Food & Beverage Manager - Elysee New York

Job Description

Job Description:\n\nABOUT ELYSÉE NEW YORK HOTEL The iconic Elysée New York Hotel is preparing to enter an exciting new chapter as an intimate luxury boutique hotel under the umbrella of The Leading Hotels of the World. Located in the heart of Midtown Manhattan, steps from Madison Avenue and Fifth Avenue, Elysée New York combines the elegance of a historic New York residence with the warmth, individuality, and cultural spirit of a European grand hotel. Thoughtfully reimagined for today’s luxury traveler, the hotel will offer a highly personalized guest experience defined by authentic hospitality, understated sophistication, emotional connection, and exceptional attention to detail. Elysée New York is proudly managed by Crescent Hotels & Resorts, one of North America’s leading hospitality management companies. Crescent operates a diverse portfolio of hotels and resorts throughout the United States and Canada, including many of the world’s most respected luxury, lifestyle, and independent hospitality brands. ABOUT THE LOUNGE At the heart of the Elysée New York's experience is the hotel’s intimate, residential-style Lounge, inspired by the elegance, creativity, and relaxed hospitality of Sanssouci. More than a traditional hotel lounge, it will serve as the social and cultural living room of the hotel—a welcoming place where guests can begin their morning, gather throughout the day, enjoy afternoon refreshments, and transition into evening cocktails and conversation. The experience will be refined but never formal, combining attentive service with the warmth and familiarity of a private residence. From breakfast and afternoon offerings to evening beverages and thoughtfully curated culinary selections, the Lounge will play an essential role in establishing the personality, rhythm, and reputation of Hotel Elysée. POSITION OVERVIEW Elysée New York Hotel is seeking an experienced, passionate, and highly visible Food & Beverage Manager to help shape and lead the service experience within the Lounge and across the hotel’s food and beverage operations. This is more than a traditional outlet-management position. Reporting to the Director of Operations, the Food & Beverage Manager will serve as a cultural leader, gracious host, and ambassador of the Elysée New York experience. This individual will be instrumental in bringing the Lounge to life, establishing its service approach, developing a highly engaged team, and ensuring that every guest interaction reflects the hotel’s approach to personalized luxury hospitality. The Lounge will operate in accordance with Leading Quality Assurance standards, with the Food & Beverage Manager responsible for translating luxury quality criteria into consistent daily service behaviors, team training, operational procedures, and measurable performance expectations. The Food & Beverage Manager will oversee the daily operation of the Lounge, beverage service, and other assigned food and beverage experiences while maintaining the highest standards of service, presentation, financial performance, team engagement, and quality assurance. The ideal candidate is a hands-on luxury hospitality professional who leads from the floor, connects naturally with guests, develops and inspires teams, and understands that exceptional service is created through consistency, anticipation, emotional intelligence, and genuine human connection. ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS GUEST EXPERIENCE AND OPERATIONAL LEADERSHIP Serve as a highly visible leader and gracious host within the Lounge and throughout the hotel’s food and beverage operations. Lead the daily operations of the Lounge, beverage service, and other assigned food and beverage experiences. Bring the Lounge concept to life through thoughtful service practices, personalized guest recognition, consistent presentation, and a warm residential style of hospitality. Ensure every food and beverage interaction reflects the hotel’s luxury positioning, service philosophy, Leading Hotels of the World affiliation, LQA Standards and commitment to authentic, individualized experiences. Establish a strong leadership presence during breakfast, afternoon service, evening cocktails, special events, and peak operational periods. Engage actively with guests, anticipate preferences, recognize returning visitors, and create memorable moments that encourage loyalty and emotional connection to the hotel. Monitor guest feedback, online reviews, service trends, and direct guest comments to identify opportunities for improvement. Resolve guest concerns with professionalism, empathy, discretion, sound judgment, and a strong ownership mentality. Maintain the highest standards of service, cleanliness, atmosphere, product presentation, grooming, and operational readiness. Support service teams directly during peak periods to ensure a seamless, polished, and unhurried guest experience. Ensure full compliance with food safety, sanitation, liquor, health