Nat'l Catering Sr. Manager

VPC Pizza Operating Corp•Chicago, IL

9d•$120,000 - $130,000

About The Position

The Senior Manager, National Catering, Private Dining & Strategic Partnerships drives incremental revenue through catering, private dining, restaurant buyouts, national accounts, online booking channels, and tour and travel partnerships. The role develops and executes a scalable national sales strategy to expand catering and event revenue, build strategic partnerships, increase digital lead conversion, and grow group dining business across flagship markets: Downtown Chicago, Washington, D.C., Las Vegas, Orlando, and Pigeon Forge. The role owns the catering and private dining sales funnel from lead generation through booking conversion, develops national account relationships, and positions Giordano’s as a preferred destination for group dining, travel groups, corporate events, and private celebrations. It leads national catering and private dining sales, manages inbound inquiry and lead-conversion processes, develops localized market strategies and scalable sales programs, and builds national account and tour and travel partnerships. The position also drives restaurant buyouts and large-group event revenue, working with Marketing, Digital, and Operations to improve sales performance and guest experience.

Requirements

At least 7 years of experience managing high-volume catering sales, private dining operations, or hospitality sales across multiple regions.
Proven success scaling an off-premise or event business and meeting or exceeding multi-million-dollar annual sales targets.
Demonstrated experience sourcing, negotiating, and executing high-value corporate partnerships and vendor agreements.
Bachelor’s degree in Hospitality Management, Business Administration, Marketing, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.
Advanced pipeline management, enterprise-level corporate client acquisition, and contract negotiation skills.
Strong understanding of restaurant financial management, including P&L management, labor optimization, and event food-cost margins.
Ability to standardize operating procedures across regions to ensure consistent guest experiences.
Experience hiring, coaching, and managing remote or multi-unit sales and operations teams.
Advanced proficiency in Tripleseat, Gather, or similar hospitality CRM or event management platforms.
Familiarity with Toast, MICROS, Avero, or comparable restaurant business intelligence platforms.
Experience using Salesforce, HubSpot, or standard corporate productivity suites such as Google Workspace and Microsoft Excel.

Responsibilities

Lead the national strategy for catering, private dining, and large-format event sales.
Develop and execute initiatives to increase catering revenue, private dining bookings, restaurant buyouts, and group dining sales.
Build and maintain a sales pipeline of corporate, social, nonprofit, and community event opportunities.
Develop annual sales plans, budgets, and revenue targets for catering and private events.
Partner with Operations to ensure successful event execution and guest satisfaction.
Establish sales goals, performance metrics, and reporting systems.
Oversee inbound inquiry channels, including website quote requests, online event forms, private dining inquiries, and catering requests.
Partner with Marketing, Digital, and Operations to optimize lead generation and conversion.
Develop lead management processes and service-level standards for prompt follow-up.
Monitor lead volume, conversion rates, response times, and booking performance; create reporting and analytics to measure conversion and sales effectiveness.
Improve the guest booking experience and online event inquiry process, and ensure qualified leads receive timely, professional follow-up.
Collaborate on event packages, menus, and website content to increase booking conversions.
Develop localized sales strategies in Downtown Chicago, Washington, D.C., Las Vegas, Orlando, and Pigeon Forge.
Build relationships with major employers, hotels, attractions, convention centers, and tourism organizations in the focus markets.
Identify opportunities related to conventions, business travel, group tours, and destination tourism, and increase awareness of catering and private dining capabilities.
Build and maintain a catering and private events sales program, including sales playbooks, lead management procedures, CRM workflows, and reporting standards.
Establish scalable systems for prospecting, lead tracking, and revenue forecasting; create proactive outbound sales initiatives for corporate, hospitality, and tourism segments.
Train and support restaurant leadership teams on private dining, catering, and local sales opportunities; continuously improve sales processes and conversion rates.
Identify, secure, and manage national accounts across corporate, education, healthcare, sports, entertainment, hospitality, and travel sectors.
Develop strategic partnerships that generate recurring catering and event revenue; negotiate multi-unit agreements and preferred vendor relationships.
Build relationships with key decision-makers and purchasing organizations, and collaborate with Marketing and Operations to grow accounts.
Lead tour group, travel industry, and group dining sales efforts; develop partnerships with tour operators, motorcoach companies, student travel organizations, receptive operators, and destination management companies.
Create programs to attract domestic and international group travel business and develop relationships with CVBs, tourism boards, hotels, attractions, entertainment venues, and convention centers.
Represent Giordano’s at travel, tourism, hospitality, and group sales conferences and promote it as a preferred dining experience for tour groups and travel partners.
Drive revenue through restaurant buyouts, corporate events, holiday parties, convention dining, sports team meals, and large-group gatherings.
Build relationships with event planners, meeting planners, convention organizers, destination management companies, and hospitality partners.
Negotiate contracts and event agreements while maintaining profitability goals.
Maximize sales opportunities associated with conventions, trade shows, sporting events, and tourism activity.