Summary of Responsibilities
The Dining Room Manager is responsible for delivering exceptional fine dining experiences while ensuring all service standards align with Relais & Châteaux expectations. Reporting to the General Manager and working collaboratively with the Executive Chef, this role provides leadership and operational oversight of all dining room operations, including staff training, guest service excellence, and revenue optimization, ensuring every service meets the exacting standards of luxury hospitality excellence. Reporting to the General Manager, responsibilities and essential job functions include but are not limited to the following:
Daily Operations
- Set expectations and hold restaurant leadership team accountable for demonstrating desired service behaviors in accordance with Relais and Chateaux expectations.
- Manage reservations, floor plans, guest hosting and seating to optimize service flow and guest experience
- Conduct all administrative work, including scheduling, inventory control, purchasing processes, maintenance logbooks, POS programming and reporting, opening/closing duties, and checklists
- Ensure regular, ongoing communication across all food and beverage operations through pre-shift briefings, team meetings, and coordination of detailed guest dietary requests. Maintain effective working relationships with all colleagues and departments.
- Work closely with the Executive Chef and Sous Chefs in executing daily service and coordinate with the Event Manager to execute all special event requirements, including menus, floor plans, off-site catering, meeting room F&B, and BEO tasks. Oversee all special events and off-site setups and teardowns.
- Deliver comprehensive beverage and wine programs in collaboration with the Wine Sommelier, ensuring quality and guest satisfaction. Manage liquor ordering and inventory control for the main dining room and all secondary locations, including guest rooms and snack shack.
- Work closely with the Wine Sommelier to ensure the wine program is specific to the restaurant, tailored to the concept and cuisine and represents quality and guest satisfaction in accordance with established policies and procedures.
- Coordinate with relevant departments to ensure timely delivery of food and beverage related room amenities.
- Assist with guest profiles and preferences in the resort's CRM system to enhance personalization and service delivery.
- Optimize revenue and control costs by monitoring productivity, revenues, and expenses to drive department profitability.
- Ensure front and back of house cleanliness is kept to the highest of standards.
- Inventory management and control using the resort’s PMS system.
People Management and Training
- Follow effective employee relations practices including behavioral interviewing, supporting all in-house training, maintaining professional supervision of all employees, scheduling hours in a fair and equitable manner, evaluating performance on a timely basis and following all progressive discipline and documentation guidelines.
- Recruit and evaluate employees on a timely basis to meet continual recruitment goals ensuring they are honest, fair and accurate.
- Ensure proper staffing levels are maintained while balancing quality and sales with daily/seasonal staffing demands.
- Develop and implement comprehensive training programs including effective onboarding for new staff, professional development for experienced team members, menu composition education for changing offerings, and coaching on professional selling skills.
- Provide supervision, direction, and leadership to achieve department goals. Delegate tasks fairly and equitably, encourage teamwork, and maintain professional oversight of all employees.
- Uphold professional management standards and company policies, demonstrating a service-oriented approach and positive leadership that reflects Sonora Resort.