Director of Beverage

Time To Hire; New York (NY); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

IAM Hospitality seeks a Director of Beverage for its New York operations. This role blends strategic beverage vision with financial discipline to elevate guest experience, brand identity, revenue, and profitability across multiple concepts.

You will design programs across cocktails, wine, spirits, beer, and non-alcoholic beverages; lead openings; manage cost controls; train bartenders and managers; and build strong supplier partnerships while upholding quality standards.

Qualifications

• 8–10+ years of progressive hospitality experience with leadership in beverage operations.
• Proven experience as a Beverage Director, Corporate Beverage Director, Multi-Unit Beverage Director, Bar Director, or equivalent senior beverage leadership position.
• Strong background in fine dining, upscale restaurants, luxury hospitality, or high-volume premium concepts, ideally within the New York market.
• Demonstrated experience managing sophisticated beverage programs and multiple concepts or locations.
• Strong understanding of financial performance, including beverage P&L, purchasing, inventory management, cost controls, pricing and profitability.
• Experience supporting or leading new restaurant openings is strongly preferred.
• Strong supplier and distributor relationship-management experience.

Responsibilities

• Develop and lead the overall beverage strategy for IAM's New York concepts.
• Create and evolve programs across cocktails, wine, spirits, beer, non-alcoholic beverages, and specialty beverage experiences.
• Design beverage menus aligned with each concept’s culinary direction, brand identity, target guest, and commercial objectives.
• Partner closely with Executive Chefs, General Managers, and Operations leaders to ensure seamless integration between food, beverage, service, and the overall guest experience.
• Establish recipes, technical specifications, presentation standards, glassware, mise en place, and service rituals.
• Develop and oversee SOPs, operating standards, and beverage controls across all locations.
• Lead the beverage component of new restaurant openings, including program development, equipment, supplier selection, opening inventory, training, implementation, and operational stabilization.
• Manage and continuously analyze beverage cost, COGS, gross margin, pricing, sales mix, inventory variance, waste, and productivity.
• Use menu engineering, upselling, premiumization, and beverage experiences to increase revenue and profitability.
• Establish effective systems for purchasing, inventory, requisitions, transfers, product controls, and loss prevention.
• Build and manage strategic relationships with distributors, wineries, distilleries, producers, and beverage brands.
• Negotiate commercial agreements while protecting the identity, quality standards, and financial interests of IAM Hospitality.
• Develop structured training programs for bartenders, sommeliers, servers, captains, managers, and other guest-facing teams.
• Identify and develop beverage talent, creating a strong internal leadership pipeline.
• Conduct regular operational audits to ensure consistency in product quality, execution, service, cost control, cleanliness, and presentation.
• Monitor New York and global hospitality trends to keep IAM Hospitality’s beverage programs relevant and competitive.
• Partner with Operations, Finance, and Legal to maintain compliance with applicable New York beverage and alcohol regulations.
• Support special events, collaborations, activations, private dining experiences, and brand partnerships.

