What does a director of food and beverage do?
A director of food and beverage is responsible for ensuring the quality of foods and services to maintain the guests' overall satisfaction on their dining experience. Food and beverage directors manage menu selections, analyzing current food trends to meet guests' demands. They also handle budget allocation, negotiating with reliable suppliers for high-quality materials and ingredients for minimal costs. A director of food and beverage must have excellent leadership and communication skills, observe strict sanitary standards and hygienic regulations for adherence of all personnel during operations.
Director of food and beverage responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real director of food and beverage resumes:
- Achieve established individual catering sales goals and assist team in achieving departmental booking goals.
- Lead the implementation of a POS system that integrate mission-critical corporate data to achieve improve planning and management.
- Lead development of catering programs for Marriott's full service brands.
- Create reports, budgets and revenue forecast in Delphi in order to maintain and manage an efficient department.
- Used Marriott computer applications to manage and administer events.
- Manage and monitor daily operational duties of full service dining room for patients including creating and maintaining department budget.
- Assist menu planning for all schools in the district to ensure that USDA meal pattern and nutritional requirements are met.
- Review and analyze financial results, reports, execute inventory control and calculation for monthly analysis and reconciliation, payroll.
- Integrate menus into DELPHI system.
- Work with local regulatory authorities and FDA state inspectors.
- Perform weekly sanitation audits to ensure full compliance with HACCP mandates.
- Ensure compliance with regulatory organizations- DHEC, JCAHO, OSHA, and hospital policies.
- Act as concierge in dining room, arrange dinner reservations, and facilitate catering services.
- Execute rebranding of the resorts events operations to better align with changing hotel guest profile and local clientele.
- Hire, train, schedule and supervise all banquet staff including housemen, servers, bartenders and captains.
Director of food and beverage skills and personality traits
We calculated that 10% of Directors Of Food And Beverage are proficient in Wine, Customer Service, and Culinary. They’re also known for soft skills such as Business skills, Communication skills, and Customer-service skills.
We break down the percentage of Directors Of Food And Beverage that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Wine, 10%
Developed and conducted several member special events including member wine dinners that exceeded all expectations of those in attendance.
- Customer Service, 7%
Reorganized evening restaurant operation and room service department resulting in higher quality customer service and lower food and beverage delivery time.
- Culinary, 5%
Restructured culinary and banquet department including designing and re-aligning menu options to reflect current trends in preparation and presentation.
- BARS, 5%
Developed local marketing plans for our 3 restaurants and 2 lounge bars that drove sales by 20% for the year.
- Beverage Operations, 5%
Provide leadership and direction in the execution and measurement of guest service standards within beverage operations to ensure growth and profitability.
- Guest Service, 4%
Directed strategic initiatives to achieve increased revenues and outstanding guest service while reducing costs and developing teams.
"wine," "customer service," and "culinary" are among the most common skills that directors of food and beverage use at work. You can find even more director of food and beverage responsibilities below, including:
Business skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a director of food and beverage to have is business skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "food service managers must understand all aspects of the restaurant business, including how to budget for supplies, comply with regulations, and manage workers." Directors of food and beverage often use business skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "developed inventory and cost control programs, forecasted business trends and wrote training manuals for all positions in the department. "
Communication skills. Another essential skill to perform director of food and beverage duties is communication skills. Directors of food and beverage responsibilities require that "food service managers must give clear orders to staff and be able to convey information effectively to employees and customers." Directors of food and beverage also use communication skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "involved with all aspects of staff management, guest interactions, office administration, vendor communications, and labor costs. "
Customer-service skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of directors of food and beverage is customer-service skills. This skill is critical to many everyday director of food and beverage duties, as "food service managers must be courteous and attentive when dealing with patrons." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "created in-room dining program for hotel guests and selected the beverage and snack menu options for all mini bars. "
Leadership skills. Another common skill required for director of food and beverage responsibilities is "leadership skills." This skill comes up in the duties of directors of food and beverage all the time, as "managers must establish good relationships with staff to maintain a productive work environment." An excerpt from a real director of food and beverage resume shows how this skill is central to what a director of food and beverage does: "increased revenue 15% and profit 25% through strategic leadership of f&b; operations across 20 hotels. "
Organizational skills. While "organizational skills" is last on this skills list, don't underestimate its importance to director of food and beverage responsibilities. Much of what a director of food and beverage does relies on this skill, seeing as "managers have many different responsibilities, including scheduling and overseeing staff, budgeting, and maintaining financial records." Here is a resume example of how this skill is used in the everyday duties of directors of food and beverage: "implemented several organizational and operational standards that directly resulted in customer service improvements and member satisfaction. "
The three companies that hire the most director of food and beverages are:
- Black & Veatch50 directors of food and beverage jobs
- Target23 directors of food and beverage jobs
- Horseshoe Bay Resort19 directors of food and beverage jobs
Choose from 10+ customizable director of food and beverage resume templates
Build a professional director of food and beverage resume in minutes. Our AI resume writing assistant will guide you through every step of the process, and you can choose from 10+ resume templates to create your director of food and beverage resume.
