Food and Beverage Development Manager

Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Ottawa; United States; On-site; USD 110,000 - 165,000; Full time

Job summary

Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Ottawa seeks a Food & Beverage Development Manager to lead enterprise-wide F&B initiatives across properties. You will own development projects, openings, and brand rollouts, ensuring on-time delivery, brand alignment, and operational readiness.

You’ll drive R&D, stay ahead of trends, and collaborate with culinary, IT, marketing, and facilities to elevate the guest experience.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in F&B operations, project management, or hospitality development.
• Experience leading cross-functional initiatives and executing complex projects.
• Strong organizational, planning, and time-management skills.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management abilities.
• Experience with new property openings, brand rollouts, or multi-unit operations preferred.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite and project tracking tools.
• Creative mindset with a passion for innovation and trend-forward thinking.
• Strong knowledge of mixology, beverage development, and bar operations; hands-on bartending experience preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead cross-functional F&B initiatives from planning through execution.
• Communicate directives to stakeholders, leaders, and peers with conviction.
• Establish accountability across all project stakeholders.
• Ensure timelines, deliverables, and milestones are met with discipline.
• Identify risks, remove obstacles, and maintain project momentum.
• Oversee execution of beverage programs, menu rollouts, tech integrations, brand standards, training, and operations.
• Own F&B development for new openings and ensure all components are aligned and on schedule.
• Deliver consistency in openings with reduced operational risk and strong day-one performance.
• Lead coordination across Procurement, IT, Marketing, HR, Design & Construction, Training, Finance & Legal, Compliance & Security, Entertainment, Gaming and new tech.
• Drive brand standards scalability and operational readiness across properties.
• Support leadership development and drive enhancements to guest experience and guest journey.
• Improve speed to readiness and optimize labor planning during openings and initiatives.

Skills

F&B operations

Cross-functional leadership

Project management

Stakeholder management

Brand development

Mixology knowledge

Communication

MS Office & tracking tools

Tools

MS Office Suite

Project tracking tools

Job description

Our team members are the key to our company's success, and their health and well-being, as well as that of their families, is very important to us. We offer a comprehensive benefits package that allows our team members stay healthy, plan for their future and maintain a healthy work-life balance. Benefits may vary with employment status. To see our fill list of Team Member Benefits please visit our career site: www.gotoworkhappy.com/benefits

Job Description:

Food & Beverage Development Manager is responsible for leading the execution and coordination of enterprise-wide food & beverage initiatives across all properties. This role ensures that development projects, openings, and brand rollouts are delivered on time, on brand, and operationally executable.

In addition to execution leadership, this role is responsible for driving research and development initiatives, staying ahead of industry trends, and bringing innovative ideas forward to enhance both existing and new food & beverage concepts. The Manager actively explores emerging products, guest preferences, service models, and technology to ensure the organization remains competitive, relevant, and differentiated in the market.

This position serves as the central point of accountability for project momentum, cross-functional alignment, and operational readiness, while also acting as a key contributor to creative concept evolution, continuous improvement, and brand innovation. The role reduces execution gaps and enables leadership to focus on strategic growth

Key Responsibilities

Project Leadership & Execution

• Lead and drive major cross-functional food & beverage initiatives from planning through execution
• Conviction when communicating departmental directive with stakeholders, leads, and peers
• Establish and maintain accountability across all project stakeholders
• Ensure timelines, deliverables, and milestones are met with consistency and discipline
• Identify risks, remove obstacles, and maintain project momentum across all initiatives
• Oversee execution of:
  • Beverage program launches
  • Menu rollouts
  • POS/KDS/BOSS integrations
  • Brand standard initiatives
  • Training execution frameworks
  • Operational Administration

New Property Development & Openings

• Own F&B development execution for new property openings
• Ensure all F&B operational components are aligned and on schedule
• Oversee:
  • Opening readiness
  • Operational checklists
  • Training coordination
  • Systems readiness
• Deliver consistent, high-quality openings with reduced operational risk and stronger day-one performance

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Lead coordination across key departments, including:
  • Procurement
  • IT (system integrations)
  • Marketing
  • Human Resources
  • Design & Construction
  • Training
  • Finance & Legal
  • Compliance & Security
  • Entertainment
  • Gaming
  • New technology (Audio, visual, lighting, hardware)
• Align all teams around shared timelines, deliverables, and operational goals
• Serve as the central connector ensuring communication, clarity, and execution consistency

Operational Standards & Brand Consistency

• Ensure brand standards scale effectively with organizational growth
• Oversee the rollout and sustainability of F&B standards, tools, and processes
• Drive consistency across properties to strengthen brand integrity and guest experience
• Ensure all initiatives are operationally executable at the property level

Team & Leadership Support

• Reduce executive dependency by owning project execution and follow-through
• Support development of operational leaders by reinforcing accountability and execution standards
• Contribute to strengthening the leadership pipeline and organizational depth

Financial & Operational Impact

• Improve speed to operational readiness and reduce launch inefficiencies
• Drive improved labor efficiency through better planning and coordination
• Support revenue optimization during openings and initiative rollouts
• Contribute to enhanced guest experience and satisfaction
• Drives research and development initiatives, to enhance new and existing food and beverage operations
• Contributes to the creation of service initiatives, including but not limited to beverage menus, libations, wine, table side service, sequence of service, limited time offers.
• Partnering with our culinary team to engineer menus and elevate the guest journey into a seamless, memorable experience

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in food & beverage operations, project management, or hospitality development
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional initiatives and execute complex projects
• Strong organizational, planning, and time-management skills
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management abilities
• Experience with new property openings, brand rollouts, or multi-unit operations preferred
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite and project tracking tools
• Creative mindset with a passion for innovation, concept development, and trend-forward thinking
• Strong knowledge of mixology, beverage development, and bar operations; hands-on bartending experience preferred

Disclaimer

While this is intended to be an accurate reflection of the current job, management reserves the right to revise the current job or to require that other or different tasks be performed when circumstances change, (e.g. emergencies, changes in personnel, workload, rush jobs or technical developments).