Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Catering Operations Director

🎯 Role Definition

The Catering Operations Director leads end-to-end catering and event operations, combining strategic P&L ownership, operational excellence, food safety compliance, menu innovation, and client-facing execution. This role is accountable for driving revenue through superior event delivery, optimizing cost controls, managing cross-functional teams, negotiating vendor and client contracts, and scaling processes and technology to support high-volume and high-touch catering programs. Ideal candidates demonstrate deep catering and events experience, strong financial acumen, proven leadership, and a relentless focus on guest satisfaction and operational reliability.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Catering Manager / Senior Catering Manager
Banquet Manager or Banquet Operations Manager
Events Manager or Conference Services Manager

Advancement To:

Regional Director of Food & Beverage
Vice President, Events & Catering
Director of Hospitality Operations
General Manager (for multi-concept venues)

Lateral Moves:

Corporate Catering Sales Director
Conference & Convention Services Director
Food & Beverage Program Director

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Own the full P&L for the catering division: set annual budgets, produce monthly financial reports, analyze variances, and implement corrective actions to maintain or improve margin performance across catering operations.
Design and implement scalable operational processes and SOPs for event execution, food production, transportation, on-site service, and post-event reconciliation to ensure consistent service levels and cost efficiency.
Lead strategic menu development and seasonal offerings in collaboration with executive chefs and culinary teams, balancing creativity with cost controls, portioning standards, and allergen and dietary options.
Oversee staffing strategy for catering and event teams including recruiting, interviewing, onboarding, scheduling, workforce forecasting, and managing labor costs while maintaining service quality during peak demand.
Direct vendor and supplier management: negotiate pricing, terms and service levels for food, equipment, rentals, linen, and third-party labor; evaluate supplier performance and develop contingency sourcing plans.
Manage large-scale event logistics including site planning, load-in/load-out coordination, equipment staging, kitchen setup, back-of-house workflow, transportation routing, and timeline management for multi-venue events.
Partner with sales and account management teams to support proposal creation, cost estimates, contract negotiation, and client walkthroughs—ensuring commercial parameters align with operational feasibility and margin goals.
Ensure strict compliance with local, state and federal food safety regulations (including ServSafe/HACCP standards), licensing, health inspections, sanitation protocols and record-keeping to minimize compliance risk.
Develop and enforce quality assurance programs and pre-event checklists, conducting regular site audits, taste tests, and post-event scorecards to monitor service quality and client satisfaction metrics.
Lead crisis and incident management for on-site emergencies, foodborne illnesses, severe weather or logistics failures—developing response plans, communication protocols and remediation actions.
Implement inventory management strategies and controls across storage, production, and satellite sites including par levels, FIFO rotations, shrinkage tracking and weekly physical counts to reduce waste and food cost.
Drive technology adoption for catering operations: select and optimize catering software, event management platforms, POS integration and reporting dashboards to automate workflows and improve forecasting accuracy.
Create and own training and development programs for culinary, service and supervisory teams focused on safety, presentation standards, upsell techniques and leadership development to build bench strength.
Partner with marketing and partnerships to conceptualize signature events, seasonal series and high-visibility catering opportunities that increase brand awareness and incremental revenue streams.
Monitor and analyze key performance indicators (KPIs) such as food cost percentage, labor cost percentage, average event margin, on-time delivery rate and client satisfaction scores to drive continuous improvement.
Oversee capital planning for catering equipment, kitchen build-outs, vehicles and mobile kitchens; recommend upgrades and lifecycle replacement plans to maintain reliability and efficiency.
Control contract and insurance management for events, ensuring proper certificates of insurance, waivers, indemnifications and venue-specific requirements are secured for each engagement.
Champion sustainability and cost-saving initiatives such as waste reduction programs, local sourcing strategies, reusable serviceware, and energy-efficient equipment to meet corporate ESG goals and reduce operating expenses.
Build and sustain strong client relationships through regular account reviews, on-site hospitality presence during key events, proactive issue resolution and post-event follow-up to drive repeat business and referrals.
Coordinate cross-functional planning with catering sales, culinary, facilities, housekeeping, transportation and finance teams to ensure alignment on event timelines, billing cycles and guest experience standards.
Prepare and present regular executive summaries to the leadership team, highlighting financial performance, operational risks, major wins, pipeline opportunities and strategic initiatives.
Lead post-mortem analyses for major events and client escalations to document lessons learned, update SOPs and implement process improvements that reduce recurrence of issues.
Manage special projects such as expansion into new markets, integration of acquired catering operations, or roll-out of new service models (e.g., corporate drop-off, pop-ups, seasonal kitchens).
Ensure accurate and timely event billing, cost allocation and revenue recognition in coordination with finance teams; verify profitability at event and account levels.

