VP, Culinary Operations

Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Ottawa•Las Vegas, NV

5d•Onsite

About The Position

The Vice President – Culinary, reporting to the SVP – Food & Beverage, is responsible for the strategic direction, financial performance, and operational excellence of all casino dining outlets, in room dining, banquet services, and kitchens. Develops menus, procures culinary equipment and ingredients, and ensures the quality of all culinary dishes that are served; and supervises, trains and develops the staff of all kitchens and ensures all adherence to appropriate food safety/sanitation guidelines, in accordance with local health and safety regulations.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Hospitality Management or related field, and Culinary degree or equivalent experience.
10-15+ years in high-volume food and beverage operations, with extensive background in casino or hotel settings.
Fine dining and casual experience required.
Previous upscale/luxury hotel experience and Las Vegas or comparable major market strongly preferred.
Previous department head experience required and 5 years’ experience as Executive Chef in a 4-star or 5-star establishment with sizeable conference and banqueting facilities.
Experience with new property openings preferred.
Strong leadership trajectory in managing a culinary team of a minimum headcount of 500+ employees.
HACCP certification required.
Experience managing 3rd party or licensed F&B concepts.
Financial competence, expertise in menu engineering, and proficiency in F&B software.
Must be able to work holidays and weekends, as well as flexible shifts.
Understanding of all relevant federal, state, and local laws, codes, and regulations.
Knowledge of all applicable health, sanitation, and licensing ordinances; food products, standard recipes, and accurate preparation, and generally all kitchen operations.
Expertise in use all tools associated with the position including but not limited to knives, slicers, and choppers.
Dedication to deliver a service level which builds an atmosphere that makes our guests want to return, giving each guest a positive, memorable entertainment experience.
Routinely goes above and beyond in the accomplishment of position responsibilities in an effort to play a role in the achievement of organizational goals.
Presents an image of excitement, enthusiasm, and outgoing personality, while being able to project a professional appearance.
Communicates clearly and concisely, both orally and in writing.

Nice To Haves

Previous upscale/luxury hotel experience and Las Vegas or comparable major market strongly preferred.
Experience with new property openings preferred.

Responsibilities

Oversee P&L, establish food and beverage budgets, manage costs, and promote revenue growth across all F&B outlets, property-wide.
Manages 3rd party/licensed restaurant relationships with operators and licensees, ensuring brand standards and quality consistency across non-owned outlets, coordinating shared resources (loading docks, storage, utilities) with 3rd party tenants, and serving as a primary liaison between the property and celebrity chef/brand partners.
Overseeing multiple distinct culinary concepts simultaneously, managing a large, multi-tiered culinary leadership team (multiple Executive Chefs, Sous Chefs, etc.), coordinating large-scale simultaneous service across outlets (peak casino traffic, conventions, etc.), including production kitchen and Employee Dining Room management.
Participation in new outlet openings, renovations, and rebrands, input into capital expenditure planning for kitchen builds and renovations, collaboration with architecture & design on kitchen layout and flow, and partnership with departmental peers and leaders (facilities, HR, etc.)
Build a culture that enhances cross-property and corporate culinary collaboration.
Oversight of total revenue/budget, labor cost modeling and productivity metrics.
Benchmarking food cost benchmarking across diverse outlet types (fine dining vs. casual vs. banquet).
Review and communicate financial and other reports according to policy and practice. Be prepared to support findings with analysis.
Build weekly forecasts and plan operating staff and cost expenditures to align with forecasted sales and costs. Monitor actual sales and revenues to determine variance and assess goal accomplishments. Adjust strategies and forecasts accordingly.
Adhere to the recruitment process, hire the best talent available from inside or outside the organization. Build expectations, lead, train, manage processes and mentor executive chefs and culinary staff to ensure top-tier performance. Ensure succession planning and culinary talent pipeline development.
Manage and maintain positive union, labor relations.
Lead VIP and high-roller dining experience curation, integrate with casino marketing, loyalty programs, and hosted guest programs and manage private dining, chef’s table, and exclusive event experiences
Coordinate the purchase of food and related culinary equipment and supplies, ensuring an adequate balance of pars to eliminate outages and reduce capital costs. Support procurement with vendor contract negotiation at scale and responsible for sustainability and sourcing standards (locally sourced, seasonal, etc.)
Seek opportunities to increase food revenue, decrease kitchen expenses, and improve departmental efficiency without compromising guest happiness.
Develop and preserve accurate inventory records. Join in scheduled inventories. Advise on relevant actions following the results of inventory reports.
Provide daily and periodic operational reporting as required by company and regulatory policies.
Build and sustain connections with culinary suppliers.
Implement and maintain consistently high departmental standards. Ensure all property policies and procedures are fully implemented, including strict adherence to health, food safety, sanitation guidelines and health department codes.
Complete consistent and high-quality food presentation, constantly striving to improve. Ensure that any special dietary restrictions or problems that arise are accommodated in the best way possible.
Manage and take part in the cooking and plating across all food service areas to sustain the finest quality food style attainable.
Communicate with all departments directly and effectively, especially Restaurants, In Room Dining, Catering, and Banquet Operations.
Communicate with relevant leadership team regarding issues, risk and liability concerns, or other important business matters.
Conduct pre-shift meetings and review all information and goals pertinent to the day’s business.
Maintain high visibility during peak hours of operation while engaging guests during events, service, or other activities.
Conduct outlet walk-throughs as necessary to build rapport, assess engagement, develop relationships, and promote repeat business.
Conduct regular meetings with staff to communicate global programs, implement new products and procedures, and discuss areas of opportunities, special events, and other activities.
Monitor guest happiness scores and review guest feedback with direct reports, ensuring appropriate corrective action is taken when necessary.
Maintain effective communication, giving direction, support, timely feedback, and recognition of performance. Build a positive environment in which all employees have the ability to improve their potential.
Ensure all annual maintenance contracts are kept up to date and conduct due diligence of potential suppliers. Ensure all contracts are submitted and approved by President or GM and SVP of Finance for all contract renewals.
Establish preventive maintenance programs to ensure the life of all equipment. Assure that equipment is accurately maintained.
Formulate and introduce culinary strategies, menus, and concepts to match the casino's brand.
Research and introduce new dining trends, technologies, and menu updates to improve the guest experience.