department, and workplace safety requirements. Maintain detailed opening, closing, side-work, and operational procedures for all assigned areas. Collaborate with Culinary, Front Office, Housekeeping, Engineering, Security, Sales, and other hotel teams to ensure a cohesive hotel-wide guest journey. LOUNGE EXPERIENCE Help establish the Lounge as one of the defining experiences of Elysée New York and a distinctive gathering place within the New York luxury hospitality market. Protect and enhance its residential atmosphere, ensuring that service feels polished and attentive without becoming overly formal, scripted, or transactional. Oversee the daily transition of the space from morning breakfast service to afternoon hospitality and evening cocktails. Ensure the consistent execution of signature experiences, including afternoon refreshments, beverage offerings, and other evolving hotel traditions. Partner with hotel leadership to develop programming, events, partnerships, and cultural moments that reflect the personality of Elysée New York. Maintain appropriate music, lighting, table presentation, service pacing, room readiness, and overall atmosphere throughout each period of the day. Ensure all physical and sensory details of the Lounge support the hotel’s positioning, including sound, lighting, scent, presentation, timing, and service flow. Develop a team capable of acting not only as servers and bartenders, but also as knowledgeable hosts, ambassadors, and storytellers for the hotel. Promote a service culture in which guests feel recognized, comfortable, and genuinely cared for rather than processed through a traditional hotel outlet. LEADERSHIP AND TEAM DEVELOPMENT Recruit, interview, hire, train, coach, mentor, evaluate, and develop food and beverage team members. Create a positive, inclusive, and highly engaged workplace culture centered on teamwork, accountability, professionalism, and genuine hospitality. Lead daily briefings and ensure team members are informed about hotel occupancy, VIP guests, returning guests, special occasions, dietary requirements, events, menu changes, and service priorities. Establish clear expectations and ensure consistent execution of service standards, operating procedures, LQA criteria, and luxury quality requirements. Translate luxury service standards into practical, observable, and coachable behaviors for the team. Provide ongoing feedback, recognition, coaching, and professional development. Address performance concerns promptly, fairly, professionally, and in accordance with hotel policies. Encourage team members to take ownership of the guest experience and feel confident making thoughtful decisions in the moment. Develop future hospitality leaders by identifying talent, creating development opportunities, and supporting internal career growth. Maintain open communication and productive working relationships with culinary leaders, hotel executives, ownership representatives, vendors, and operational partners. Foster a culture in which every team member understands their role in protecting the reputation and long-term success of Elysée New York. Ensure team members understand the history, character, service philosophy, and storytelling elements of the hotel and the Lounge. FINANCIAL AND BUSINESS MANAGEMENT Assist the Director of Operations with annual budgeting, forecasting, revenue planning, expense management, and departmental financial analysis. Monitor labor productivity, scheduling, overtime, food cost, beverage cost, operating supplies, and departmental expenses. Adjust staffing and service strategies based on occupancy, reservations, business levels, guest patterns, events, and operational demands. Review daily revenues, covers, average checks, voids, discounts, service charges, and other relevant performance indicators. Identify responsible opportunities to increase revenue while preserving the integrity, exclusivity, and quality of the guest experience. Manage purchasing, receiving, inventory controls, storage, and product rotation to maintain quality and minimize waste. Participate in monthly beverage and retail inventories. Participate in quarterly china, glassware, silverware, linen, and operating-equipment inventories. Maintain appropriate par levels for beverages, supplies, tabletop items, and guest-facing materials. Ensure compliance with all cash-handling, point-of-sale, purchasing, billing, and financial-control procedures. Partner with the Director of Operations to analyze departmental performance and implement appropriate operational improvements. Balance financial responsibility with the service investment required to deliver a highly personalized luxury experience. SALES, MARKETING, AND EXPERIENCE DEVELOPMENT Partner with hotel leadership to develop food and beverage promotions, seasonal experiences, and programming that support the positioning of Elysée New York. Collaborate with Sales, Marketing, Public Relations, Catering, and Guest Relations teams to maximize