A four-part toast concludes every social gathering of the Skål Club of Nashville, and the recitation of its words unites those present with compatriots and peers around the world.
The leader raises a glass, gathers the staff facilitating the function, and honors them by wishing them “Happiness! Good health! Friendship! Long life! Skål!” The Scandinavian word Skål translates to cheers or good health in English and is equivalent to a toast, and this ritual occurs at Skål gatherings in 85 nations worldwide. Wherever the toast is offered, members repeat the four parts as the leaders say them, but the Nashville group adds its own touch. “Skål, y’all!” they shout.
The Skål Club of Nashville, which is celebrating its 50th year in 2025, is part of Skål International, an organization of travel and tourism professionals founded in Paris between the two world wars to promote international friendships in the hospitality industry. A stand-alone Skål club in Paris was begun in 1932, and only two years later, the idea had spread to five countries, enough that an international organization coalesced. Eleven clubs were founders. The Skål Club of Nashville is among today’s total of 300 clubs and 12,500 members globally.
“Skål is a way to link you up locally, nationally, and internationally. It is the only hospitality organization of its type that is international,” said JoAnne Ford, a Williamson County resident who has worked in the tourism industry for more than 35 years.
Ford owned a travel agency during that career, was president of the Skål Club of Nashville, and was an officer in a Skål entity representing all clubs in the United States. Involvement in Skål took her to South Africa, Cancun, Hawaii, and Washington, D.C.
“Skål takes you outside your own little sphere of contacts. You get to interact with people in other aspects of hospitality. That’s its beauty, even on the local level. Over the years, our Nashville-area members have included travel agents, hotel general managers, airline marketing executives, restaurant leaders, car rental agency owners, and more. There are companies you might not think of as hospitality, but they are,” she said.
Jeff Crabiel, president of the Skål Club of Nashville, reinforces that broad range of qualifying employment. Crabiel’s own perspective comes from his job as chief hospitality officer of Castlerock Asset Management. Its portfolio includes Westin Nashville, the Bobby Hotel, and Oak Steakhouse.
“Hospitality is big and broad, and one of our goals with Skål in Nashville is to enhance the industry as a whole. We want to increase our membership and always extend a hand of welcome. We also want to foster hospitality newcomers and prospective hospitality industry employees,” Crabiel said.
Financial support of Tennessee ProStart is one way the Skål Club of Nashville promotes its industry. Tennessee ProStart supports high school culinary instruction through various programs, including an annual culinary and management competition. The culinary competition challenges teams to create a three-course meal in 60 minutes, using only two butane burners and with no access to running water or electricity. Teams in the management competition must propose a restaurant concept and defend it to a panel of industry judges. A team from Nolensville High School won the 2025 management competition, and a culinary team from the same school placed second.
On a broader level, Skål International is an affiliated member of the World Tourism Organization and a supporter of the Sustainable Tourism-Eliminating Poverty Initiative. That initiative works on development projects in several countries to create jobs and enhance local economies.
“I feel good about being in an organization such as Skål,” said Franklin resident Pam Inman, whose career has included being chief operating officer of the American Hotel and Lodging Association, chief executive officer of the National Tour Association, president/CEO of the Tennessee and Nashville hotel and lodging associations and assistant commissioner of Tennessee Tourist Development and Tennessee State Parks.
“Skål has connected me with people in tourism I wasn’t around every day. I call it the Rotary Club of tourism. I was in the Skal Club in Washington, D.C., while I was away from Nashville for 16 years. Now that I’ve returned, the Skål Club of Nashville has gotten me back in touch with Nashville. I want the Nashville club to connect more and more people in a powerfully important industry,” Inman said.
For information about the Skål Club of Nashville, visit NashvilleSkal.com. Interested in joining? We invite you to attend an upcoming Skål luncheon, held on the third Thursday of every month, to meet other hospitality professionals – RSVP on the website.
Nashvillian Tom Adkinson is a past president of the Skål Club of Nashville. He is a Marco Polo member of the Society of American Travel writers and author of 100 Things To Do in Nashville Before You Die, published by Reedy Press.
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