra, ultra premium experience” for those who want the best of the best. The program emphasizes quality and variety, pairing premium meats with seafood and a selection of wines from across the globe, including French Bordeaux and Italian Barolos, as the event unfolds on Bethpage Black’s storied fairways.

Clubhouse operations on the ground reflect the event’s scale as staff move between the kitchen and dining spaces with precision timed to the spectacle on the course. The game’s momentum—the roar from a big moment on hole one or 18—often filters back into the kitchen, signaling service checkpoints and ensuring that guests receive timely meals, beverages, and culinary creations.

Overall, the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black underscores the growing importance of hospitality at major sports events. With 1,200–1,300 meals served daily, a team of roughly 30 cooks, and a restaurant-grade program designed to satisfy a global audience, the event has become as much about dining as about golf. The quietly ambitious operation demonstrates how a course can reframe its own identity around a high-end dining experience, turning a weekend of competition into a three-day culinary showcase for VIPs and fans alike.