Director of Food & Beverage
About Us
A new chapter is beginning at Hyatt Centric Congress Avenue Austin and Peachtree Group! Located in the heart of downtown, our hotel places guests and our team at the center of everything that makes Austin unforgettable. We’re looking for talented, hospitality-driven individuals ready to bring great energy, fresh ideas, and authentic Austin spirit to every guest experience.
Position Overview
Hyatt Centric Congress Avenue Austin is looking for an experienced, hands-on Director of Food & Beverage to lead all aspects of the hotel’s food and beverage operations. This role provides strategic and operational leadership across multiple outlets, bars, culinary and back-of-house operations, banquets, catering events, and in-room dining. The Director of Food & Beverage will be responsible for building and developing a high-performing team while ensuring consistent service, exceptional food quality, efficient operations, and strong financial results. The ideal candidate is equally comfortable supporting a busy kitchen, coaching bartenders and service teams, managing a banquet event, reviewing inventory, and analyzing labor and food costs.
Operational Leadership
- Provide leadership and oversight for all food and beverage operations, including restaurants, bars, culinary and back-of-house operations, banquets, catering events, and in-room dining.
- Maintain a highly visible, hands-on presence throughout the hotel’s outlets, kitchens, bars, and event spaces.
- Ensure each outlet operates efficiently while delivering a consistent and engaging guest experience.
- Establish and maintain service standards, operational procedures, opening and closing processes, and departmental controls.
- Work closely with hotel leadership to align food and beverage operations with the hotel’s overall business strategy and Hyatt brand standards.
- Serve as the Manager on Duty when assigned and support broader hotel operations as needed.
Culinary and Back-of-House Oversight
- Provide direct operational leadership for culinary and back-of-house functions, including food production, preparation, sanitation, stewarding, storage, and kitchen organization.
- Partner with culinary leadership to maintain consistent food quality, presentation, portioning, recipe compliance, and execution across all outlets and events.
- Ensure kitchen staffing and production levels support restaurant, bar, banquet, and in-room dining business volumes.
- Monitor food preparation and service flow to identify opportunities to improve speed, quality, organization, and productivity.
- Ensure compliance with health department regulations, food-safety standards, sanitation requirements, and proper food-handling procedures.
- Oversee appropriate receiving, labeling, storage, rotation, and waste-management practices.
Outlets and Beverage Operations
- Lead the daily operation of multiple food and beverage outlets, ensuring each concept delivers a distinct yet consistent experience.
- Recruit, train, schedule, coach, and develop managers, bartenders, servers, hosts, cooks, stewards, and other food and beverage associates.
- Maintain high standards for beverage preparation, responsible alcohol service, bar organization, cash handling, and guest engagement.
- Monitor beverage inventory, recipes, pour costs, pricing, and product selection.
- Ensure all associates maintain required food-handler and alcohol-service certifications.
- Stay informed about Austin’s dining, beverage, entertainment, and hospitality trends to help keep the hotel’s offerings competitive and relevant.
Banquets and Events
- Oversee the planning and execution of banquet and catering functions, including meetings, receptions, social events, and other group programs.
- Partner with Sales, Catering, Culinary, and Event teams to ensure banquet event orders are accurate, appropriately staffed, and successfully executed.
- Review upcoming events, anticipated attendance, menu requirements, timelines, room setups, and special guest needs.
- Ensure banquet teams are properly prepared and equipped to deliver seamless events.
- Maintain strong communication across departments before, during, and after each function.
- Address event-related concerns quickly and professionally while protecting the guest relationship.
Financial and Administrative Management
- Develop and manage departmental budgets, forecasts, operating plans, and financial goals.
- Monitor revenue, labor, food cost, beverage cost, cost of goods sold, and other departmental expenses.
- Oversee purchasing, ordering, receiving, inventory, invoice review, and vendor relationships.
- Maintain appropriate inventory levels while minimizing waste, shortages, over-ordering, and unnecessary expenses.
- Conduct regular food, beverage, and operating-supply inventories and reconcile variances.
- Evaluate menus, pricing, promotions, and product mix to support revenue growth and profitability.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Hospitality Management, Culinary Arts, Business Administration, or a related field preferred.
- Minimum of five years of progressive food and beverage leadership experience, preferably within an upscale lifestyle, boutique, or full-service hotel.
- Previous experience overseeing multiple outlets, bar operations, banquets, culinary production, and back-of-house operations required.
- Strong understanding of food and beverage financial management, including budgeting, forecasting, labor management, inventory, food cost, and beverage cost.
- Demonstrated experience recruiting, staffing, training, and developing diverse food and beverage teams.
- Working knowledge of food-safety regulations, sanitation requirements, responsible alcohol service, and workplace safety standards.
- Strong organizational, communication, decision-making, and problem-solving skills.
- Ability to lead multiple operations and priorities in a fast-paced environment.
- Experience with hotel property-management, point-of-sale, scheduling, purchasing, and inventory systems preferred.
- Food-safety manager certification and applicable Texas alcohol-service certification required or must be obtained within the designated timeframe.
- Availability to work a flexible schedule, including early mornings, evenings, weekends, holidays, and periods of high business demand.
Physical Requirements
- Ability to remain standing and move throughout kitchens, restaurants, bars, event spaces, and storage areas for extended periods.
- Ability to lift, carry, push, or pull items weighing up to 50 pounds, with or without reasonable accommodation.
- Ability to work around hot equipment, sharp tools, food products, cleaning chemicals, and varying temperatures commonly found in food and beverage operations.
Benefits
- Peachtree Group provides a comprehensive benefits package, including medical, dental, vision, disability, and life insurance.
- We also offer a generous 401(k) retirement match.
- To support work-life balance, we provide paid holidays and paid time off.
- Additional benefits include access to our Employee Assistance Program and Associate Emergency Foundation.