visibility and business opportunities. Support private gatherings, press events, cultural programming, VIP experiences, hotel activations, and selected partnership events. Develop relationships with local guests, neighborhood partners, cultural organizations, luxury brands, and community stakeholders. Contribute operational insight to menus, beverage programs, service experiences, pricing strategies, and promotional initiatives. Help position the Lounge as a destination that feels exclusive and distinctive while remaining welcoming, residential, and authentic. Support initiatives that build local recognition and establish the Lounge as a meaningful part of the hotel’s identity. Represent Elysée New York professionally at hotel functions, industry events, community activities, and partner engagements when requested. QUALITY ASSURANCE AND BRAND STEWARDSHIP Champion the service standards and quality expectations of Elysée New York, Crescent Hotels & Resorts, The Leading Hotels of the World, and Leading Quality Assurance. Lead the Lounge operation in accordance with LQA standards, ensuring service delivery consistently reflects luxury expectations for guest recognition, product knowledge, presentation, timing, personalization, and attention to detail. Translate LQA and Forbes Standards into practical service behaviors, operating procedures, training materials, daily briefings, and measurable performance expectations. Conduct regular service observations, departmental inspections, and operational audits to evaluate compliance with hotel, LQA, Forbes, health, and safety standards. Participate actively in quality assurance reviews, mock inspections, official assessments, training initiatives, and continuous-improvement programs. Analyze guest feedback, service-performance results, audit findings, and quality trends to identify patterns and implement appropriate coaching, training, or procedural changes. Develop corrective-action plans when service or quality standards are not achieved and ensure timely follow-through. Ensure all team members understand not only the technical requirements of luxury service standards, but also the purpose and guest impact behind them. Maintain accurate training records, quality-assurance documentation, checklists, and operational follow-up. Protect the hotel’s reputation through consistent attention to detail, discretion, guest recognition, personalization, and thoughtful service delivery. Support pre-opening, reopening, repositioning, and brand-evolution initiatives as required. Maintain flexibility and availability to support the operational needs of the hotel, including mornings, evenings, weekends, and holidays. Perform other job-related duties as assigned. REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES Strong leadership presence and a genuine passion for luxury hospitality. Ability to lead visibly and confidently from the floor while remaining approachable to both guests and team members. Exceptional guest-service, interpersonal, and relationship-building skills. Strong emotional intelligence, discretion, judgment, adaptability, and composure. Thorough knowledge of food, wine, spirits, cocktails, beer, and luxury beverage service. Strong understanding of fine dining, luxury hotel, lounge, and bar operations. Demonstrated knowledge of Leading Quality Assurance and/or Forbes standards. Previous experience operating within an LQA- and/or Forbes standards-driven luxury hospitality environment is required. Ability to translate luxury quality criteria into daily service delivery, team training, operating procedures, coaching, and measurable performance expectations. Ability to conduct service observations, evaluate performance against established luxury standards, and implement corrective coaching and continuous-improvement initiatives. Strong understanding of guest recognition, personalization, emotional engagement, service timing, product presentation, and anticipatory hospitality. Ability to create service that is polished and precise while remaining warm, intuitive, natural, and personal. Demonstrated ability to recruit, train, motivate, coach, and develop high-performing teams. Strong organizational and time-management skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment. Financial acumen, including budgeting, forecasting, labor management, cost control, inventory management, and performance analysis. Strong problem-solving, decision-making, and service-recovery abilities. Ability to manage guest concerns and operational challenges with professionalism, empathy, discretion, and accountability. Excellent written and verbal communication skills. Ability to communicate effectively with guests, team members, hotel leadership, ownership representatives, vendors, and business partners. Proficiency with Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, point-of-sale systems, scheduling platforms, and inventory-management systems. Ability to maintain consistency and attention to detail across multiple se