Permanent – Full-Time

We are Chester Zoo, and for over 90 years, we have been a leading conservation and education charity, and an amazing, award-winning visitor attraction.

We currently have a truly unique opportunity to join our Commercial team as a Food & Beverage Operations Manager, leading in Events & Hospitality

The Role:

You will be required to develop the Food & Beverage activities to achieve agreed net profits and enhance the visitor experience within Chester Zoo.

This position requires the successful candidate to be responsible for the Food & Beverage service primarily in Oakfield, our award-winning pub & venue, and all event & meeting operations within Chester Zoo. You will also support operational delivery within all our restaurants, outlets in Chester Zoo.

As part of our constantly growing business, you will be integral to implementing world class standards into our meetings and events business as well as the overall operation, and as we look to enhance our reputation through investment you will be an integral part of our journey to becoming a world class venue.

You will need to be able to work closely with the Venue Sales team to ensure speculative clients and their needs are communicated to the operation and delivered to an exceptional standard.

You will be part of a broader team of operations managers, reporting to the Food & Beverage General Manager and will have a shared responsibility of up to 200 employees at our busiest times of the year.  

To be successful in this role, you will have a positive “can do attitude” and lead by example. You will provide innovative ideas to generate the best results for the organisation, as well as fantastic customer service – all whilst being able to inspire your team to be the best they can be. 

The successful candidate will have:

• A proven track record in a hospitality environment that would specifically have exposure to any of the following:

• • Conference, Events and Meetings Venues
  • Hotels
  • Restaurants
  • Contract Catering
  • Visitor Attractions

• People Management experience including mentoring and training staff,  performance management and taking responsibility for resources within an area
• Commercial and business acumen
• Financial and analytical skills including effective management of budgets and creation and analysis of reports
• Experience in creating and updating policy, adherence to food safety systems and best practice processes
• A flexible and adaptive style
• Exposure to new and current trends within the hospitality & events industry.
• Experience of stock management systems
• A personal licence and food hygiene qualifications would be desirable

The Zoo welcomes 2 million visitors per year and our Food & Beverage outlets are very busy.  It is therefore important that you are able to work in a fast paced, high volume, multiple Food & Beverage outlet environment and that you are able to thrive working under pressure.

The salary for the role is £34,458.07 per annum (this includes our 2022 pay award which is effective from 1 January 2022). You will be required to work 40 hours per week within a 5 in 7 roster system, which will include weekends and Bank Holidays. In addition we offer a range of amazing benefits which can be found at www.chesterzoo.org/work-with-us/staff-benefits/

To apply for this position, click ‘apply now’ to provide your current CV and complete the application form highlighting your skills and experience including why you believe you should be considered for our Food & Beverage Operations Manager (Events & Hospitality) role.

Shortlisting of applications and interviews for the role will take place while the advert is live; the advert will close once the successful candidate is found. Interested candidates are therefore encouraged to submit applications as quickly as possible.