CATERING SALES MANAGER

JOB SUMMARY

Handles prospecting, closing and contracting social and local corporate catering opportunities for hotel catering events.Achieves catering revenue goals by actively upselling each business opportunity to maximize revenue. Delivers service excellence through all aspects of the sales process, including before, during, and after the event. Ensure customer loyalty by developing a pipeline of repeat business.

QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS:

Qualifications:

• Excellent communication skills
• Must have familiarity with food and beverage basics, menu planning and event coordination
• Must be willing to work a flexible schedule to accomplish all major responsibilities and tasks
• Must be a self-motivator and team player
• Must have mathematical skills, computer software aptitude and hotel operation knowledge
• Must be able to relate to all levels of management
• Must have superior organizational skills with the ability to handle multiple tasks at once and prioritize
• Must have 3 – 5 years’ experience in hotel catering sales

CORE WORK ACTIVITIES

Managing Sales Activities

• Manages the catering and event sales efforts for the property including local corporate and social catering.
• Responds to incoming catering opportunities for the property.
• Identifies, qualifies and solicits new catering business to achieve personal and property revenue goals.
• Understands the overall market - competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, economic trends, supply and demand etc. and knows how to sell against them.
• Closes the best opportunities for the property based on market conditions and property needs.
• Uses negotiating skills and creative selling abilities to close on business and negotiate contracts.
• Works with the management team to create and implement a catering sales plan addressing revenue, customers and market.
• Designs, develops and sells creative catered events.
• Maximizes revenue by up-selling packages and creative food and beverage.
• Develops and manages catering sales revenue and operation budgets, and provides forecasting reports.
• Assists with selling, implementation and follow-through of catering promotions.
• Executes and supports Taj’s service and brand standards
• Executes and supports the operational aspects of business booked (e.g., generating proposal, writing contract, customer correspondence).
• Maintains successful performance by increasing revenues and controlling expenses
• Achieves catering revenue goals by actively up-selling each business opportunity to maximize revenue.
• Implements the brand’s service strategy and applicable brand initiatives in all aspects of the sales process and drives customer loyalty by delivering service excellence throughout each customer experience.
• Strategically manages high-value catering accounts, utilizing data-driven negotiation techniques and bespoke service solutions to optimize revenue and strengthen long-term client partnerships.
• Has strong prospecting skills in corporate and Galas market.
• Performs other duties, as assigned, to meet business needs.

Building Successful Relationships

• Interacts effectively with all relevant departments and vendors to ensure flawless execution of catering programs.
• Executes exemplary customer service to drive customer satisfaction and loyalty by assisting the customer and monitoring their satisfaction before and during their program/event.
• Serves the customer by understanding their needs and recommending the appropriate features and services that best meet their needs and exceed their expectations, while building a relationship and loyalty to the Taj brand.
• Gains understanding of the property’s primary target customer and service expectations; serves the customer by understanding their business, business issues and concerns, to offer better business solutions both prior to, and during the program/event.
• Develops a close working relationship with operations to execute strategies at the property level.