What are the responsibilities and job description for the Events Manager position at The Country Club of Mobile?
THE COUNTRY CLUB OF MOBILE
EVENTS MANAGER
JOB DESCRIPTION
TITLE: Events Manager
DEPARTMENT: Food & Beverage
FLSA STATUS: Exempt
REPORTS TO: Director of Event Operations and General Manager
Job Summary
The Events Manager promotes the Club’s dining facilities for private banquets, business and social meetings, and other member-related activities. This role is responsible for developing contracts for and overseeing all administrative and operational aspects of preparing and serving events. The Evens Manager works with banquet and other departments to assure that the guests’ expectations are exceeded.
- Assumes responsibility of Manager on Duty when necessary.
- May direct the work of catering/events department staff.
- Promotes, advertises, and markets the Club’s social event facilities and capabilities to all members.
- Helps member clients arrange banquets, luncheons, meetings, weddings, dances, and other social events; obtains pertinent information needed for guest planning.
- Provides guest tours and offers suggestions in efforts to sell the Club’s facilities for the occasion being planned.
- Attends management meetings to review policies and procedures, future business, and to continually develop quality and image of banquet and catering functions.
- Works with the Executive Chef to determine selling prices, menus, and other details for catered events; oversees the development of contracts; assures that pre-planned banquet menu offerings as to food and price are currently typed, edited, and attractively presented.
- Suggests and helps guests plan menus in conjunction with the Executive Chef or other culinary personnel.
- Transmits necessary information to and coordinates event planning with production, serving and housekeeping staffs; arranges for printing of menus, procuring of decorations, entertainment, and other special requests, etc.
- Inspects finished arrangements; may be present to oversee the actual greeting and serving of guests.
- Checks the function sheets against actual room setup; oversees personnel scheduling for special functions and may help supervise service personnel.
- Oversees scheduling of food and beverage service employee meetings.
- Handles client complaints and escalates as necessary.
- Maintains past and potential client files; schedules calls or visits to assess on-going needs of prospective clients for catering services.
- Three months before the end of the fiscal year provides catering budgets for the following year; reviews financial reports monthly and takes corrective actions as appropriate to help assure that budget goals are met.
- Identifies five-year capital needs as it relates to banquet facilities and accessories that are essential for providing a quality venue.
- Ensures that proper housekeeping and energy conservation procedures are always followed.
- Consults with the Chef and the Food and Beverage Director as to China, silverware, glassware, and linen needed for the following year as well as a five-year capital plan schedule.
- Helps guests with parking, entertainment, decorations, audio-visual, floral and any other requirements integral to events being planned.
- Represents members’ needs and interests on applicable Club committees.
- Obtains necessary permits for special events and functions.
- Arranges prompt payment for all events.
- Critiques functions to determine future needs and to implement necessary changes for increased quality.
- Tracks new products and trends in food service and catering applicable to the Club.
- Ensures the security of valuables (Club’s, guests’, and members’ property) during catered events.
- Creates and assembles information for the bimonthly newsletter as well as maintains the website.
- Transmits email blasts in a timely manner.
- Diagrams room layout, banquet item placement and related function details.
- Meets with athletic departments to plan food and beverage aspects of special events organized by the staff members.
- Manages banquet billing and client correspondence.
- Update’s weekly function information for all affected staff.
- Performs competitive “shopping” of alternative function sources.
- May serve as liaison between kitchen, service, and management staff.
- Follows CCM mission and values, including providing the best quality service possible. “Service with a Smile” is a key element in providing a positive experience.
- Other duties as assigned.
Insurance benefits eligible 1st of the month following 60 days of employment to include-health, dental, vision, life, accident, critical illness and disability. Matching 401k eligible after 1,000 hours of work-enrollment periods of April 1 and October 1. Personal paid leave.
An Equal Opportunity Employer
We do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, disability, genetic information, or any other status protected by law or regulation. It is our intention that all qualified applicants are given equal opportunity and that selection decisions be based on job-related factors.
Required Skills/Abilities:
- Strong people-oriented skills, verbal skills, and written communication skills to effectively deal with people at different organizational levels both inside and outside the organization.
- Well-developed problem-solving skills and ability to develop conceptual alternatives. Must possess the ability to seek out new methods and innovative ideas and be willing to incorporate them into existing activities practices.
- Advanced computer skills Microsoft Office as well as a detailed knowledge of club management software.
- Works independently while understanding the necessity for communicating and coordinating work efforts with other employees and organization.
