Director of Culinary

Job Scope:

Purpose

To provide strategic, operational, and cultural leadership across the Luxury Hotels’ entire culinary division - ensuring service excellence, business performance, brand alignment, and colleague engagement in line with the BELONG–GATHER–DREAM philosophy.

The Director of Culinary will assume full responsibility of all related operational, administrative and financial aspects of the Productions Kitchens (Including Banquet, In-room Dining).

The Director of Culinary shapes service culture, drives innovation, nurtures talent, and ensures the Culinary / Food & Beverage division delivers memorable, commercially successful guest experiences.

• To assist the HM and GM in supervising and coordinating all aspects of the Culinary Operation.
• To ensure stability within the service delivery of operations and maintain the high levels of service excellence and the surroundings to be maintained to a high level at all times
• To drive revenues, control operating expenses, train and develop colleagues and secure profits
• To be efficient and diplomatic in dealing with situations involving any aspect of Culinary where the reputation or image of the Resort is represented.

Financial Accountability

• Oversee divisional budgeting, forecasting, and financial planning.
• Ensure outlet profitability, cost efficiency, and sustainability of F&B concepts.
• Drive new revenue initiatives and evaluate ROI across the division.

Conditions of Work

• Office and operational floor leadership; presence required during major service periods.

Communication

• Internal: Hotel leadership team, culinary leaders, HR, finance
  External: Guests, regulatory bodies, suppliers, stakeholders

Main Duties and Responsibilities:

Leadership & Strategy

• Create The Luxury Hotels Culinary strategy aligned with brand values and business goals.
• Provide strong leadership and direction to all Culinary & Stewarding leaders and outlets.
• Manage change, innovation, and modernization initiatives across the division.
• Assists in the co-ordination of organizational and administrative functions in all areas of the Culinary & Stewarding Department
• Assists in planning and implementing programs, policies and procedures to ensure that Company standards are met
• To ensure that the Departmental Objectives are cascaded to the colleagues.
• To ensure that the colleagues are aware about the Company Vision, Business Unit Mission and a fair idea about the Quality Management System implemented in the company.

Operational Excellence

• Demonstrates a commitment to the development and implementation of innovations throughout All kitchens
• Responsible to continually upgrade the Departmental SOP Manual, detailing standards of Performance, Policies and Procedures pertinent to the efficient operation of the outlets front and back of house in accordance with Business Unit policies & Municipality requirements.
• Interact with management of other departments within the resort in order to develop and maintain effective working relations.
• Assist in planning of menus and designing of standard recipes in order to ensure consistent high quality in food production throughout the resort, thereby satisfying guest needs and expectations.
• Liaise with Purchasing Department in order to ensure prompt and efficient purchasing, issuing of supplies, stock control and inventory control.
• Liaise with the Back of the House Managers to ensure an adequate supply of equipment and to establish standards of hygiene and cleanliness for all Production areas.
• Liaise with Executive Sous Chefs in order to ensure the highest standard of food quality, exceptional profitability and appealing / at times creative presentations.
• Creating in conjunction with the respective Chef de Cuisines – menus, buffets and specials which meet the needs of the target market and are in line with the operating concept for the restaurant.
• Liaise with Engineering in order to ensure prompt and efficient repair and maintenance of all equipment and work areas.
• Meet and interact with representatives of the local community and potential guests as required.
• Monitor all food standards in each venue within the resort.
• Make recommendations to management for modernisation of equipment, production methods, presentation in order to improved guest satisfaction resort wide.
• Communicate regularly with All Chefs in order to keep them informed of policies and procedures, operational issues from other departments which might impact their work, future plans for improvement and any and all guest comments.
• Ensures that all safety rules, emergency procedures and fire prevention are strictly followed by all colleagues.
• Actively promote the consideration and implementation of creative innovative ideas throughout the resort in order to drive excellence in both product and service.
• Ensure customer requirements are determined and met.
• Ability to handle multiple tasks as well busy banqueting, outside catering and large volume production with an eye to detail and presentation
• The Director of Culinary holds overall responsibility for the development, implementation, monitoring, and continuous compliance of the hotel’s HACCP and food safety management systems across all culinary operations.
• Cafeterias - assists with the development and creation of new concepts / Assist with the development and implementation of new service systems, dinning options

Financial performance

• Assists in the preparation of the departmental budget.
• Ensure that the Outlets Operational budget is in line and costs are strictly controlled maximising profitability.
• Assist each Executive Chef and/or Executive Sous Chef to run their kitchens with at an acceptable food cost.

People & Culture

• Maximise colleague productivity in order to minimise payroll costs.
• Liaise with Executive Sous Chefs and Chef de Cuisine in order to ensure correct scheduling of colleagues.
• Assist in the building of an efficient team of colleagues by taking an active interest in their welfare, safety, training and development.
• Ensures that all colleagues have a complete understanding of and adhere to the hotel policies and procedures.
• Ensure that colleagues are aware of the relevance and importance of their activities and how they contribute to the department objectives.
• Plan and organise all training activities within the department. Determine the necessary competence for colleagues and provide training or other actions to satisfy these needs
• Conduct Colleague Performance Appraisals to review colleagues' general performance, discuss existing performance and areas for improvement.
• Supervise department's Orientation Programmes for new colleagues in order to ensure they understand the policies and procedures of the hotel.
• Ensure that colleagues provide a friendly, courteous and efficient service at all times.
• Actively promote an awareness of customer requirements throughout the organization
• Ensure appropriate communication processes are established

Brand, Product & Innovation

• Identify market needs and trends in terms of food for both hotel guests and the local market and driving the Cake retail units.
• Monitor and analyse the menus and product of competitive restaurants and other hotels' Banqueting Departments.
• Plan and implement effective Pastry and Bakery promotions.
• Demonstrate commitment to the development and implementation of the Quality Management System and continual improvement of its effectiveness by:
• Communicating to colleagues the importance of meeting customer as well as regulatory & statutory needs.
• Ensuring measurable quality objectives are established and actively participate in the review of these objectives
• Ensuring the availability of resources when required from Marketing teams

Requirements

Education:

Qualifications – Essential

• Diploma or Equivalent in catering / Hotel Management

Qualifications/Skills:

• Minimum 12 years of international experience in a luxury five star hotel and restaurants
• Experience running large multi-outlet hotel
• Preferred 4 years as an Executive Pastry Chef in a luxury 5 star hotel.
• Ability to negotiate at a senior level
• Ability to develop and create standardised recipe/menus
• Ability to plan and implement food promotions
• IT skills in outlook, word, excel