Catering Operations Manager

To lead on the planning, and delivery of hospitality, catering and associated services for the AIG Women’s Open, Walker Cup and Curtis Cup (when staged within Great Britain and Ireland), collaborating with internal and a wide variety of external stakeholders. Support the delivery of specific projects for The Open when required. Responsible for driving operational excellence, managing supplier and stakeholder relationships, and using data and insights to continually improve service standards and customer experience. To fulfil a managerial role within the Championships department assisting with wider departmental projects and initiatives and communicating these to other members of the department.

Key Accountabilities

• Lead on the planning, scoping, and management of catering operational delivery of the AIG Women’s Open, over a 12–24-month period in liaison with a variety of internal and external stakeholders to deliver catering operations that lead the industry.
• Lead on the delivery of catering operations at The Walker Cup / Curtis Cup (when staged in Great Britain and Ireland), collaborating with colleagues in Amateur Championships and other internal stakeholders.
• Collaborate with the functional leaders within Catering, Player & Guest Services and Staging, having responsibility for the creation and design of internal operational layouts for the various structures, hospitality environments and catering facilities onsite.
• Working closely with internal and external stakeholders, making recommendations and site layout decisions as required, for sign off by senior management, whilst ensuring the requirements of catering, hospitality, service delivery and customer experience are appropriately considered.
• Lead on the appointment of caterers, when required, including overseeing the management of tender processes and associated legal/contractual agreements, in line with organisational policies and ensuring compliance to relevant budgets.
• Oversee all staffing requirements pre, during and post Championship, partnering with internal and external specialists to ensure that appointments are made, induction and all trainings are completed in line with organisational, brand, and statutory requirements.
• Oversee all catering requirements and menu design, ensuring the catering provision supports the wider proposition and meets the requirements of the wide variety of Championships consumers (e.g. players, spectators, hospitality guests, VIPs etc.), in line with departmental expectations and industry standards.
• Manage the appointment of external contractors to deliver the catering infrastructure and interiors build and de-rigging phases, in line with organisational policies and, with approval, scope new contractors, negotiating terms and scope of works when necessary.
• Work with the delivery team onsite at host venues to direct, oversee and supervise the extended catering and hospitality infrastructure build and de-rigging phases, ensuring all contracted work is completed to the agreed schedule, on budget and in line with relevant Health and Safety and other legislation.
• Build and maintain close working relationships with stakeholders across the business, primarily but not limited to the Commercial Hospitality, Partnerships and Staging teams, external multi-agency partners and host venues to ensure the coordinated delivery of the Championships’, catering and associated service requirements and the wider customer experience.
• Lead planning meetings with external suppliers/contractors/partners and internal stakeholders, where required and onsite at host venues throughout the planning phase, following up on resulting actions and preparing minutes/planning documents, for use by the wider team and senior management as required, ensuring alignment across catering and associated service workstreams.
• Be the point of escalation for catering operations issues at the Championships, providing expertise and resolving simple to complex queries, escalating where appropriate to the Head of Catering Operations, internal or external stakeholders when required.
• Support line and senior management in the review and evaluation of catering operational delivery, proactively identifying opportunities for continuous improvement, in liaison with internal and external stakeholders as appropriate.
• Provide relevant recommendations to contribute to the development of the long-term Championships department strategy, associated goals and operational plans.
• Support in the review and development of event catering operations, proactively identifying opportunities for continuous improvement to contribute to the development of the long-term departmental strategy, operational plans and wider customer experience.

Resource

• Manage, control and report on set budget lines.
• Appoint, when appropriate, and manage external contractors and caterers.

Expertise

• Degree level qualification in Hospitality, Business Administration, or related field.
• Experience working in a major event catering environment.
• Strong project management skills and/or a project management certification.
• Experience in a similar role liaising with high profile individuals, service providers, contractors and managing customer experiences.
• Experience of using Microsoft Office Packages, including Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

This job description is written as an indication of the nature and scope of duties and responsibilities. It is not intended as a fully descriptive or definitive list and jobholders will be expected to carry out other duties assigned which are appropriate to the position.