Venue General Manager

Oddfellows Chester is a unique and vibrant venue located in the heart of Chester. Renowned for its eclectic charm and exceptional service, Oddfellows offers guests a distinctive experience with its individually designed bedrooms, a fabulous cocktail bar, restaurant, and the loveliest secret garden within the city walls. A true retreat from the city, it is planted by florists and boasts fires and canopies to protect from the elements. On the first floor there are wonderful event spaces and a roof terrace – perfect for weddings, celebrations, and meetings.

We are now seeking a dynamic and experienced Venue General Manager to lead our team and uphold the highest standards of hospitality. The successful candidate will be responsible for overseeing all aspects of the hotel, restaurant, and event operations, ensuring seamless coordination, and delivering an exceptional guest experience. You’ll provide day-to-day leadership and direction by maximising financial returns, driving development of people as well as creating and maintaining a unique and memorable guest experience throughout. You’ll lead from the front with direction to maximise income and profit through revenue generation and productivity to ensure increased levels of customer satisfaction.

The General Manager must be an expert in Food & Beverage sales, events & operations, oozing passion, and sound experience for great quality food & drink that would be infectious to the wider teams and guests. Food and Beverage is the focus! We’re looking for someone who’s energetic, extremely hands-on, and can multitask with the best of them, a people magnet, a genius at anticipating obstacles and finding quick solutions. This role requires someone with vision and the ability to create experiences, events and memorable moment which will undoubtedly place Oddfellows Chester centre stage as the venue of choice.

People

• · Recruit, develop and maintain a team that is engaged and delivers the highest standards and experiences.
• · Ensure an effective onboarding process is in place for all new starters.
• · Motivate, coach and mentor teams building an internal pipeline for succession.
• · Establish performance and development goals for team members and provide mentoring, coaching and regular feedback to enhance performance.
• · Ensure all HR policies are being adhered to across the business and provide guidance when / if required to Heads of Departments.

Quality

• · Drive improvement in guest satisfaction goals. Collaborate with colleagues and hotel team to establish and implement services and programmes that exceed guest expectations.
• · Drive Trust You Performance metrics across the business via Heads of Departments to ensure all benchmarks are met.
• · Respond to all guest feedback within an acceptable timeframe. Action improvements as and when needed and identified utilising Trust You.
• · Ensure property maintains a high standard of maintenance with ongoing PPM in place.
• · Grow guest satisfaction and online reputation metrics through targeted actions.
• · Create, communicate, and drive brand standards to head of Departments and ensure compliance and brand guidelines / expectations are met.
• · Act vas central communications point during emergency / crisis situations and ensure the procedures are kept up to date.
• · Prepare and submit statistical, performance and reports as required.
• · Ensure good daily communication within the departments for efficient daily operations.

Profit

• · Maintain an effective control of revenue and expenditure to achieve optimum financial efficiency.
• · Ensure HOD’s are operating within their set budgets, managing expenditure, mitigating if required.
• · Strong understanding of P&L, Forecasting & Accounts.
• · Ability to forecast both Accommodation and Food & Beverage
• · Work in close coordination with Group Sales & Marketing, Finance & HR to maximize operational efficiencies.
• · Use company systems and processes to maximise revenues.
• · Manage and control payroll in line with business levels and budgets.

Responsible Business

• · Ensure a safe and secure environment for guests, colleagues, and hotel assets in compliance with policies and procedures and regulatory requirements.
• · Ensure Health & Safety and Fire Safety meets the legal standards to ensure compliance.
• · Ensure Food Safety meets the minimum legal stand.
• · Act as public relations representative to raise awareness of hotel and brand in local community of Chester.
• · Implement Sales & Marketing plans in conjunction with the wider group (Marketing & Sales).
• · Serve as manager on duty as and when required.
• · Drive and maximise Sales by working closely with the wider Sales team as well as maximising on site sales through upselling and detailed revenue capture opportunities – maximise each and every opportunity.
• · Perform any other reasonable tasks as required to ensure the safety and success of the business.

What we need from you:

• · Minimum 2 years’ experience in a similar role with a significant background in both Food & Beverage and Venue Management.
• · Strong operational focus with a hands-on approach.
• · Previous experience in being responsible for and driving food and beverage sales and service, developing, and implementing concepts and products.
• · Experience working in a boutique independent establishment with a food / drink focused nature with venue and event management being a primary focus.
• · Due to the nature of the business the role requires flexibility of working evenings, weekends & bank holidays.
• · Strong commercial and financial acumen
• · Excellent IT Skills (Microsoft Office, PMS & POS systems essential)
• · Effective communication and leadership skills, with the ability to communicate across all levels.

Join us at Oddfellows Chester and be part of an exciting journey to redefine luxury hospitality and events in Chester!

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: £50,000.00-£55,000.00 per year

Supplemental pay types:

• Bonus scheme

Work Location: In person