A new executive chef and a revamped dining program are anchoring Eagle Ridge Resort & Spa's push to capture fall and winter hospitality business in northwest Illinois' Driftless Region, positioning the 6,800-acre property as a serious culinary destination alongside its well-established golf and recreation offerings.
New Culinary Leadership
Brandon Veitch joined Eagle Ridge as executive chef in June, bringing a resume that includes The Peninsula Chicago and The Langham Chicago — two properties with rigorous culinary standards — as well as Edge by Goldmoor Inn in Galena. At Woodlands Restaurant, overlooking Lake Galena, Veitch has introduced an elevated dinner menu featuring Lobster Cavatappi, Heritage Pork Chop, Alaskan Halibut and Prime New York Strip. Long-running resort traditions such as Thursday Pasta Night and Saturday Prime Rib Night remain in place, signaling that Veitch is layering fine-dining ambition onto a proven guest-loyalty framework rather than erasing what works.
For hospitality operators, the hire illustrates a broader trend: independent and resort properties increasingly recruit from urban luxury-hotel kitchens to differentiate their food-and-beverage programs and justify premium room rates. The move aligns with growing operator investment in resort dining experiences as a key driver of repeat visitation and ancillary revenue.
Package Strategy and Event Calendar
Eagle Ridge is pairing the culinary refresh with a suite of limited-time packages timed to high-demand weekends. The Spooky Weekend Getaway (Oct. 22–25, 2026) starts at $573 and bundles two nights of lodging, $75 in Eagle Ridge Dollars and tickets to Fear Forest, an immersive nighttime outdoor experience at Shenandoah Riding Center. The Thanksgiving Getaway (Nov. 24–28, 2026) opens at $612 and includes a three-night stay, $70 in Eagle Ridge Dollars and a family pizza from Woodlands Restaurant, plus access to a traditional holiday dinner at the resort. A Family Holiday Package running Dec. 26, 2026 through Jan. 2, 2027 adds complimentary Nordic Center access — ice skating, snowshoeing and sledding — weather permitting.
The package design reflects a strategy familiar to resort revenue managers: anchor a booking around a signature experience, add low-cost amenity credits to increase perceived value, and tier accommodations from Inn rooms to five-bedroom homes to capture a wide spend range within a single promotion. The approach also insulates room revenue from the softer midweek periods common in leisure travel.
The resort's proximity to historic downtown Galena — minutes away — extends the value proposition through a robust community event calendar. Galena Oktoberfest (Oct. 3), the Galena Country Fair (Oct. 10–11), Galena Nouveau Wine Weekend (Nov. 20–21) and the Galena Holidaze Festival (Dec. 5) all give guests reasons to extend stays and increase food-and-beverage spend both on and off property. The Galena Nouveau Wine Weekend, centered on Galena Cellars' annual wine release, is particularly relevant for beverage-forward hospitality programming that operators are increasingly using to fill shoulder-season inventory.
Year-Round Recreation Depth
Beyond dining, Eagle Ridge's 63 holes across four championship courses — including The General, known for dramatic elevation changes — give the property unusual recreational breadth for a Midwest drive-to destination. When golf season closes, a Nordic Center converts the area around The General into a winter recreation hub, and an indoor golf simulator keeps year-round engagement with the resort's core golfer demographic. Stonedrift Spa rounds out the amenity mix for guests seeking recovery-focused travel.
For meeting and event planners, Eagle Ridge also offers more than 15,000 square feet of dedicated event space, positioning the property as a full-service group destination capable of competing with larger conference hotels on experience while offering the scale and intimacy of a resort setting.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
