WHAT DOES A DIRECTOR OF FOOD AND BEVERAGE DO?
Published: Nov 26, 2024 - The Director of Food and Beverage leads the food and beverage teams to drive the REAL brand, focusing on event strategies, public relations, and industry engagement while ensuring top-tier client satisfaction. Responsibilities include managing financial planning, budgeting, and cost controls, alongside overseeing the delivery of food and beverage operations, from menu planning to event execution. The role also involves analyzing product costs, managing beverage programs, maintaining quality service standards, and developing strong internal and external stakeholder relationships.
A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Director of Food And Beverage
1. Director of Food And Beverage Duties
- Professionalism: Displays at all times a professional upbeat attitude.
- Operations Management: Manages fine dining, fast casual and grab-n-go restaurants, in-room dining, banquets, catering, lounges and bars, and other food and beverage service venues.
- Technical Expertise: Has technical expertise in the areas of beverage management, kitchen operations, dining room operations, and human resources management, and knows the standards and procedures associated with each of these areas and can teach them to subordinates.
- Training and Development: Identifies and trains subordinate managers for key positions such as beverage manager, restaurant manager, and Chef.
- Sanitation and Cleanliness: Maintains cleanliness and sanitation in an exemplary fashion, and health inspection scores are maintained at no less than 95% (A).
- Professional Conduct: Sets the example for professional behavior, on and off the job; expected to maintain a professional circle of influence outside the property.
- Continuous Improvement: Maintains a culture of constant ongoing training, cleaning and organizing, and continuous improvement, with no excuses.
- Team Leadership: Hires, trains, and manages a high-performing food and beverage team.
- Team Motivation: Motivates the team to perform amazing guest experiences for guests and fellow team members.
- Strategic Planning: Strategically coordinates with staff to plan menu and pricing.
- Budgeting and Business Planning: Develops annual budgets and business plans and works with the food and beverage team to achieve results.
- Event Coordination: Coordinates with marketing to prepare for events and promotions that include food and beverage.
- Vendor and Management Relations: Maintains a cooperative relationship with all property management and vendors to ensure goals and expectations are achieved.
2. Director of Food And Beverage Details
- F&B Operations Management: Manage and drive all aspects of the food and beverage operations.
- Service Excellence: Ensure continued stability within the service delivery of existing operations, maintain the highest levels of service excellence, control operating expenses, train, and develop teams.
- Team Development: Drive the team to improve on individual performance through coaching and creating development/succession plans for team members.
- Program Implementation: Plan and implement food and beverage-related programs, policies, and procedures to ensure that FIVE standards are met.
- Compliance: Carry out all assignments and instructions delegated by higher management of FIVE, ensuring that all FIVE policies and procedures and standards are adhered to implicitly.
- Community Engagement: Meet and interact with representatives of the local community and potential guests.
- Business Planning: Participate in the preparation of the Annual Business Plan and Sales and Marketing Plans.
- Profitability Monitoring: Closely monitor the profitability of all food and beverage outlets.
- Problem Solving: Provide solutions to improve problem areas and assist in implementing corrective measures, ensuring that each outlet is individually profitable.
- Budget Management: Contribute to the preparation of the SBU budget and monitor the financial performance of the food and beverage outlet(s) versus the budget so that areas of unsatisfactory performance are identified, rectified promptly, and potential performance improvement opportunities are capitalized upon.
- Standards Compliance: Plan, direct, and monitor services and food and beverage standards in all outlets and kitchens ensuring that managers take corrective actions as necessary in adherence to FIVE’s policies and standards.
3. Director of Food And Beverage Responsibilities
- Operations Management: Act as the head of daily operations to manage a team of staff (preopening) to ensure success in the execution of the operation.
- Collaboration: Work hand in hand with upper management in monitoring sales, staff performance, recruitment process, expense control, profit and loss, manpower status, menu selection and expansion.
- Inventory Management: Coordinate with the team on inventory and reports for monthly restaurant activities.
