Director of Food & Beverage FS Yachts

Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts is a global, luxury hotel management company. We manage over 120 hotels and resorts and 50 private residences in 47 countries around the world and growing.

Central to Four Seasons employee experience and social impact programming is the company's commitment to supporting cancer research, and the advancement of diversity, inclusion, equity and belonging at Four Seasons corporate offices and properties worldwide. At Four Seasons, we are powered by people and our culture enables everything we do.

Summary: 

Reporting to the VP of Hospitality Operations Yachts, with a dotted line to Four Seasons SVP F&B, the Director of F&B will be responsible for all Food and Beverage operations on the Yacht. 

The Director’s responsibilities are: 

• Develop and deliver World Class F&B Concepts, including developing culinary and beverages recipes in collaboration with the Sr. Director F&B FS and the FS Culinary Team,  
  
  
• Develop wine/beverage pairings, interactive experiences, hands on classes…etc. in collaboration with the Sr. Director F&B FS and the FS Culinary Team, 
  
  
• Overseeing the operation of all food and beverage activities on the Yacht, including but not limited to, Casual outlets, Specialty outlets, Pool F&B Experience, Entertainment Lounges, in suite dining, Mixology experiences, Cocktail Lounges, Cigar Bars, Champagne and Caviar Lounge, Day Lounges, Sommeliers/Wine inspired venues, Wellness outlets, Pop up experiences…etc. 
  
  
• Hire the onboard Food and Beverage team, including the Food and Beverage Director 
  
  
• Help develop and maintain F&B systems, technology, and processes to support the yacht operations. 
  
  
• Provide analytical operational insights and reports and  
  
  
• Drive continuous improvement ensuring the Four Seasons Yacht F&B remains the leader in luxury experiences. 
  
  
• Liaise with the FS F&B Team to connect with and contract world class chefs for pop up experiences and ensure the experience is delivered flawlessly, up to the FS standards. 
  
  
• Bringing the local flavor in different ports of calls through authentic specialties, presentations, and unique ingredients.  
  
  
• Coordinate with the Yacht Leadership (Marine Leaders, Director of Entertainment, Director of Hotel & Spa and Director of Excursions & activity) to deliver best-in-class daily programs, and communicate this to the guest via the onboard Entertainment & Recreation team 
  
  
• Ensure that all food and beverage experiences are at the level expected by the Elite Four Seasons clientele, appropriate for the destination and presented in a manner that surprises and delights. 
  
  
• Ensures Public Health standards are always adhered to 
  
  

Desired Skills: 

Effective relationship Management: to be involved in ongoing Yacht owner relations, engage with their team, work as “one team”, Building and maintaining strong relationships with crewing partners. 

Champion of Operational Excellence:  Creates and delivers an on-board yacht experience that surprises and delights with a focus on unique experiences that cannot be easily recreated. 

Planning: the ability to develop, with the aid of key personnel, strategies, and programs to ensure attainment of the FS Yacht Guests excellence goals and objectives. 

Organizing & team building: The ability to build a new team, make selections for key positions according to the Four Seasons Yacht company policies ensuring the candidates meet the job specifications.  The ability to counsel and advise direct subordinates on the selection of their staff.  The ability to develop and install a system of standards of performance, whereby everyone may objectively appraise their own performance. The ability to develop objectives for all key subordinates pertaining to their functional responsibilities, which contribute to the achievement of the Four Seasons Yacht goals. The ability to implement performance planning and review all team members, according to established performance standards and mutually agreed upon results to budgeted plans. 

Excellent Communicator and Change Agent:  Highly skilled in all modes of communication with ability to communicate clearly and concisely. Understands the value of diverse input from everyone in the organization and can ‘push back’ with challenging and varied senior stakeholders including top executives to achieve improvement and change. 

Trusted Advisor:  Excellent commercial acumen along with multi-cultural and interpersonal skills consistent with best practices in a global environment. 

Strategic Partner:  has strong commercial acumen and understanding of business goals to assist leaders in solving organization, people and change issues. 

Engaged Team Leader: Leads a team of entertainment managers (to be determined). 

Subject Matter Expert:  Expertly utilizes a proven record of accomplishment in providing unique luxury experiences to a high-end clientele.   Possesses extensive experience in the luxury travel industry. 

Hands on-mentality. Especially in start-up phase, before a full team has been recruited, the Director needs to be able to deliver with limited resources. 