Compare different directors of food and beverage
Director of food and beverage vs. Operating partner
An operating partner coordinates a portfolio company's efforts and serves as the liaison between private equity firms. They typically assess and manage teams, set objectives, establish guidelines and timelines, conduct market research and analyses, and assist teams in developing various operational strategies. They also gather and analyze extensive data, identify the strengths and weaknesses of existing processes, recommend solutions against problem areas, and create methods to optimize operations. Moreover, an operating partner must maintain an active communication line with staff while implementing the company's policies and regulations.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, director of food and beverage responsibilities require skills like "wine," "customer service," "culinary," and "bars." Meanwhile a typical operating partner has skills in areas such as "project management," "shared services," "digital marketing," and "facebook." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Operating partners tend to make the most money working in the hospitality industry, where they earn an average salary of $95,330. In contrast, directors of food and beverage make the biggest average salary, $87,404, in the real estate industry.operating partners tend to reach similar levels of education than directors of food and beverage. In fact, operating partners are 4.6% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.6% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Director of food and beverage vs. Catering manager
Catering managers are responsible for managing the daily catering operations and services in hotels, restaurants, and resorts. They monitor the quality of food and service provided by their outlets as well as make sure they are presented well. Their goals include achieving high customer satisfaction, producing excellent quality food, and maintaining that sanitary protocols are strictly followed. A degree is not a standard requirement for this job; however, employers do value those who have relevant qualifications with food, home, hotel, and hospitality management.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, director of food and beverage responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "wine," "bars," "beverage operations," and "guest service." Meanwhile, a catering manager has duties that require skills in areas such as "excellent client," "booking," "event planning," and "safety regulations." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Catering managers earn a lower average salary than directors of food and beverage. But catering managers earn the highest pay in the hospitality industry, with an average salary of $51,857. Additionally, directors of food and beverage earn the highest salaries in the real estate with average pay of $87,404 annually.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Catering managers tend to reach similar levels of education than directors of food and beverage. In fact, they're 2.1% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.6% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Director of food and beverage vs. Restaurant/bar manager
An assistant restaurant manager's role is to perform managerial support tasks and oversee restaurant operations, ensuring efficiency in workflow and customer satisfaction. Their responsibilities revolve around maintaining records of all invoices and contracts, delegating tasks, monitoring the inventory of supplies, liaising with suppliers and vendors, and addressing issues and concerns. There are also instances when one must attend to customers' needs, prepare schedules, perform regular workforce inspection, and report to the manager. Furthermore, it is essential to implement all the company's health regulations and policies, all to maintain a safe and healthy environment for everyone.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from director of food and beverage resumes include skills like "beverage operations," "banquet facilities," "beverage outlets," and "quality standards," whereas a restaurant/bar manager is more likely to list skills in "food handling," "guest satisfaction," "restaurant operations," and "guest relations. "
Restaurant/bar managers earn the highest salary when working in the media industry, where they receive an average salary of $52,593. Comparatively, directors of food and beverage have the highest earning potential in the real estate industry, with an average salary of $87,404.When it comes to education, restaurant/bar managers tend to earn similar degree levels compared to directors of food and beverage. In fact, they're 1.8% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.4% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Director of food and beverage vs. Assistant restaurant manager
Types of director of food and beverage
Updated January 8, 2025
