Food and Beverage Training and Development Specialist

ICONA RESORTS 1•Wildwood, NJ

About The Position

The Food & Beverage Training & Development Specialist is responsible for elevating the front-of-house team’s performance across our F&B outlets by developing, delivering, and managing training programs. This role requires a strong restaurant operations background (from bussing to serving to management), fine dining experience, food & beverage knowledge, and the ability to work with varied personalities. The ideal candidate will partner with leaders to assess current processes, implement continuous improvement initiatives, and ensure a culture of excellence and service.

Requirements

High School Diploma or equivalent required.
Minimum of 5 years of progressive restaurant front-of-house experience (busser, server, supervisor, manager).
Demonstrated ability to train, coach, and develop front-of-house team members.
Strong food & wine, beer , and mixed drink knowledge.
Maintain confidentiality of all sensitive operational and personnel information.
Excellent guest and vendor service skills.
Demonstrate patience , flexibility, and strong interpersonal skills to work with diverse personalities.

Nice To Haves

Degree in Hospitality Management, Business Administration or related field.
Fine dining serving experience.
Prior training & development or supervision experience in food & beverage.
Certification in wine service or sommelier training a plus.

Responsibilities

Conduct site visits to all F&B properties and outlets; meet with leaders to assess current culture, processes and training needs.
Design, develop and deliver training curricula for front-of-house roles, including improved LMS courses, Continuous Improvement sessions ,role-plays, on- the-job coaching, and group training.
Use fine dining service standards and wine/food knowledge to create advanced service modules (e.g., greeting guests, tableside service, wine pairing, formal service technique).
Assess internal surveys and online review trends to identify opportunity areas and produce action plans with measurable goals.
Review and refine the current process documentation and side-work/duties lists; standardize best practices across properties.
Launch an immediate training and continuous improvement (CI) program for year-round teams; establish certification tracks and measurable completion criteria.
Partner with management to develop a schedule for coaching both new hire and rehired team members so that they are fully scheduled for their coaching and certification programs.
Lead group training sessions, coaching and periodic recertification; provide one-on-one coaching for performance gaps.
Create training materials, checklists, tests and digital resources; maintain an accessible training library for leaders and hourly team members.
Track training metrics (attendance, completion, guest satisfaction impact, upsell performance) and report results to leadership.
Perform other related duties as assigned.
Attend mandatory weekly Aloha Culture Meetings.