Skills

Leadership

Beverage program development

Financial acumen

Strategic thinking

Vendor negotiations

Job description

Director of Beverage – New York Location: New York, NY Department: Operations / Food & Beverage Reports to: Managing Director / Director of Operations – New York Level: Director Scope: Current and future IAM Hospitality concepts in New York Position Purpose The Director of Beverage will be responsible for developing, implementing, and leading IAM Hospitality’s beverage strategy across its New York operations. This role combines strategic vision, beverage expertise, commercial acumen, financial discipline, and operational excellence. We are looking beyond traditional bar management for a leader capable of transforming the beverage program into a key driver of guest experience, brand identity, revenue, and profitability. The Director of Beverage will ensure that each concept maintains its own distinctive beverage identity while operating under consistent standards of quality, execution, cost control, and hospitality.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and lead the overall beverage strategy for IAM Hospitality concepts in New York.
• Create and continuously evolve programs across cocktails, wine, spirits, beer, non-alcoholic beverages, and specialty beverage experiences.
• Design beverage menus aligned with each concept’s culinary direction, brand identity, target guest, and commercial objectives.
• Partner closely with Executive Chefs, General Managers, and Operations leaders to ensure seamless integration between food, beverage, service, and the overall guest experience.
• Establish recipes, technical specifications, presentation standards, glassware, mise en place, and service rituals.
• Develop and oversee SOPs, operating standards, and beverage controls across all locations.
• Lead the beverage component of new restaurant openings, including program development, equipment, supplier selection, opening inventory, training, implementation, and operational stabilization.
• Manage and continuously analyze beverage cost, COGS, gross margin, pricing, sales mix, inventory variance, waste, and productivity.
• Use menu engineering, upselling, premiumization, and beverage experiences to increase revenue and profitability.
• Establish effective systems for purchasing, inventory, requisitions, transfers, product controls, and loss prevention.
• Build and manage strategic relationships with distributors, wineries, distilleries, producers, and beverage brands.
• Negotiate commercial agreements while protecting the identity, quality standards, and financial interests of IAM Hospitality.
• Develop structured training programs for bartenders, sommeliers, servers, captains, managers, and other guest-facing teams.
• Identify and develop beverage talent, creating a strong internal leadership pipeline.
• Conduct regular operational audits to ensure consistency in product quality, execution, service, cost control, cleanliness, and presentation.
• Monitor New York and global hospitality trends to keep IAM Hospitality’s beverage programs relevant and competitive.
• Partner with Operations, Finance, and Legal to maintain compliance with applicable New York beverage and alcohol regulations.
• Support special events, collaborations, activations, private dining experiences, and brand partnerships.

Key Performance Indicators

Performance will be measured through a combination of financial, operational, and guest-experience metrics, including:

• Beverage Revenue
• Beverage Cost %
• Gross Margin
• Average Beverage Check
• Beverage Sales Mix
• Inventory Variance
• Waste and Product Loss
• Premium Product Sales
• Recipe and Standard Compliance
• Beverage Audit Results
• Training Completion and Team Development
• Bar Productivity and Operational Efficiency
• Performance of New Beverage Programs and Menu Launches

Beyond financial results, success will also be measured by the Director’s ability to create distinctive beverage programs that strengthen brand relevance, guest loyalty, consistency, and overall restaurant experience.

Experience & Qualifications

8–10+ years of progressive hospitality experience, with significant leadership responsibility in beverage operations.

Proven experience as a Beverage Director, Corporate Beverage Director, Multi-Unit Beverage Director, Bar Director, or equivalent senior beverage leadership position.

Strong background in fine dining, upscale restaurants, luxury hospitality, or high-volume premium concepts, ideally within the New York market.

Demonstrated experience managing sophisticated beverage programs and multiple concepts or locations.

Strong understanding of financial performance, including beverage P&L, purchasing, inventory management, cost controls, pricing and profitability.

Experience supporting or leading new restaurant openings is strongly preferred.

Strong supplier and distributor relationship-management experience.

Technical Expertise

• Wine & Spirits
• Cocktail Development
• Beverage Costing
• Menu Engineering
• Inventory Management
• Purchasing
• Vendor Negotiation
• Bar Operations
• Training & Development
• New Restaurant Openings
• Financial Analysis
• Guest Experience Leadership

Profile

We are looking for a leader who combines creativity with financial discipline. The right candidate should be equally comfortable developing an exceptional cocktail program, tasting wines with culinary leadership, coaching a bar team during service, negotiating with suppliers, and presenting beverage performance and profitability to senior executives. This position requires strong leadership presence, judgment, sophistication, commercial awareness, attention to detail, communication skills, and the ability to develop high-performing teams. This is a highly operational leadership role. The Director of Beverage is expected to maintain a strong presence in the restaurants—observing service, tasting products, reviewing bar execution, coaching teams, engaging with leadership, and identifying opportunities directly on the floor.

Language Requirements

Fluent English and Spanish is required. the spanish y more important Professional or bilingual Spanish is highly preferred, given the position’s interaction with IAM Hospitality leadership and teams across both the United States and Mexico.

Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate has built and managed high-performing beverage programs within the New York hospitality market and understands both the creative and business sides of beverage operations. They can move naturally between beverage development, operational execution, team leadership, supplier negotiations, financial analysis, and executive-level discussions. Ultimately, this role is not simply about managing bars. The Director of Beverage will build and lead IAM Hospitality’s beverage culture in New York—turning beverage into guest experience, brand identity, and profitable business performance.