Secondary Functions

Support sales enablement by participating in high-value client pitches, creating operational scopes of work, and providing accurate pricing based on current cost models.
Contribute to long-term catering strategy, roadmap and go-to-market plans including channel expansion, private dining programs and contract catering opportunities.
Mentor and coach direct reports and high-potential employees, building internal talent pipelines and succession plans for critical leadership roles.
Assist with special corporate or community events, sponsorship activations and brand partnerships to enhance community presence and corporate reputation.
Participate in sustainability and waste-reduction initiatives, tracking metrics and promoting best practices across sites to align operations with organizational ESG commitments.
Maintain vendor relationships for non-food supplies such as disposables, uniforms, and serviceware, ensuring quality and continuity of supply.
Facilitate cross-training programs to increase operational flexibility and reduce reliance on temporary labor during peak event seasons.
Act as liaison with venue operations and external contractors (AV, lighting, security) to ensure seamless coordination on multi-vendor events.
Support implementation and continuous improvement of catering technology platforms, providing feedback, testing new features and leading adoption across the team.
Contribute to the corporate risk management program by updating operational risk registers, participating in insurance reviews and supporting audit activities.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

P&L ownership and financial management for catering: budgeting, forecasting, margin analysis, cost controls, and variance reporting.
Catering-specific cost modeling: menu costing, recipe standardization, yield management and portion control to maintain targeted food cost percentages.
Food safety and compliance expertise (ServSafe, HACCP, local health codes) with experience preparing for and passing health inspections.
Event logistics and production planning for large-scale and multi-site events including load-in/load-out sequencing and equipment staging.
Vendor and contract negotiation: terms, service level agreements, pricing, and supplier performance management.
Advanced inventory and procurement management: par level setting, shrinkage mitigation, FIFO, and inventory reconciliation.
Labor planning and scheduling tools with ability to control labor cost as a percentage of revenue and manage temporary/seasonal staffing.
Familiarity with catering and event management software (e.g., Caterease, Eventbrite Pro, Total Party Planner, CaterTrax) and POS integrations.
Strong Excel and reporting skills: pivot tables, VLOOKUP/INDEX-MATCH, forecasting models, and KPI dashboards.
Health, safety, and emergency response planning experience—creating SOPs and training teams for incidents.
Contract management and insurance coordination for venues and third-party vendors.
Familiarity with sustainability practices in F&B operations (waste tracking, composting, local sourcing initiatives).

Soft Skills

Strategic leadership with demonstrated ability to set vision, drive change and mobilize cross-functional teams.
Exceptional client relationship management and executive-level communication skills.
Strong negotiation and influencing skills with clients, vendors and internal stakeholders.
Problem-solving and decision-making under pressure during live events and crisis scenarios.
High attention to detail and operational discipline to ensure consistent execution across events.
Coaching and people development: building morale, accountability and career pathways for team members.
Time management and project prioritization to balance concurrent events and strategic initiatives.
Collaborative mindset for working closely with sales, culinary, facilities and finance partners.
Adaptability and resilience in fast-paced, variable-event environments.
Service orientation with a relentless focus on guest experience and reputation management.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in Hospitality Management, Business Administration, Culinary Arts, or related field — or equivalent demonstrable experience in catering/food service operations.

Preferred Education:

Bachelor’s degree plus advanced certification (e.g., ServSafe Manager, HACCP certification, Certified Hospitality Supervisor) or an MBA/advanced degree in hospitality/business.
Professional certifications such as Certified Catering Professional (CCP) or Certified Food Safety Manager are a plus.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Hospitality Management
Culinary Arts or Food Service Management
Business Administration / Finance
Event Management
Supply Chain / Operations Management

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 7–15 years in catering, banquet, or large-scale food & beverage operations.

Preferred: 10+ years of progressive catering or events experience with at least 3–5 years in a senior management or director-level role managing multi-site operations, P&L responsibility and large teams.

Demonstrated track record growing revenue, improving margins, and scaling operations for high-volume catering programs.
Experience with contract/venue management for corporate, association, hospitality or private event clients.
Proven experience implementing technology solutions and operational process improvements that drive measurable KPI gains.