Education:  

Bachelor’s Degree preferred or a combination of education and Leadership experience in Luxury F&B operations   

Experience: 

10+ years in Leading Luxury Food and beverage Operations  

Travel:  

25% of time - More travel may be required during Yacht startup periods. 

Position Outline: 

Key Activities & Outcomes

General Management 

• Flawless Four Seasons Yacht launch
  
  
• Provide a unique and memorable food and beverage experience, consistently, in each of the Yacht F&B venues /Outlets. 
  
  
• Create and execute a food and beverage plan that provides a varied experience around the Yacht that conveys a Four Seasons level experience and brings in the uniqueness of the destinations  
  
  
• Manage pop up experiences in collaboration with the FS F&B Team 
  
  
• Deliver a World Class F&B experience within the budgets allocated while generating superior revenue. 
  
  
• Make selections for key positions according to the Four Seasons Yacht company policies ensuring the candidates meet the job specifications.   
  
  
• Supports the F&B Yacht Director with recruiting the yacht onboard F&B team.  
  
  
• The ability to counsel and advise direct subordinates on the selection of their staff 
  
  

Food and Beverage  

• Supervise F&B shipboard Directors to ensure a Four Seasons level of experience at all locations of the ship.
  
  
• Develop, in conjunction with the FS F&B Team unique and appropriately luxurious food and beverage events/experiences on the vessel. 
  
  
• Ensure that F&B staff are professionally trained to deliver a Four Seasons level F&B experience consistently. 
  
  
• Possess a knowledge of employment regulations for shipboard personnel. 
  
  
• Coordinate with Director of Entertainment, Director of Hotel & Spa and Director of Excursions & activity to create and deliver best-in-class, unique and authentic activities. 
  
  
• Collaborate with the Yacht Director to execute a “Yacht class” Kids program. 
  
  
• Oversee pre cruise reservations to maximize revenue and support delivering world class experiences. 
  
  
• In collaboration with the logistics team, develop inventory processes and systems to ensure product availability and minimal losses. 
  
  
• Support sales teams with special arrangements for Charters, groups and/or land F&B experiences 
  
  
• Develop and execute unique, high-quality F&B interactive classes and experiences  
  
  

Procurement 

• Ensure that necessary F&B inventory items are sourced ordered and arrive on a timely basis and that all F&B items are up to the quality expected.  

Commercial 

• Develop F&B budgets in conjunction with MHCH and Four Seasons F&B Finance teams.
  
  
• In conjunction with legal and procurement, review all contracts with potential local suppliers and operators to ensure that Four Seasons goals are achieved, and interests are protected. 
  
  
• Look for opportunities to increase revenue and provide upsell opportunities through on-ship F&B Experiences and activities 
  
  

Health, Safety and Compliance 

• Ensure all Public Health standards are always followed and adhered to regardless of where the Yacht is sailing.
  
  
• Together with the Yacht Ownership teams, responsible for the health, safety and welfare of the guests and employees while on the ship.  
  
  
• Ensure that activities are age and health appropriate. 
  
  
• Ensures that all Liquor licenses are obtained for the Yacht to deliver the F&B experience regardless of where the Yacht is sailing. 
  
  

Logistics 

• Coordinate with the Director of Logistics to ensure that necessary materials are sourced in a timely and cost-effective manner 

Crisis Management” 

In case of issues on the Yacht (e.g. sickness of key people), all shore-based staff should be able to jump in and work on the yacht for a limited amount of time. The Director of Food and Beverage could assist with running the F&B Department onboard 

Key Relationships: 

External Relationships  

• Four Seasons F&B, Finance and Procurement 
  
  
• Marc-Henry Cruise Holdings Finance Team 
  
  
• SVP Yacht Operations 
  
  
• VP of Hospitality 
  
  
• VP Shore Operations 
  
  
• Director of Logistics 
  
  
• Director of Hotel and Spa 
  
  
• Director - Food and Beverage 
  
  
• General Managers – Yachts 
  
  
• Director Hotel Operations 
  
  

Local Relationships 

• Local yacht agents in various ports of call
  
  
• Hotel GMs in the different ports of call 
  
  
• Local chefs and purveyors 
  
  

Four Seasons is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action employer. Minorities, women, veterans, and individuals with disabilities are encouraged to apply. To access the 'EEOC is The Law' Information poster please visit this website - https://eeoc.gov/sites/default/files/migrated_files/employers/poster_screen_reader_optimized.pdf