Catering Manager

Looking for a non-stop and exciting place to work? Caltech is a world-renowned science and engineering institute harboring some of the world's brightest minds. Our Caltech Dining Services Department (CDS) is in search of hiring and cultivating equally talented individuals who are positive, enthusiastic, and passionate about what they do. We are fast-paced, creative, hands-on, and round-the-clock. If you thrive on teamwork, have a great work ethic, positive attitude, and are indispensably flexible and quick to adapt to an always changing environment, join us and be a part of this leading edge and innovative community.

Our mission is to provide great food, service, and experience for our students and community.

CDS operates four dining units (Browne Café, Red Door Marketplace, Broad Café, and Avery Kitchen) for a campus community of 2000. We also serve over 950 students, 7 days a week, through our Meal Plan Program and maintain a burgeoning Catering Department.

The catering manager is responsible for catering sales, event execution, billing, operations, employee management, customer and vendor relations for the catering department. The primary functions of this position are to successfully lead and manage the Catering Department and its employees, working cohesively with all other CDS departments and managers, while continually working to improve our catering services on campus. This position is responsible for directly supervising catering staff.

• Responsible for sales, events and staff oversight for a catering department budget in excess of 1 million in sales
• Manages catering billing and is responsible for managing profitability of the catering department according to guidelines per higher management
• Promotes and markets services within the Institute
• Ability to adjust work schedule based on business needs, to include weekends, evenings and holidays, and extended hours as needed
• Oversees all events to ensure successful implementation, follow-through, and reconciliation
• Ability to coordinate and execute catering events from start to finish
• Responsible for working with the Catering Sous Chef to update and implement new menus with appropriate cost and effective marketing
• Daily review with event staff, weekly line-ups and debriefs
• Schedules weekly staffing calendar for both full-time catering staff and temporary staffing, per business needs
• Primary point of contact and management of all large scale, VIP, and specialty event services
• Ensures maximum standards of sanitation and food safety within catering operations
• Responsible for fostering teamwork and creating lines of communication between culinary staff and coordinators, and holding staff accountable for their duties as assigned
• Responsible for creating catering policies and procedures to ensure Caltech catering is capable of maintaining and improving its standards
• Other duties as assigned

• 5+ years sales and catering experience or equivalent
• Understanding and knowledge base of catering ins and outs
• Highly organized, detail oriented, with strong multitasking abilities
• Experience using Caterease or other catering software. Otherwise, demonstrates the ability to quickly learn our catering platform
• Strong time management skills and remains composed and focused while navigating challenging situations
• High level of professionalism required during high stress periods with proven ability to successfully manage multiple issues as they arise
• Physical ability to work on your feet, standing, walking, lifting, and carrying food and equipment, for long periods, as required per business needs
• Demonstrated strong leadership ability
• Demonstrated strong employee management skills
• Demonstrated team building ability
• Demonstrated ability to communicate with all levels of management
• Ability to show High level of professionalism required when handling client feedback and last‑minute requests
• Demonstrated experience building menu items within a variety of service levels, including menu category knowledge and allergen awareness.
• Experience executing a wide variety of catering services: corporate, social events, plated, buffet, reception, concessions, and of…