- Strategic Planning: Formulate a strategy applicable based on the location of the restaurant, the peak hours for customers, current market events, and upcoming seasons to the industry globally.
- Marketing Oversight: Approve and amend marketing promotions, social media content, and reports for analysis of profit and loss.
- Customer Relations: Collaborate with potential and existing customers to promote positive client relationships.
- Competitive Analysis: Monitor the activities and trends of competitor hotels, restaurants, and bars and identify and act on opportunities to modernize all equipment, service methods, and product presentation to improve guest satisfaction and sustain FIVE’s competitive advantage.
- Employee Standards: Ensure all food and beverage employees adhere to FIVE’s uniform and grooming standards, and that FIVE’s hygiene standards are relentlessly enforced to demonstrate a professional image consistent with the Vibe at FIVE.
- P&L Management: Accountable for full profit and loss of all food and beverage operations.
- Business Planning: Support the business owners in the development of business plans for food and beverage and implement the business unit’s and division’s strategies.
- People Development: Development of people strategies in the delivery of daily operations, performance review and development, and culture that creates a positive working environment.
4. Director of Food And Beverage Job Summary
- Leadership: Serve as a member of REAL’s Leadership Team (RLT) developing business unit objectives and priorities, providing leadership to food and beverage teams, reporting on key metrics, and establishing and modeling a culture of making business decisions through cost/benefit analysis while maintaining a competitive advantage.
- Brand Development: Lead the food and beverage team to build the REAL brand in the industry by identifying and proactively initiating strategies to leverage REAL’s world-class culinary service at events focusing on public relations/community and industry involvement.
- Operations Management: Lead, oversee, and direct REAL’s delivery of food and beverage operations by reviewing and making recommendations regarding the menu/product and ensuring effective planning, coordination, and execution of events to produce industry-leading client satisfaction.
- Financial Planning: Ensure effective departmental financial planning through planning and developing the annual budget (capital and financial), forecasting, and implementing expenditure controls.
- Team Development: Lead and develop strong teams to carry out department operational strategies.
- Commercial Management: Responsible for ensuring commercial objectives are delivered including profitability, budget and costings, acquiring services and goods, and maximizing sales opportunities.
- Quality Control: Monitor, evaluate, and modify the quality and consistency of service and product delivery to continuously meet and improve service standards.
- Stakeholder Management: Proactively develop and manage a wide variety of internal and external stakeholder relationships.
- Menu Analysis: Analyze the menu, cost of items, price of items, and movement to maintain the most profitable product mix.
- Beverage Program Management: Maintain and manage the beverage program including weekly orders and inventories.
- Technology Troubleshooting: Troubleshoot issues with technology tools including POS provider on issues that cannot be resolved internally.
- Employee Performance: Write and administer employee performance reviews.
5. Director of Food And Beverage Accountabilities
- Operations Oversight: Oversee all operations of Etta, Celestina, Banquets, Lobby Bar, and Room Service.
- Communication: Communicates effectively and genuinely with guests, staff members, and other departments within the hotel.
- Customer Service: Maintains a friendly, caring, and professional demeanor at all times in a fast-paced environment.
- Guest Satisfaction: Responds quickly to guest requests in a friendly but professional manner.
- Service Excellence: Consistently follows up to ensure guest satisfaction that meets and exceeds service standards.
- Strategic Communication: Communicate regularly with the Director of Operations and Ownership to influence the strategy for the food and beverage operation in the short and long-term.
- Financial Reporting: Prepare financial reports from annual budgets for monthly forecasting, meeting all goals and objectives set annually.
- Budget Management: Achieves budgeted revenues, controls costs (which includes labor, food, maintenance, etc.), and maximizes profitability related to the operations.
- Purchasing Control: Approve all food and beverage division purchases to ensure operational costs are kept within the forecasted budget.
- Staff Development: Participates and advises with recruiting, hiring, and training, and provides career development for all staff members.
- Leadership: Provides leadership and feedback to food and beverage managers and conducts performance reviews for direct reports.
- Product Knowledge: Maintain deep knowledge of all food and beverage items within each operation.