Associate Director, Food and Beverage Logistics

Gartner • Irving, TX

18d • Hybrid

About The Position

Role Purpose The Associate Director of Food & Beverage within Conference Logistics will be responsible for leading the flawless execution of world-class food & beverage experiences across our global conference portfolio. We are seeking an innovative leader with a passion for crafting unique and memorable food & beverage experiences for large-scale events or conferences. This Associate Director will support in establishing a new Center of Excellence within Gartner Conferences to drive an improved food & beverage product to attendees at all Gartner Conferences Globally. This role will partner closely with the Gartner Conference Logistics team, 3rd party event partners and multiple onsite venue teams to improve upon the creativity, execution, presentation and food quality at Gartner Conferences.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree or higher preferred
• 10+ Years experience in Food & Beverage, Event Catering or another related field.
• Experience overseeing the planning and execution of complex and varied meal functions from small C-Suite VIP networking events to meal breaks for 10,000+ attendees.
• Experience in working directly with culinary teams to bring a specific vision to life – creating something attendees have never seen before
• Proven budget management skills - requires the ability to scale a vision to fit within budget requirements.
• Experience of working in a complex multi layered environment with multiple stakeholders
• Project management experience on detailed programs with multiple variables and dependencies
• Proven ability to improve business processes resulting in increased efficiency and productivity
• Proven management of teams and talent development
• Innovative and compelling: the ability to win others over gathering excitement for new and non-traditional approaches to meal functions and receptions.
• Passion for service excellence: creating exceptional customer experiences in high-end hospitality settings
• Strong core values: Demonstrates integrity, collaboration, a no-limits mindset, objectivity and consistent results using global best practices.
• Adaptability: Operates with a sense of “urgency” with ability to adapt, implement and manage change in an ever-changing environment
• Commercially astute: A strong understanding of and ability to manage financials, balancing service excellence with profitability.
• Effective people management and leadership skills with a passion for a collaborative work environment
• Creative, innovative and strategic thinker with a strong attention to detail

Responsibilities

• Develop and lead the experience strategy, operating framework and partnerships required for our conference delivery teams to create world-class food and beverage experiences.
• Oversee the operational delivery of food and beverage onsite at our conferences in partnership with our COE leaders to ensure that they are aligned with the overarching strategy and deliver seamless, customer centric service throughout every interaction.
• Establish a set of standards for the food and beverage experience across all meal functions and receptions at Gartner Conferences, ensuring that the available budget is managed creatively to maximize value.
• Develop regional F&B offerings and menus for regular Gartner venues in partnership with the Conference Logistics team and on-site culinary team while maintaining a balanced budget approach.
• Provide expertise, guidance and support to the delivery teams when working with new venues
• Be accountable and responsible for the expenses associated with food and beverage initiatives and understand the financial impact of experience changes.
• Manage the forecast and investment process, ensuring recommendations align with the overall strategy for the conference.
• Create communication standards to help drive attendance and awareness to all attendee receptions and meal functions.
• Partner with 3rd party food and beverage experience experts to help drive Gartner standards on-site at all conferences globally.
• Clearly understand and translate the needs of our audience to create elevated and innovative food and beverage experiences which are meaningful to our customers.
• Regularly benchmark food and beverage standards against other catering functions from small scale to large conferences to ensure we remain best-in-class.
• Create KPIs to better track Gartner’s food and beverage satisfaction levels at all conferences globally, ensuring we are exceeding attendee expectations at all meal functions.
• Conduct regular quality and standards audits to ensure exceptional food quality and consistency across all meal functions.
• Evaluate technology platforms and survey tools to support Food & Beverage satisfaction, communication, consumption rates, etc.
• Build trusted partnerships with team members and leaders across the organization, leveraging in-office time to connect with stakeholders, learn from your peers and keep a pulse on priorities across the teams.
• Partner with key stakeholders and leaders across the logistics team to drive forward strategic changes, identify compelling solutions which align to conference portfolio priorities.
• Ability to travel up to 20% of the time.
• Build standardized F&B service and delivery plans which achieve consistent execution with unique experiences
• Create standard for all food & beverage pop-up delighters, or added value drivers for each region
• Create a standard guidebook for food and beverage expectations across all Gartner Conferences
• Work closely with the Sr Director of Operational Excellence and & Experience to improve attendee F&B satisfaction results year over year
• Maximize established F&B budget focusing on strategic changes to ensure all spending is hitting the mark while reducing waste

Benefits

• Gartner offers world-class benefits, highly competitive compensation and disproportionate rewards for top performers.
• In our hybrid work environment, we provide the flexibility and support for you to thrive — working virtually when it's productive to do so and getting together with colleagues in a vibrant community that is purposeful, engaging and inspiring.
• Gartner believes in fair and equitable pay.
• A reasonable estimate of the base salary range for this role is 93,000 USD - 140,000 USD.
• In addition to base salary, employees will participate in either an annual bonus plan based on company and individual performance, or a role-based, uncapped sales incentive plan.
• We also offer market leading benefit programs including generous PTO, a 401k match up to $7,200 per year, the opportunity to purchase company stock at a discount, and more.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level