Catering Planning & Delivery Manager - Championships

To lead on the annual planning, logistics and implementation of catering operations for Championships, such as The Open and AIG Women’s Open, collaborating with internal and a wide variety of external stakeholders. To facilitate the delivery of catering operations at the championships to an industry leading world class standard, in line with agreed tolerances, departmental and organisational aims. Evaluate all services, contractors and working processes through the creation of meaningful data that is then used to positively influence future strategy. To fulfil a managerial role within the Championship 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 championships, over a 12–24-month period, in liaison with a variety of internal and external stakeholders to deliver catering operations that lead the industry.
• Collaborate with the functional leaders of catering and staging and work within the delivery team on the creation and design of internal operational layouts for the various structures 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.
• Lead on the appointment of caterers, when required, including the management of tender processes and associated legal/contractual agreements, in line with organisational policies and ensuring compliance to relevant budgets.
• Manage all staffing requirements pre-during and post championship this includes 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 that allows effective catering delivery and leverages net promotor scores.
• Oversee all catering requirements and menu design, ensuring the catering provision meets the requirements for 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 infrastructure build and de-rigging phases, and through effective collaboration and detailed planning ensure all contracted work is completed to the agreed schedule, on budget and in line with relevant Health and Safety and other legislation.
• Act as an escalation point for contractors when operational issues arise and for any operational issues during the championships.
• 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’ strategy.
• 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.
• Be the point of escalation for catering operations issues at the championships, where required, 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 Championship strategy, associated goals and operational plans.
• To support in the review and development of event catering operations, proactively identifying opportunities for their continuous improvement to contribute to the development of the long-term departmental strategy.

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.
• Significant experience working in a major event catering environment, preferably at a greenfield site.
• 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.