Catering General Manager
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Company: Feast Your Eyes Catering
Reports to: CEO / Owner
Submit Resumes to: [email protected]
Feast Your Eyes is seeking an experienced, hands-on Catering General Manager to lead the day-to-day operations of a high-volume off-premise catering company serving weddings, corporate, nonprofit, cultural, social, and large-scale special events throughout the Greater Philadelphia region. This senior leader is responsible for turning company priorities and booked business into consistent, profitable, hospitality-driven execution across culinary, staffing, event operations, warehouse/logistics, facilities, and administrative functions.
The Catering General Manager is both a strategic leader and a visible operational presence. This person builds strong managers, creates accountability across departments, anticipates operational pressure before it becomes a problem, and ensures that every team has the information, people, equipment, systems, and support needed to execute at Feast standards. The role requires deep off-premise catering knowledge, strong financial discipline, excellent judgment under pressure, and a genuine commitment to people, service, and company culture.
What You Bring
- A leader who believes in Feast and its culture, builds trust with team members, leads with respect and steady fairness, holds themselves and others accountable, conducts active listening with team members.
- 8-10+ years of progressive leadership experience in catering, hospitality, event operations, food & beverage, or a related high-volume service environment.
- Significant direct experience in full-service off-premise catering is strongly preferred; a deep understanding of the operational complexity of executing events in changing venues and temporary environments is essential.
- Proven ability to lead large, cross-functional teams and develop strong department managers in a fast-paced, deadline-driven business.
- Strong financial acumen with experience managing budgets, labor, overtime, operating expenses, purchasing, inventory, and event or departmental profitability.
- Hands-on knowledge of catering logistics including staffing, packouts, equipment, rentals, transportation, load-in/load-out, venue access, setup, service, breakdown, and event troubleshooting.
- Demonstrated ability to build systems, establish accountability, improve processes, and maintain standards across multiple departments and simultaneous priorities.
- Excellent communication, coaching, decision-making, conflict-resolution, and relationship-building skills.
- Calm, decisive, and highly organized under pressure, with the judgment to distinguish between an immediate operational emergency and an issue that can be handled through normal management channels.
- Comfort using catering/event-management systems, scheduling tools, spreadsheets, reporting dashboards, and other operational technology.
- Valid driver’s license and ability to travel regularly to event venues throughout the Greater Philadelphia region.
- Ability and willingness to work a flexible hospitality schedule that may include early mornings, evenings, weekends, holidays, and extended hours during peak event periods.
Company Leadership & Operational Management
- Own the day-to-day operational performance of Feast Your Eyes and ensure company priorities are translated into clear departmental plans, responsibilities, deadlines, and measurable results.
- Lead and develop department managers across culinary, event operations, staffing, warehouse/logistics, and other operational functions; create clarity around decision-making authority, accountability, and escalation.
- Serve as a primary operational partner to the CEO / Owner, providing clear visibility into company performance, staffing needs, operational risks, upcoming pressure points, and recommended solutions.
- Establish a disciplined operating rhythm through leadership meetings, production meetings, event-readiness reviews, one-on-ones, and follow-up on assigned actions.
- Balance the needs of multiple departments and simultaneous events while protecting the larger priorities of the company rather than allowing individual issues to disrupt overall execution.
- Evaluate operational capacity against the upcoming event calendar and identify constraints related to labor, culinary production, equipment, vehicles, warehouse space, rentals, or management coverage before commitments become execution problems.
- Maintain a visible, calm, solutions-oriented leadership presence at headquarters and in the field, particularly during high-volume periods and complex event weekends.
High-Volume Off-Premise Event Execution
- Maintain company-wide oversight of upcoming events and ensure all departments are aligned on event scope, timing, staffing, culinary production, rentals, equipment, transportation, setup, service, breakdown, and return requirements.
- Lead event-readiness and production planning processes that identify missing information, conflicts, operational risks, and unresolved decisions early enough for corrective action.
- Ensure event orders, timelines, floor plans, staffing assignments, load-in requirements, equipment lists, rental orders, transportation plans, and venue logistics are complete and distributed to the appropriate teams on time.
- Confirm appropriate leadership coverage for events, including event supervisors, head chefs, captains, bartenders, setup teams, drivers, and other critical roles based on event size and complexity.
- Maintain an on-call and escalation structure for evenings, weekends, and high-volume periods so managers know who is responsible for urgent operational decisions.
- Attend and support selected high-profile, complex, first-time, or operationally sensitive events to observe execution, reinforce standards, support teams, and resolve issues in real time.
- Require timely post-event debriefs when service, staffing, equipment, timing, client, venue, or operational issues occur; ensure lessons learned are converted into corrective action rather than repeated.
Staffing, Training & Performance
- Oversee staffing strategy in partnership with staffing leadership, ensuring labor supply and management coverage are aligned with seasonal volume and the forward event calendar.
- Maintain accountability for recruiting, onboarding, training, scheduling, coaching, performance management, and retention across operational teams.
- Establish clear expectations for attendance, punctuality, uniform standards, professionalism, communication, safety, hospitality, and job performance.
- Work with managers to address staffing shortages, call-outs, performance concerns, and scheduling conflicts quickly while protecting event execution and employee experience.
- Review overtime, labor utilization, staffing ratios, and management coverage to ensure the company is adequately staffed without allowing avoidable labor inefficiency.
- Build bench strength by identifying and developing future supervisors, captains, managers, lead cooks, drivers, and other critical event leaders.
- Ensure sales team and event supervisors conduct effective pre-event briefings so employees understand the timeline, service style, assignments, client expectations, safety considerations, and chain of command before service begins.