- Must be available for emergency and scheduled work requirements on evenings, weekends, or holidays.
- Must be available to work flexible shifts and overtime if necessary.
Education and Experience:
- Bachelor’s Degree in field or minimum 3 years’ experience in the field of Event Planning.
- Maintains American Red Cross Certification and AED Certification.
- Must be able to lift, push or pull up to 25 lbs., with or without accommodation.
- Must physically be able to accommodate stairs or steps.
Must pass required background check.
Must have valid photo ID, signed, original Social Security card, Mobile County Health Department food handler certificate or ServSafe available.
Identification of Target Audience
The Country Club of Mobile is a full-service amenity rich Country Club in Mobile, Alabama. The members for the most part are multi-generational legacy families. The remainder of the membership makeup are the professional families brought to the community due to medical or business opportunities. The Club has a traditional southern culture. The members regularly celebrate marriages, anniversaries, christenings, graduations or other achievement, Mardi Gras Balls and business meetings. Only Members may host a party.
Branding
The food and beverage operation at the Country Club of Mobile is the finest regionally. We are known as providing the very best in food and service. The food is composed of the finest ingredients, expertly prepared and superbly presented to the membership. The Club has one of the finest Sommeliers in the private Club industry, Chris Ball who will expertly provide the best pairings in wine to food. The staff provides the finest in southern hospitality. Our food, service and price are incomparable with the competition.
Goals And Plans
The goal of our Catering Department is to generate steady banquet business to allow our food and beverage operations to break even. Monthly we need to promote and recruit parties to make our food and beverage sales objectives. The banquets that we need to generate should be of at least 100 people or greater to generate the financial return to offset the labor expensed for non-banquet times. To achieve our objectives, we will need to call on our membership to clearly convey the value it is to have a party at the Country Club of Mobile.
The reminders to the membership will consist of the following.
Advertising-:
1. Table tents, flyers, menu inserts, etc.
2. Direct mail
3. Press releases to announce new services or events
4. Trade show/bridal shows
5. Niche marketing (Christmas parties, mardi gras parties, hospital events, etc.
6. Referral marketing
7. Social media marketing
8. Food sampling
9. Email Marketing
10. Thank you notes
Other possibilities would be:
1. Facebook. Connect with members to book events. Have them leave a review on your business page and share updates about your latest menu options and highlighted events.
2. Instagram. Photos and videos from parties where your delicious food is on display will help more people discover you. You can also geotag each post to make it more discoverable for event planner near you.
3. Pinterest. Event planners are a major source of business for caterers. And event planners in every industry love Pinterest, which is why sharing content on this platform can help you get more eyeballs on your brand.
4. LinkedIn. If you’re more interested in winning over corporate clients, be sure to create a company and personal page to interact with B2C and B2B prospects.
Social media is a great long-term approach to marketing. Here are some social media ideas that we can apply.
Video Marketing
Video marketing is a highly effective and visual way to show off our delicious menu. Making an appeal to host your party here. This will be a scrolling television in the lobby.
Focus on repeat business.
Repeat customers are more likely to use the Club than new member customers. We will concentrate generating this with the following:
1. Create segmented email lists based on both order frequency (once a year/holidays/etc.) and occasion (corporate luncheon/birthday parties/etc.). Send each group a customized message with free event specific tips they’ll find useful. Also make sure to time the emails out properly (three to six months before the annual New Year’s party, one month before their next birthday party, etc.).
2. Host a party for our most loyal customers. Treat them to free drinks and let them sample your newest menu items. Give them exclusive packages or discounts if they book their next event with you that same evening.
3. Direct sales-: Pick out a day in the week or a day in the month and call it direct sales day. That day, you should go about marketing your catering services to as many people as you can: corporate clients, wedding planners, event planners or anybody who looks like a potential business client.
4. Choose a mix of both digital and in-person strategies. Having a presence both on and offline will help you reach a greater number of prospects faster. We will make sure to monitor the progress of all our marketing efforts on a regular basis and make tweaks where necessary.
5. My network is my greatest marketing resource. For our catering business, it’s all about who you know but also who knows you.
Get to Know Competition
In value or traditional setting no other banquet facility can touch The Country Club of Mobile. The traditional setting does not compete well with the trendy banquet venues in the city. Another issue is that we are limited by space as some of the larger parties finds our ballroom too small. By not being in close proximity of great hotels we lose banquets to the venues down town. Hosting only members limits the ability to sell on the open market
