Manager, Retail Food & Beverage Operations - Full- Time

Calgary Stampede•CALGARY, AB

About The Position

The Calgary Stampede is a not-for-profit community organization that preserves and promotes our western heritage, cultures and community spirit with a vision to create a world-class, year-round gathering place for the community. Exemplifying the theme We’re Greatest Together, the Stampede is one of the most respected volunteer-based organizations in the world governed by a Board of Directors with over 2,500 passionate volunteers and 1,200 year-round employees. As an organization that exists for the benefit of the community, inclusion and equity are woven into our core values of western hospitality, pride of place, integrity and commitment to the community. The world-class, year-round gathering place we have built for the community also welcomes visitors from around the world and those who are new to the local community. We know that blending diverse cultures with our long-standing traditions makes community spirit thrive. The Manager, Retail Food & Beverage Operations, is a key leadership role within the Calgary Stampede’s commercial food and beverage program, overseeing concessions, retail food stands, bars, and Perk Café. This position is responsible for the strategic direction, financial performance, food quality, and team culture of a high‑volume, high‑visibility operation that supports year‑round programming and major events such as the Calgary Stampede. The successful candidate will guide this business unit with a product‑owner mindset, setting strategy, defining KPIs, shaping the guest experience, responding to evolving trends, and continuously elevating the retail food program. This role is not about maintaining the status quo; it’s about driving evolution and raising the bar.

Requirements

Minimum of 7 years progressive leadership in F&B concessions, stadiums, festivals, or high-volume retail food and beverage environments, with demonstrated experience operating as a business unit owner
Proven financial ownership including full P&L accountability, labour productivity management, contribution margin analysis, and the ability to translate performance data into decisive action
Demonstrated ability to manage high-volume throughput environments while maintaining genuine hospitality standards, with measurable outcomes in both guest satisfaction and commercial performance
People leadership experience that goes beyond supervision, including building team culture, developing Supervisors, and creating organizations that hold themselves accountable without constant direction
Familiarity with POS systems, cash handling reconciliation, and inventory platforms
Experience with menu development, food concept implementation, or specialty coffee / café operations

Nice To Haves

Experience managing large-scale festival operations is considered an asset

Responsibilities

Direct day-to-day operations across all concessions, retail food outlets, bars and perk Café, ensuring consistent execution, services standards, and guest experience at all times
Design and govern operational playbooks for different event types and attendance levels, building systems that allow the team to execute consistently without reinventing the approach every time
Lead workforce planning and deployment across peak operational periods including the Stampede, large conventions, trade and consumer shows, attractions and sold-out events, balancing capacity and demand, service quality, and labour cost targets
Establish and uphold quality standards across all locations, ensuring rigorous food and beverage service and safety, consistent product execution, and efficient speed-of-service performance with creative offerings
Conduct thorough post-event performance reviews, using sales data, labour efficiency metrics, and guest feedback to drive continuous improvement across the business unit
Oversee Perk Café as a distinct retail hospitality concept within the portfolio, maintaining brand standards and day-to-day operational quality while identifying opportunities to grow its contribution and guest relevance
Own the full retail food and beverage P&L, with accountability for revenue performance, contribution margin, labour and food cost control, and all controllable expenses across every location and operating period
Build labour budgets and event-specific staffing models that balance cost efficiency with exceptional guest experience, treating labour as a strategic investment rather than a cost to minimize
Track performance against budget targets in real time, understanding variances at the root cause level and implementing corrective actions with speed and precision
Identify and act on revenue growth opportunities through product mix strategy, merchandising, upselling, and new concept development, with a clear understanding of guest behaviour and contribution margin
Lead inventory control, waste reduction, and procurement alignment as core levers of margin performance and not as administrative functions
Partner with culinary leadership to shape a retail food program that is genuinely food-forward, responding to contemporary guest expectations through seasonal menus, activation-specific offerings, and programming that reflects the demographic and cultural diversity of the BMO Centre’s audiences
Use guest feedback, sales data, and market intelligence as active inputs to program decisions, moving from reactive adjustment to proactive strategy
Design experiential activations and elevated retail hospitality moments that shift the guest relationship with food from transactional to genuinely engaging, positioning the BMO Centre’s retail food program as a destination in its own right
Assess the commercial and operational feasibility of new concepts, lead structured pilot execution, and use performance data to make clear go or no-go decisions before broader rollout
Build and lead a team of Operation Managers & Supervisors and frontline staff who understand they are delivering a hospitality business, with clear performance expectations, structured development, and genuine accountability for outcomes
Invest in operational capability through structured training, real-time coaching, and performance conversations that connect individual behaviour to business outcomes
Build a culture of commercial awareness, guest-first thinking, and ownership mentality across the retail team, where people take pride in the product they deliver and understand their role in the financial health of the business unit
Direct end-to-end workforce planning, ensuring effective seasonal hiring, robust onboarding and clear succession pathways across the retail team