Reports To: Director of Food & Beverage
Schedule: Mornings, evenings, weekends, and holidays
Position Summary
Crowne Plaza Princeton – Conference Center is seeking an experienced, energetic, and hands-on Food & Beverage Manager to oversee daily restaurant and lounge operations while supporting the execution of banquet and conference events.
This position plays an essential role in delivering exceptional guest experiences, maintaining high service standards, and supporting the Director of Food & Beverage in managing the hotel's diverse food and beverage operations.
The ideal candidate is a hospitality professional who leads by example, enjoys interacting with guests, and is comfortable transitioning between restaurant management, hands-on table service, and banquet event supervision.
This is a highly operational position requiring flexibility, strong leadership, and the ability to adapt to changing business demands.
Essential Duties & Responsibilities
Restaurant & Lounge Operations
- Manage all aspects of breakfast and dinner service in the hotel's restaurant and lounge, ensuring efficient operations and consistently high service standards.
- Supervise restaurant servers, bartenders, hosts, and support staff during assigned shifts.
- Maintain an active floor presence, greeting guests, monitoring service quality, and resolving concerns promptly and professionally.
- Provide hands-on assistance with restaurant operations, including taking orders, serving food and beverages, and assisting with table service when needed.
- Ensure proper restaurant opening and closing procedures, including cash handling, reconciliation, cleanliness, and shift reporting.
- Coordinate with the culinary team to ensure timely food preparation, accurate orders, and seamless service.
- Monitor staffing levels and adjust assignments based on occupancy, reservations, and anticipated demand.
- Ensure restaurant and lounge areas are clean, properly maintained, organized, and guest-ready.
- Promote food and beverage offerings and support initiatives designed to improve guest satisfaction and revenue.
Banquet & Conference Center Operations
- Support the Director of Food & Beverage in the planning, coordination, supervision, and execution of banquet and conference center events.
- Serve as the on-site operational leader or Banquet Captain for assigned events, including meetings, conferences, receptions, and private functions.
- Review Banquet Event Orders (BEOs) to ensure proper event setup, staffing, timing, food and beverage service, and special requirements.
- Direct banquet servers, bartenders, and support personnel to ensure successful event execution.
- Coordinate with the culinary, sales, conference services, and engineering teams to ensure event requirements are met.
- Conduct pre-event briefings and communicate service expectations to banquet staff.
- Monitor event timelines, service flow, room transitions, and guest requests.
- Assist with event setup, service, breakdown, and room resets when operationally necessary.
- Serve as a point of contact for meeting planners and event organizers during assigned functions.
- Address operational challenges promptly to ensure a positive guest and client experience.
Leadership & Department Support
- Assist the Director of Food & Beverage with daily departmental operations and administrative responsibilities.
- Train, coach, and motivate restaurant and banquet associates to maintain service standards.
- Assist with employee scheduling, shift assignments, attendance monitoring, and labor productivity.
- Support inventory management, ordering, stock rotation, and beverage controls.
- Monitor food and beverage costs, waste, and operational efficiency.
- Ensure compliance with food safety, sanitation, responsible alcohol service, and applicable health department regulations.
- Conduct routine inspections of restaurant, lounge, banquet, and service areas.
- Support the implementation of brand standards, standard operating procedures, and departmental initiatives.
- Assist with guest satisfaction improvement initiatives, including monitoring guest feedback and implementing corrective actions.
- Communicate operational issues, maintenance needs, staffing concerns, and guest feedback to the Director of Food & Beverage.
- Perform additional duties and provide operational coverage as assigned by the Director of Food & Beverage.
Required Qualifications & Experience
- Minimum of two years of supervisory or management experience in food and beverage operations, preferably within a hotel, restaurant, banquet facility, or conference center.
- Demonstrated experience supervising restaurant service and/or banquet event operations.
- Strong knowledge of food and beverage service standards, restaurant operations, and banquet execution.
- Hands-on leadership style with a willingness to assist in all aspects of service.
- Ability to supervise, train, and motivate employees in a fast-paced hospitality environment.
- Excellent interpersonal, communication, organizational, and problem-solving skills.
- Ability to remain professional and composed while managing multiple priorities.
- Working knowledge of point-of-sale (POS) systems and basic cash-handling procedures.
- Ability to read, interpret, and execute Banquet Event Orders (BEOs).
- Must be available to work flexible shifts, including early mornings, evenings, weekends, and holidays, based on hotel business demands.
- Must have reliable personal transportation to ensure dependable attendance for scheduled shifts.
- Ability to communicate effectively in English with guests, associates, and management.
Preferred Qualifications
- Previous supervisory or management experience in a full-service hotel or conference center.
- Experience coordinating corporate meetings, large conferences, weddings, and social events.
- Familiarity with IHG brand standards or comparable full-service hotel operating standards.
- Experience with labor scheduling, inventory controls, and basic departmental financial reporting.
- ServSafe Food Protection Manager certification or equivalent.
- Current responsible alcohol service certification, such as TIPS.
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications, particularly Outlook, Word, and Excel.
Physical & Operational Requirements
- Ability to stand and walk for extended periods throughout assigned shifts.
- Ability to lift, carry, push, or pull up to 30 pounds, with or without reasonable accommodation.
- Ability to work in a physically active environment may require bending, reaching, and assisting with event setups.
- Ability to move between the restaurant, lounge, kitchen, meeting rooms, and conference center throughout the workday.
- Flexibility to work extended hours during peak business periods and major conferences.
- Work schedules and assigned hours may fluctuate based on hotel occupancy, banquet activity, and seasonal business demand.
Join us to lead vibrant teams in delivering outstanding culinary experiences! We value energetic leaders who thrive in fast-paced environments and are passionate about elevating guest satisfaction through exceptional food service management. This paid position offers the chance to grow your career within a supportive company dedicated to excellence in hospitality.
Pay: $55,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Dental insurance
- Employee discount
- Health insurance
- Paid time off
- Paid training
- Vision insurance
Work Location: In person
