Job Description

AQUATOPIA FOOD & BEVERAGE DIRECTOR

Nestled on 9.5 wooded hectares in the west end of Ottawa, Aquatopia Conservatory is a gorgeous award-winning facility ranked by Wedding Bells magazine as one of Canada's Top Ten Loveliest Venues, and the location for the Season 2 Finale for the internationally syndicated CTV reality TV series 'Where To I Do?', hosted by Canadian Designer Tommy Smythe.

Aquatopia's unique contemporary architectural design, lush foliage, and aquatic features, create a year-round indoor working ecosystem with a positive sense of place that make Aquatopia the ideal venue for weddings, private culinary events, parties, and celebrations.

Our team is a vibrant, diverse yet cohesive group who support, engage with one another, and thoroughly enjoy working together.

Role Summary:

The Aquatopia Food & Beverage Director is a leadership role. The successful candidate will work in collaboration with the Aquatopia culinary team and the events production team, to provide leadership in all aspects of food & beverage services. Leadership includes the smooth running of the kitchen, maintaining the quality of product, accountability for all aspects of the kitchen operations, menu planning, food costing & budgeting, wedding & event catering production, health & safety, and recruitment, retention & development of kitchen employees. In addition, the Food & Beverage Director will be accountable for managing all front-of-house operations, maintaining service standards, wedding & event catering production & logistics, and the recruitment, retention & development of food & beverage service employees. The Food & Beverage Director must also be available to represent Aquatopia at special events and PR activities.

The Aquatopia Food & Beverage Director will work closely with the culinary team to design, coordinate, create and execute all food & beverage elements for every Aquatopia event and all external catering services with one goal in mind: to ensure that every client experience is a success, delivering a high level of quality & service and exceeding client expectations while maintaining margins. The Aquatopia Food & Beverage Director must demonstrate a willingness to manage all creative, planning, production, and administrative requirements with exceptional attention to detail and highly developed organizational skills.

Roles and Responsibilities:

Manage Kitchen Staff: recruiting, scheduling, training, biannual job performance reviews, ensuring employee development and safety in the kitchen. Plan, direct, and oversee food preparation and cooking activities for a full-service banqueting kitchen.

Manage Service Staff: Recruiting, scheduling, training, biannual job performance reviews, ensuring front-of-house employee development and safety. Plan, direct, and supervise all front-of-house food & bar service activities for a full service, high-end wedding & events venue.

Event Production: develop a team to oversee all food & beverage related set-up & tear-down of tables, chairs, linens, tableware, stemware, barware, cruet wares, and front-of-house food service equipment for all events produced at our facility.

Menu Development: work collaboratively with the Aquatopia Head Chef to develop & update menus & recipes for all event styles produced at by Aquatopia. Meet with clients to discuss menu selections, lead tasting events, and create custom menus when required.

Costing: collaborate with the Aquatopia Food & Beverage Manager to cost out menus, and source food ingredients that keep food costs at an acceptable level to ensure acceptable profit margins are met.

Quality Control: ensure food quality and consistency standards are met, cleanliness of food service facilities remain maintained, staff are properly trained & qualified, and administrative systems are accurate and complete.

Food Presentation: lead the culinary team in creating decorative plating options & food displays, developed in cooperation with our Head Chef, that delight and entertain our clients in order to set Aquatopia apart from other venues in the wedding & events industry.

Safety and Sanitation: maintain an impeccably clean kitchen, and food storage areas; oversee all repairs and scheduled maintenance of kitchen & food service equipment; work closely with Public Health Inspectors to ensure safety standards are met.

Supply Management: develop & follow systems for planning, purchasing, receiving and inventory of all food & beverage supplies required for the production of events at Aquatopia.

Leadership: lead by example and through continuous coaching to maintain a positive & professional workplace culture and actively encourage a positive environment for continuous improvement.

Human Resources: source, interview, hire (and if required, terminate), and train all kitchen & front of house staff required to fulfill the food & beverage service needs of every Aquatopia hosted event.

Finance: Prepare & implement departmental budgets with regard to costing, payroll, expenses & capital expenditures, and production costs, to be reviewed quarterly with the Aquatopia Executive; provide post-event reporting of event metrics to monitor and track productivity and effectiveness.

Skills/Competencies Qualifications:

Red Seal Chef certification an asset.

Minimum of 10 years culinary experience with at least 5 years in a managerial capacity.

Strong knowledge and understanding of all aspects of the food and hospitality sector.

Must be an effective leader, manager, trainer, coach, and administrator with excellent organizational abilities and excellent interpersonal written & oral communication skills.

Post secondary education and/or formal mentorship training in the culinary arts and/or hospitality management.

Strong social media skills and computer proficiency on all Apple devices and industry software platforms.

Confident in a leadership capacity with the ability to act calmly during adverse and unexpected circumstances.

Effective at problem solving and decision-making with good insight and judgment.

Strong initiative and client service orientation.

Ability to use sound judgment, discretion and professional integrity.

High energy, positive, professional attitude, pride in work.

Business minded with a strong skill set for the financial aspects of the food industry.

Seeks continual growth of all our business interests.

Available for evening and/or weekend work.

Must be able to multi-task in a busy environment, often with distractions.

Must possess G2 driver's licence.

Must be a citizen of Canada or a permanent resident and legally permitted to work.

Application:

Please send resume to:

Nicholas Bott

Aquatopia Conservatory

2710 March Road Ottawa, ON K0A 1L0

Tel: 613-225-7663 ext 223

Job Types: Full-time, Permanent

Pay: $68,640.00-$76,960.00 per year

Benefits:

Discounted or free food On-site parking Paid time off
Language:

English (required)
Work Location: In person