Hospitality Culinary Experience Manager

Oliver Wine Company Inc; Bloomington (IN); On-site; USD 70,000 - 95,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive health, vision, dental,

PTO and paid holidays

401(k) matching program

Paid training and development

Live Well wellness program

Employee wine/food/merchandisediscount

Job summary

Oliver Winery in Bloomington, IN seeks a Hospitality Culinary Experience Manager to lead food programs that elevate guest experiences, showcase wine, and support the Direct-to-Consumer strategy.

You will design seasonal menus, curate wine-and-food pairings, coach a ~50-person team, and collaborate across Winemaking, Marketing, Events, and Hospitality to create memorable tasting room experiences.

Qualifications

• Minimum of three years of experience in hospitality, food service, catering, winery operations, culinary programming, event management, or a related field.
• Demonstrated experience developing and executing food programs, menus, culinary experiences, or hospitality offerings.
• Strong understanding of food and beverage pairing principles.
• Proven ability to lead, coach, and develop team members.
• Strong organizational, planning, and project management skills.
• Ability to work evenings, weekends, and special events as business needs require.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute a strategic food program that complements Oliver Winery wines and enhances the overall guest experience.
• Create seasonal menus, pairing boards, shareable offerings, and specialty food experiences that can be consistently executed within a limited-production kitchen environment.
• Design food offerings that are operationally efficient, scalable, and aligned with the Oliver Winery brand.
• Source ingredients and products, establish vendor relationships, and manage food-related purchasing.
• Monitor food quality, consistency, inventory levels, and food costs.
• Ensure compliance with all food safety, sanitation, and health department requirements.
• Continuously evaluate and refine offerings based on guest feedback, sales performance, and operational effectiveness.
• Curate food and wine pairing experiences that showcase Oliver Winery wines and encourage guest exploration.
• Develop seasonal tasting experiences, educational programs, Wine Club events, and specialty hospitality offerings.
• Collaborate with the Winemaking, Marketing, Events, and Hospitality teams to create memorable guest experiences that reinforce the Oliver Winery brand.
• Create educational content and staff resources related to food and wine pairing.
• Identify emerging hospitality and culinary trends that can be adapted to the winery environment.
• Serve as an internal resource for food and wine pairing recommendations and hospitality experience development.
• Serve as a member of the Hospitality Leadership Team.
• Help lead, coach, and develop a hospitality team of approximately 50 part-time team members.
• Support recruiting, interviewing, onboarding, training, coaching, and performance management initiatives.
• Act as Manager-on-Duty during designated business hours, events, and peak visitation periods.
• Model and reinforce exceptional hospitality standards and guest service expectations.
• Partner with hospitality leadership to drive team engagement, accountability, and operational excellence.
• Foster a culture focused on hospitality, teamwork, continuous improvement, and guest satisfaction.
• Partner with the Events and Hospitality teams to develop and execute food components for winery events, festivals, Wine Club programs, and seasonal activations.
• Ensure food and culinary experiences are executed consistently and efficiently during high-volume events.
• Support overall tasting room operations during peak business periods.
• Evaluate event performance and recommend enhancements to improve both guest satisfaction and business results.
• Assist in the development of new hospitality offerings designed to drive visitation, loyalty, and guest engagement.
• Manage food-related budgets, purchasing, inventory, and vendor relationships.
• Monitor food costs and margins while maintaining exceptional quality standards.
• Develop and execute food and pairing programs that increase guest engagement, encourage food and wine attachment opportunities, and contribute to overall Direct-to-Consumer sales growth.
• Analyze sales trends, guest feedback, and operational performance metrics to identify opportunities for improvement.
• Recommend new revenue-generating hospitality experiences and offerings.
• Support departmental goals related to sales growth, guest experience, operational efficiency, and profitability.

Skills

Hospitality leadership

Team leadership

Food program development

Event management

Communication

Project management

Evening/weekend availability

Job description

Description

At Oliver Winery, we've been making wine people love since 1972. As Indiana's oldest winery and the largest in the Midwest, we've grown into one of the top 30 wineries in the U.S., and Newsweek named ours the #2 tasting room in the country.

We are seeking an innovative, hospitality-driven leader to elevate our food and wine experiences. The Hospitality Culinary Experience Manager is responsible for developing and executing food programs that enhance the winery guest experience, creating memorable tasting and pairing experiences, and supporting the overall hospitality strategy of the winery.

The ideal candidate brings a strong understanding of food, wine, and hospitality, along with the creativity to design menus and experiences within a limited-production kitchen environment. While formal chef experience is not required, a demonstrated background in food service, catering, hospitality operations, culinary programming, or event execution is essential.

As a member of the Hospitality Leadership Team, this position reports directly to the Vice President of Hospitality and serves as both a hospitality leader and experience curator. The Hospitality Culinary Experience Manager is responsible for creating food and wine experiences that elevate the guest journey, support Direct-to-Consumer sales growth, and strengthen customer loyalty. This individual will help lead, develop, and support a hospitality team of approximately 50 part-time team members while contributing to the strategic direction of the tasting room, events, and overall guest experience.

Success in this role requires balancing creativity, operational execution, team leadership, and business performance to deliver experiences that are memorable for guests and impactful for the business.

Essential Responsibilities

Culinary Program Development & Execution

• Develop and execute a strategic food program that complements Oliver Winery wines and enhances the overall guest experience.
• Create seasonal menus, pairing boards, shareable offerings, and specialty food experiences that can be consistently executed within a limited-production kitchen environment.
• Design food offerings that are operationally efficient, scalable, and aligned with the Oliver Winery brand.
• Source ingredients and products, establish vendor relationships, and manage food-related purchasing.
• Monitor food quality, consistency, inventory levels, and food costs.
• Ensure compliance with all food safety, sanitation, and health department requirements.
• Continuously evaluate and refine offerings based on guest feedback, sales performance, and operational effectiveness.

