Director of Auxiliary Food Services and Hospitality Operations

Research Foundation of The City University of New York•New York, NY

1d•Onsite

About The Position

Queensborough Community College seeks an experienced leader to direct its in-house dining, retail food, catering, and hospitality operations. This is a college-employed management position, with responsibility for College staff, College-controlled budgets, and service standards—not administration of a third-party vendor contract. The Director will deliver high-quality food and hospitality to students, faculty, staff, and campus visitors while supporting the College’s student-centered mission. The Director provides strategic and day-to-day operational leadership, recruits and develops staff, sets goals and performance measures, and monitors service and financial results. The role oversees budgets, cash handling, point-of-sale activity, sales reconciliation, inventory, procurement, vendor relationships, reporting, and auxiliary revenue. It also manages menu planning, food preparation and service, campus catering, regulatory compliance, and coordination with campus departments and partners. The Director reports performance and recommendations to campus leadership and Finance and Administration, responds to complaints, and represents dining and hospitality in campus planning and projects. The position requires a bachelor’s degree in a related field and eight years of progressive food service or hospitality operations experience, including five years in supervision or management, or a satisfactory equivalent. A minimum of ten years of progressive food service or hospitality management experience may be considered in lieu of the degree. The College offers a collaborative environment, professional development, and the opportunity to shape an in-house operation that contributes to student success and campus life.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in hospitality management, food service management, business administration, or a related field, and at least eight years of progressive food service or hospitality operations experience, including at least five years in a supervisory or management role; alternatively, a satisfactory equivalent, with a minimum of ten years of progressive food service or hospitality management experience considered in lieu of the degree.
Demonstrated experience directly managing dining and catering operations, in-house or in a comparable institutional setting, including staff supervision.
Proven experience with budgeting, financial oversight, inventory, procurement, and operational reporting.
Working knowledge of local, State, and Federal food-safety and workplace regulations.
Strong organizational, written, and oral communication skills.
Demonstrated interpersonal skills leading diverse teams and working across departments.
Ability to communicate effectively with a multilingual campus community.

Nice To Haves

Proficiency in a language in addition to English; languages commonly used at QCC and in Queens include Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Bengali, and Urdu.
Experience leading college, university, or public-institution dining operations as an institutional employee, rather than solely as a vendor-account manager.
Experience setting and reporting operational KPIs and financial targets.
Familiarity with point-of-sale and inventory systems and standard food-cost and labor-cost reporting.
SERV Safe Manager certification or equivalent and current knowledge of NYC food-service requirements.
Fluency in more than one language and experience supervising a multilingual workforce.

Responsibilities

Provide strategic direction and day-to-day leadership for in-house dining, retail food, catering, and hospitality operations.
Recruit, train, supervise, and evaluate staff; establish individual and unit goals; coach performance; and foster accountability, teamwork, and service excellence.
Communicate professionally with a multilingual, multicultural workforce and student body and serve as an approachable College leader for dining and hospitality.
Establish annual operating goals and KPIs, including customer satisfaction, health inspection results, food and labor cost ratios, catering volume and quality, revenue versus budget, and event turnaround.
Track performance against goals, prepare management reports, recommend corrective action, and lead after-action reviews of major catering and campus events.
Improve service quality, speed, menu relevance, and the campus dining experience.
Develop, manage, and monitor operating budgets for dining, catering, and related auxiliary activity.
Oversee cash handling, point-of-sale activity, sales reconciliation, inventory valuation, and internal controls.
Analyze food costs, labor costs, waste, and sales mix; present findings and recommendations to Finance and Administration.
Prepare monthly and ad hoc operational and financial reports, including performance metrics and variance explanations; support year-end close, audits, and auxiliary enterprise reporting.
Strengthen auxiliary revenue while aligning operations with the College’s student-centered mission; manage procurement, vendor relationships, receiving, and inventory.
Oversee menu planning, food preparation, presentation, and service to meet College quality and consistency standards.
Direct campus catering from planning and staffing through billing and client follow-up.
Ensure compliance with New York City Health Department, State and Federal food-safety rules, OSHA, ADA, and College policy; maintain a clean, safe, inspection-ready operation.
Coordinate with Facilities, Campus Safety, Events, and Student Affairs to support the academic calendar and campus life.
Build relationships with academic departments, Student Affairs, student government, Athletics, and administrative units; handle complaints promptly, professionally, and fairly; represent dining and hospitality in campus planning and special projects.
Perform other duties as assigned.