General Manager, Food and Beverage Operations

Venues Ōtautahi; Christchurch; On-site; NZD 100,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Venues Ōtautahi seeks a General Manager for Food and Beverage Operations to oversee high-quality service across various venues, including the opening of One New Zealand Stadium. This permanent, full-time role involves strategic planning, financial management, and team leadership to enhance the guest experience and ensure operational excellence.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of progressive leadership experience in the event industry.
• Strong background in Food and Beverage Operations and strategic commercial management.
• Ability to lead and mentor teams fostering a high-performance culture.

Responsibilities

• Oversee all aspects of the food and beverage team, including operations, strategic planning and financial management.
• Drive the Strategic Food and Beverage Framework to enhance guest experience and operational efficiency.
• Ensure Food and Beverage Operations comply with industry regulations and standards.

Skills

Leadership

Financial Management

Team Development

Communication

Project Management

Strategic Planning

Job description

• Reshaped key role, permanent full-time role, reporting to the Chief Executive
• Once in a lifetime opportunity to be part of the opening of One New Zealand Stadium
• Play a critical role in delivering premium service and driving positive commercial outcomes
  
  

About Us

Venues Ōtautahi own the Christchurch Town Hall and Wolfbrook Arena and manage Apollo Projects Stadium, Hagley Oval, the Air Force Museum of New Zealand, and One New Zealand Stadium. Venues Ōtautahi venues attract and host a wide range of over 500 events in Christchurch and manage a diverse and iconic portfolio of community venues.

Venues Ōtautahi's purpose is to strategically manage and leverage the venues to deliver positive social, cultural, environmental and economic impact to the region. These iconic city venues play a valued role to the Christchurch way of life and the economic prosperity and social wellbeing of the region.

About The Role

Venues Ōtautahi invites applications for the General Manager, Food and Beverage Operations. This key role is responsible for delivering a consistent high-quality corporate and retail food and beverage service across our venues.

Supported by premium service and enabled by leading-edge technology, this role will develop and activate a Strategic Food and Beverage Framework, with the primary objective of enhance the guest experience ensuring operational efficiency, profitability and compliance with industry best practice.

Reporting to the Chief Executive, the General Manager, Food and Beverage Operations, like all the Executive Team at Venues Ōtautahi, are hands-on leaders. We champion our values of agility, kindness, and aspiration, driving our efforts to ensure our venues become a source of pride and delight for everyone.

Key Responsibilities Of The Position Are As Follows

• Oversee all aspects of the food and beverage team, including operations, strategic planning and financial management.
• Lead and develop the Food and Beverage operations team, ensuring strong engagement and the consistent delivery of high-quality service.
• Drive the Strategic Food and Beverage Framework with focus on enhancing the guest experience ensuring operational efficiency, increasing profitability and maintaining compliance with Industry Standards.
• Ensure Food and Beverage Operations comply with Industry regulations, safety protocols and hygiene standards, while overseeing risk management and operational procedures.
• Identify and leverage key business drivers to maintain and improve financial performance.
• Engage stakeholders effectively to build relationships of trust and confidence, develop common understanding and shared ownership.
  
  

About You

It's an exciting time to join Venues Ōtautahi and you'll have the opportunity to help shape our future as part of our passionate and hard-working team.

The Successful Candidate Will Have

• 10+ years of progressive leadership experience in the event industry, with a strong background in Food and Beverage Operations and strategic commercial management.
• Able to provide high quality, insightful and strategic advice as part of the Executive Leadership Team.
• Ability to lead, mentor, develop teams while fostering a high-performance culture.
• Strong understanding of budgeting, forecasting, financial reporting and cost control.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Effectively build relationships ang engage with internal and external stakeholders.
• Ability to make sound decisions in high pressure or uncertain environments.
• Understands strategic planning, performance metrics and operational frameworks.
• Familiarity with data driven decision making tools, operational software and process automation.
• Skilled in leading organisational change, innovation and continuous improvement.
• Strong project management skills, able to prioritise at peak times, multitask and meet strict deadlines.
  
  

We act with aspiration, agility, kindness and are driven to take care of the venues to make them places of pride and delight for everyone. If this sounds like you, we want to hear from you. Help us bring the energy before the first whistle blows!

How To Apply

For more information, click "apply" to be redirected to the Venues Ōtautahi careers page where you can submit your application and view the position description.

Applications close 06 July 2025