Wine Pairing & Experience Development

• Curate food and wine pairing experiences that showcase Oliver Winery wines and encourage guest exploration.
• Develop seasonal tasting experiences, educational programs, Wine Club events, and specialty hospitality offerings.
• Collaborate with the Winemaking, Marketing, Events, and Hospitality teams to create memorable guest experiences that reinforce the Oliver Winery brand.
• Create educational content and staff resources related to food and wine pairing.
• Identify emerging hospitality and culinary trends that can be adapted to the winery environment.
• Serve as an internal resource for food and wine pairing recommendations and hospitality experience development.

Hospitality Leadership & Team Development

• Serve as a member of the Hospitality Leadership Team.
• Help lead, coach, and develop a hospitality team of approximately 50 part-time team members.
• Support recruiting, interviewing, onboarding, training, coaching, and performance management initiatives.
• Act as Manager-on-Duty during designated business hours, events, and peak visitation periods.
• Model and reinforce exceptional hospitality standards and guest service expectations.
• Partner with hospitality leadership to drive team engagement, accountability, and operational excellence.
• Foster a culture focused on hospitality, teamwork, continuous improvement, and guest satisfaction.

Event & Hospitality Operations

• Partner with the Events and Hospitality teams to develop and execute food components for winery events, festivals, Wine Club programs, and seasonal activations.
• Ensure food and culinary experiences are executed consistently and efficiently during high-volume events.
• Support overall tasting room operations during peak business periods.
• Evaluate event performance and recommend enhancements to improve both guest satisfaction and business results.
• Assist in the development of new hospitality offerings designed to drive visitation, loyalty, and guest engagement.

Financial & Business Performance

• Manage food-related budgets, purchasing, inventory, and vendor relationships.
• Monitor food costs and margins while maintaining exceptional quality standards.
• Develop and execute food and pairing programs that increase guest engagement, encourage food and wine attachment opportunities, and contribute to overall Direct-to-Consumer sales growth.
• Analyze sales trends, guest feedback, and operational performance metrics to identify opportunities for improvement.
• Recommend new revenue-generating hospitality experiences and offerings.
• Support departmental goals related to sales growth, guest experience, operational efficiency, and profitability.

Requirements

Required Qualifications

• Minimum of three years of experience in hospitality, food service, catering, winery operations, culinary programming, event management, or a related field.
• Demonstrated experience developing and executing food programs, menus, culinary experiences, or hospitality offerings.
• Strong understanding of food and beverage pairing principles.
• Proven ability to lead, coach, and develop team members.
• Strong organizational, planning, and project management skills.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to work evenings, weekends, and special events as business needs require.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working in a winery, brewery, tasting room, destination hospitality venue, hotel, catering operation, country club, or specialty food business.
• Wine knowledge and/or wine certification.
• Experience managing food costs, inventory, purchasing, and vendor relationships.
• Experience designing guest experiences that drive engagement and business performance.
• Experience training and developing front-line hospitality teams.

Success Measures

Success in this role will be measured by the ability to create and execute hospitality experiences that enhance guest satisfaction, increase engagement, support revenue growth, and strengthen customer loyalty, including:

• Consistent delivery of exceptional guest experiences and hospitality standards.
• Growth and performance of food, pairing, and culinary experience offerings.
• Increased guest participation in food and wine experiences.
• Improvement in food and wine attachment rates.
• Positive contribution to overall guest spend and Direct-to-Consumer sales performance.
• Creation of innovative experiences that drive visitation, customer loyalty, and Wine Club engagement.
• Effective leadership, development, and engagement of hospitality team members.
• Strong operational execution, financial stewardship, and cross-functional collaboration.
• Contribution to overall winery hospitality and Direct-to-Consumer business objectives.

In addition, all successful winery employees will be able to:

• Use your attitude and effort to contribute to a positive work environment.
• Demonstrate ethics and integrity.
• Develop self-awareness of ones’ impact on team and modify in constructive manner when needed.
• Be thoughtfully engaged and do your best work. Every day.
• Model the winery values: Get Stuff Done, Respect People, Expect Quality, and Think Differently.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS/WORK ENVIRONMENT: The position requires the ability to stand, walk, lift and bend for up to 10 hours a day. It also requires the ability to lift and carry up to 40 pounds when working on the retail floor as well as the ability to sit and work at a computer for up to 8 hours a day during scheduled desk days. There may be visual or ergonomic strain due to computer use. It also requires extended periods of concentration and focus.

Typical Schedule: This position is typically scheduled five days a week with a variety of opening and closing shifts and scheduled desk time. 40-45 hours per week. As part of the retail management team, this position is expected to assist in covering other management shifts for management requests for time off.

FLSA Classification: Full-Time Exempt.

Employee Benefits and Perks:

• Comprehensive health, vision, dental, and supplemental benefit packages.
• Generous PTO and Paid Holidays.
• Employer 401(k) matching program of up to 6% of annual compensation.
• Paid training and meetings. Opportunities for professional development.
• Access to our award-winning Live Well wellness program featuring fitness reimbursements, charitable giving matches, and education on topics including financial health, physical wellbeing, and more.
• Generous employee discount on wine, food and merchandise.

We strongly encourage uploading a Cover Letter/Letter of Interest with your resume.

For more information about working at Oliver Winery, check us out on Glassdoor!

This document is confidential and contains proprietary information and intellectual property of Oliver Winery, Inc. Disclosure, copying, distribution or use of this document and the information contained therein is strictly prohibited.
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