Warehouse, Logistics, Equipment & Facilities
- Provide leadership oversight of warehouse, delivery, transportation, equipment, and event packouts so trucks leave complete, organized, accurate, and on time.
- Establish accountability for equipment planning, checkout, return, cleaning, storage, breakage, loss, and damage reconciliation.
- Ensure truck loading, delivery routes, load-in schedules, pickup schedules, and return plans are coordinated with event timing and venue requirements.
- Maintain appropriate operational controls for company vehicles, including readiness, maintenance, cleanliness, driver expectations, and safe use.
- Partner with department leaders to maintain organized, safe, efficient facilities and storage areas that support high-volume production and event turnover.
- Monitor operational inventory and PAR levels for commonly used service, bar, kitchen, disposable, sanitation, and event supplies; address shortages before they affect events.
- Review recurring rental, delivery, equipment, and logistics challenges and implement systems that reduce rush orders, duplicate costs, missing items, and preventable last-minute work.
Financial Performance & Cost Control
- Maintain accountability for operational budgets, labor, overtime, purchasing, vendor expenses, equipment costs, waste, and other controllable operating expenses.
- Review event and departmental performance with leadership to identify margin leakage, labor overages, preventable vendor costs, damages, shortages, or inefficient practices.
- Ensure additional rentals, equipment, labor, transportation, and vendor charges generated during planning or execution are documented and communicated to the appropriate department for accurate client billing when applicable.
- Use the forward event calendar and sales forecast to anticipate labor, purchasing, equipment, vehicle, and facility needs rather than relying on reactive spending.
- Partner with finance/accounting and department leaders to improve invoice accuracy, purchasing controls, expense approval, inventory accountability, and financial reporting.
- Develop practical cost-saving initiatives that improve efficiency without compromising food quality, service, safety, hospitality, or the client experience.
- Provide the CEO / Owner with clear reporting and recommendations regarding operational performance, major variances, staffing needs, capital purchases, and areas requiring investment or corrective action.
Client Experience, Service Standards & Quality
- Set and reinforce company-wide standards for event readiness, presentation, hospitality, service, cleanliness, professionalism, and guest experience.
- Ensure operational teams understand that successful execution includes both technical accuracy and the warmth, attentiveness, flexibility, and polish expected of Feast hospitality.
- Serve as a senior escalation point for significant client or venue concerns related to execution; respond quickly, professionally, and with an appropriate service-recovery plan.
- Conduct event and operational quality reviews to identify inconsistencies in setup, service, culinary presentation, breakdown, communication, or staff performance.
- Partner with sales and culinary leadership on unusual or complex events to ensure client expectations can be executed safely, consistently, and profitably.
- Protect client and venue relationships by ensuring teams arrive prepared, communicate professionally, respect the property, follow site rules, and leave spaces in appropriate condition.
Systems, SOPs, Safety & Compliance
- Own continuous improvement of operational systems, SOPs, checklists, communication standards, and workflows; eliminate practices that depend solely on individual memory or informal workarounds.
- Ensure published procedures are not only written but trained, implemented, inspected, and consistently followed across departments.
- Maintain operational compliance with applicable food-safety, sanitation, alcohol-service, labor, workplace-safety, licensing, transportation, and venue requirements in partnership with responsible department leaders.
- Ensure employee illness, injury, accident, property damage, food-safety concerns, vehicle incidents, and other significant events are immediately escalated, documented, and handled according to company procedure.
- Maintain clear communication and escalation protocols so time-sensitive operational information reaches the correct decision-maker without unnecessary disruption or conflicting direction.
- Use recurring issues, post-event reports, client feedback, and manager observations to identify root causes and implement lasting process improvements.
Team Leadership & Culture
- Model Feast’s values and create a culture of professionalism, accountability, respect, hospitality, and teamwork across every level of the organization.
- Conduct regular one-on-ones, coaching conversations, and performance reviews with direct reports; recognize strong performance and address gaps promptly and consistently.
- Create clear expectations for how managers communicate decisions, delegate work, handle conflict, coach employees, and support one another during high-volume periods.
- Promote collaboration among sales, culinary, staffing, warehouse/logistics, finance, administration, and event teams while maintaining clear ownership of departmental responsibilities.
- Support employee development and retention by providing useful feedback, growth opportunities, appropriate recognition, and consistent management practices.
- Present a unified leadership team to employees and reinforce company decisions, policies, standards, and expectations consistently.
KPIs / Success Metrics
- On-time, complete event readiness and execution across the company event calendar.
- Labor performance, overtime management, and staffing efficiency against established goals.
- Event profitability and reduction of preventable operational cost overruns.
- Staffing fill rates, call-out management, supervisor coverage, and retention of strong event employees.
- Equipment accuracy, loss/damage rates, truck/packout accuracy, and reduction of rush or duplicate orders.
- Client satisfaction, service-recovery outcomes, and reduction of preventable execution complaints.
- Completion and compliance with operational SOPs, training standards, safety requirements, and post-event corrective actions.
- Department-manager performance, accountability, development, and retention.
- Cross-department communication quality and reduction of preventable errors caused by incomplete or late information.
Why Join Feast
At Feast, we are committed to creating an inspiring workplace where every team member is valued and supported. We believe that exceptional events come from talented people working together with care, accountability, creativity, and pride. The Catering General Manager has the opportunity to shape how our teams work together and help build the systems, leadership, and culture that support Feast’s continued growth.
We encourage people of all backgrounds and experiences to apply. Feast Your Eyes is an equal opportunity employer committed to building a diverse and inclusive team.
Pay: From $75,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- 401(k) matching
- Dental insurance
- Health insurance
- Paid time off
Work Location: In person
