Dining Manager

Pinnacle Senior Living•Tucson, AZ

About The Position

Mountain View Retirement Village is seeking a passionate, experienced, hands-on Dining Manager to lead front-of-house dining operations in a senior living community serving independent living, assisted living, and memory care residents. The role focuses on building strong teams, creating exceptional resident dining experiences, maintaining high standards, and fostering hospitality, accountability, and service. The Dining Manager oversees breakfast, lunch, and dinner service; works closely with the kitchen team and Dietary Director; supports staff recruitment, training, development, and performance; and collaborates with community leadership and other departments to improve residents' overall experience. The position also supports special events and holiday meals, improves systems and processes, manages operational details, and maintains regulatory compliance and survey readiness. The schedule is variable and requires flexibility to cover different meals, weekends, and holidays according to resident needs and department coverage. The kitchen operates from 5:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. every day of the year. This is not a set-schedule position, and there are no late-night shifts.

Requirements

At least 3 years of experience in food service, hospitality, healthcare dining, senior living, restaurants, hotels, or a related industry.
At least 2 years of relevant supervisory experience managing teams of 12 or more.
Maintain SERV Safe Manager / Food Protection Manager Certification (FPMC) meeting state and local health department standards.
Maintain level one fingerprint clearance.
Demonstrated ability to quickly adopt and master software platforms, vendor ordering portals, and performance dashboards.

Nice To Haves

At least 2 years of leadership experience in senior living, a retirement community, or a specialized healthcare dining environment.
Degree or certificate in culinary arts, restaurant management, or hospitality.

Responsibilities

Ensure the CAPLICO Core Values and Code of Conduct are demonstrated and upheld within the Dietary Department.
Manage front-of-house dining operations for daily breakfast, lunch, and dinner service.
Build a positive culture focused on teamwork, accountability, and resident satisfaction.
Collaborate daily with the back-of-house kitchen team to stay current on menu offerings, inventory, and changes.
Lead pre-meal meetings and communicate new items, menu changes, special resident requests, and other relevant information to dining personnel.
Assist with inventory control, waste management, and budget management; ensure orders are entered and distributed accurately.
Ensure opening and closing duties are completed correctly and the area is secured after final service.
Ensure resident dietary accommodations, food quality, and service standards are consistently met.
Work with the Dietary Director to recruit, train, develop, and coach dining staff.
Collaborate with community leadership and other departments to enhance the resident experience.
Help plan and support special events, holiday meals, and celebrations.
Create systems and processes to improve efficiency, organization, and consistency.
Engage regularly with residents to understand their preferences and improve dining services.
Maintain regulatory compliance and survey readiness.
Provide administrative and functional supervision to all Dining employees, including direction, coaching, training, accountability, and performance management.
Ensure dining staff understand and follow department policies, procedures, job duties, safety expectations, sanitation standards, and resident service expectations.