Chief Operating Officer (F&B)

Arvantis - Hospitality Talent Search & Selection; Greater London; On-site; GBP 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity participation possibility

Job summary

Arvantis - Hospitality Talent Search & Selection is seeking a true operational leader to become the Chief Operating Officer for a premier London hotel F&B project. You will own the full F&B operation, from a signature restaurant to rooftop, bar, breakfast and in-room dining, and will apply brand standards across every outlet.

You will recruit, structure and train the operating teams, set up a training rhythm, and own the P&L with budgets, forecasts and payroll.

Qualifications

• A true operator with a track record of running several outlets or sites at once, building teams and delivering numbers.
• Multi-outlet premium F&B experience at luxury hotel level or with a serious restaurant group.
• Experience building leadership teams, hiring General Managers and Head Chefs.
• Fluency with brand standards and applying brand bibles faithfully.
• Commercially sharp with real P&L ownership.
• Committed for the long term and able to work alongside a decisive founder.
• Director of Operations readiness, capable of stepping up to COO.

Responsibilities

• Own the full F&B operation for the hotel project, including signature restaurant, rooftop, bar, breakfast and in-room dining.
• Apply brand manuals and standards across every space while adapting to a hotel environment.
• Select and appoint General Managers and Head Chefs and hold them to the standard.
• Recruit, structure and train operating teams and establish a training rhythm.
• Own the P&L: budgets, forecasts, cost of sales, payroll, and monthly reporting.
• Be the day-to-day face to the hotel's ownership and management.
• Over time, expand scope to the group's existing London venues.

Skills

Multi-outlet ops

P&L ownership

Team leadership

Brand standards

Hospitality operations

Job description

This project sits within one of London's leading five-star hotels: the restaurant group is taking over the hotel's full food and beverage operation and will run it under its own brands. For the right person, the scope extends in time across the group's existing London venues.

The founder wants a true Chief Operating Officer, purely operational, who takes the group's brand bibles and applies them across every space, chooses the General Manager of each outlet, builds the teams, runs the training and owns the P&L. Someone he can hand the keys to and step back from.

Everything physical is already in place for the hotel project. This is an operational takeover, not a construction opening: the work is to bring in the brands, the people and the discipline, and to make a hotel F&B operation perform like a restaurant group's.

The role

• Starting with the hotel project, own its full F&B operation: signature restaurant, rooftop, bar, breakfast and in-room dining
• Apply the group's brand manuals and standards in every space, faithfully, while adapting the operation to a hotel environment with a demanding owner
• Select and appoint the General Manager of each outlet, and the Head Chefs with them, and hold them to the standard
• Recruit, structure and train the operating teams, and set up the training rhythm that keeps the standard after launch
• Own the P&L: budgets, forecasts, cost of sales, payroll, and the monthly reporting to the founder and the hotel owner
• Be the group's day-to-day face to the hotel's ownership and management
• In time, widen the scope to the group's existing London venues

Who I am looking for

• A true operator, not a figurehead: someone who has run several outlets or sites at once, built teams, delivered numbers and still walks the floor
• Multi-outlet premium F&B experience at the level of a luxury hotel or a serious restaurant group, with more than one kitchen and concept under you at the same time
• A builder of leadership teams who has hired General Managers and Head Chefs, not just managed them
• Fluent with brand standards, comfortable being handed a bible and applying it faithfully
• Commercially sharp, with real P&L ownership behind you
• Committed for the long term: someone who will stay and build, not someone passing through
• At ease working alongside a decisive, hands-on founder
• A Director of Operations with a proven track record, ready to step up to COO, is explicitly in scope. Seniority matters less than evidence

What is on offer

• The COO role of an owner-led restaurant group, starting with the whole F&B of a leading five-star hotel, without the construction phase
• A competitive base salary set against the market, plus a possible equity participation in the hotel project
• A credible path to running the group's wider London operations

The process

A confidential conversation with me, under NDA, followed by one or two meetings with the founder in London. The group and the hotel will be named once we have spoken and an NDA is in place.