General Manager for Student Dining

Stanford University School of Medicine; Palo Alto (CA); On-site; USD 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Stanford University, through Residential & Dining Enterprises, seeks a Dining Hall Manager to oversee daily campus dining operations in a residential dining hall. You will ensure top-quality meals, hospitality, and a welcoming atmosphere for students, with accountability for service levels and guest satisfaction.

Responsibilities include managing staff, scheduling, food safety compliance, and controlling labor and food costs while maintaining high standards across all meal periods, including

Responsibilities

• Execute high-quality daily dining experience meeting standards for food quality, presentation, and hospitality.
• Lead and train frontline staff to deliver consistent service across meal periods.
• Ensure compliance with food safety, ADA, and university standards.

Job description

Job Description

ABOUT STANFORD UNIVERSITY AND RESIDENTIAL & DINING ENTERPRISES:

Stanford University is one of the world's leading teaching and research universities. Founded in 1891, Stanford’s mission is to create and share knowledge and to prepare students to be curious, to think critically, and to contribute to the world. With world-class scholars and seven schools located together on a single campus, Stanford offers academic excellence across the broadest array of disciplines including business, education, engineering, humanities and sciences, law, medicine, and sustainability. It also is an engine of innovation, blending theory and practice to move ideas and discoveries from labs and classrooms out into the world. Stanford strives to foster a culture of expansive inquiry, fresh thinking, searching discussion, and freedom of thought – preparing students for leadership and engaged citizenship in the world. The university is located between San Francisco and San Jose in the heart of California's Silicon Valley, on a scenic 8,180-acre campus.

Job Description

ABOUT STANFORD UNIVERSITY AND RESIDENTIAL & DINING ENTERPRISES:

Stanford University is one of the world's leading teaching and research universities. Founded in 1891, Stanford’s mission is to create and share knowledge and to prepare students to be curious, to think critically, and to contribute to the world. With world-class scholars and seven schools located together on a single campus, Stanford offers academic excellence across the broadest array of disciplines including business, education, engineering, humanities and sciences, law, medicine, and sustainability. It also is an engine of innovation, blending theory and practice to move ideas and discoveries from labs and classrooms out into the world. Stanford strives to foster a culture of expansive inquiry, fresh thinking, searching discussion, and freedom of thought – preparing students for leadership and engaged citizenship in the world. The university is located between San Francisco and San Jose in the heart of California's Silicon Valley, on a scenic 8,180-acre campus.

Residential & Dining Enterprises (R&DE), the largest auxiliary organization at Stanford University, supports the academic mission of the university by providing high-quality services to students and other members of the university community. R&DE has an annual operating budget of $400M, operates 24/ 7/365, and oversees a $3B asset portfolio comprising over 7 million square feet—one-third of the campus footprint. R&DE provides housing for 16,000 students and dependents, serves 8 million meals annually at 48 student dining venues and 32 culinary enterprises. In addition, R&DE provides executive services, conference operations, and guest lodging. R&DE is a talented and diverse team of 1,200+ who comprise the following divisions: Student Housing Operations & Stanford Conferences; Stanford Dining and Hospitality & Auxiliaries; Maintenance Operations and Capital Projects; and a team of R&DE strategic business partners—Finance & Administration, Information Technology, Human Resources, and Strategic Communications and Marketing.

“Students (Customers) First” is R&DE’s mantra and its strategic goals reflect its commitment to delivering service excellence to the campus community. R&DE’s belief is “students are never an interruption in our day; they are the reason we are here. ”R&DE’s dedication to promoting fair treatment, access to opportunities, and a positive work environment is reflected in its essential priorities and efforts for cultivating a culture of operational excellence as a foundational cornerstone. R&DE is committed to creating and sustaining inclusive excellence where all staff feel a sense of belonging and are empowered to thrive.

R&DE’s dedication to promoting fair treatment, access to opportunities, and a positive work environment is reflected in its essential priorities and efforts for cultivating a culture of operational excellence as a foundational cornerstone. R&DE is committed to creating and sustaining inclusive excellence where all staff feel a sense of belonging and are empowered to thrive.

This role is designated as essential and requires incumbents to report to work onsite. Telecommuting is not available for this role. Weekend and dinner service hours will be required.

The Dining Hall Manager reports to the Senior Director of Student Dining within Stanford Residential & Dining Enterprises (R&DE) and serves as the on-site operational leader responsible for the daily execution of the residential student dining meal program and late-night retail operations within an assigned dining hall (as applicable).

This role is accountable for delivering high-quality meals and exceptional hospitality that support student success, well-being, and the overall campus experience. The Dining Hall Manager ensures that all aspects of the dining operation are executed consistently at a high level, including food quality, service standards, cleanliness, and operational reliability. The Dining Hall Manager leads and develops frontline teams, ensuring staffing, training, and day-to-day operations are aligned to meet student demand throughout all meal periods, including late-night service. This role is responsible for creating a welcoming, student-centered environment that fosters connection, care, and community.

Working closely with students, peers, and campus partners, the Dining Hall Manager addresses operational challenges in real time, incorporates student feedback into service improvements, and ensures compliance with all food safety, ADA, and university standards. The role is ultimately responsible for delivering a seamless, high-quality dining experience at the unit level that reflects Stanford’s commitment to excellence and hospitality.

Job Purpose

Provide hands‑on oversight during transaction periods of assigned units in larger and more complex operations to uphold customer service and food quality standards. Will typically be the leader for a standalone unit with more than $750,000 in revenue targets and 5 to 15 FTE. May also be part of the overall leadership team responsible for a large or multiple units with more than $750,000 in revenue targets and a combined size of 15 or more FTE.

Core Duties

• Execute a high-quality daily dining experience by consistently meeting standards for food quality, presentation, and hospitality, while achieving unit-level student satisfaction targets.
• Deliver strong student engagement at the unit level by maintaining high participation rates, responding to feedback, and creating a welcoming and inclusive dining environment.
• Ensure compliance and operational integrity by meeting all food safety, ADA, and university standards, and effectively implementing accommodations within the dining hall.
• Achieve financial and operational targets by managing labor, food cost, and waste within established benchmarks, including cost per meal and labor efficiency.
• Maintain excellence in service execution across all meal periods, including late-night retail, ensuring proper staffing, throughput, and service consistency.
• Perform general management duties of the food service manager 1, with a focus on controlling revenue and expenses, and provide strategic input into short and long term goals and talent decisions.
• Uphold customer service standards, and ensure client expectations are met by receiving and resolving customer inquiries, concerns, and/or complaints; perform daily interactive customer discussions.
• Contribute to business optimization by compiling and analyzing data and reports to guide daily operational decisions, ensuring budgetary goals are met, monitoring and meeting the revenue and expenses control goals, establishing and managing annual operational budget, and balancing customer service with labor, cost, and food quality goals (activities include, but are not limited to, the scheduling of labor to meet or exceed budgetary guidelines and productivity standards and the managing of food costs to meet quality and budgetary guidance).
• Optimize employee relations by participating in the processes of interviewing, hiring, training, counseling, mentoring, and evaluating all levels of staff.
• Lead local menu and marketing development by suggesting marketing and merchandizing strategies and features, overseeing strategy implementation