Associate Director of Catering

About Us

The Woodlands Resort, Curio Collection is the perfect retreat in the Houston Area, and only 2 miles away from The Woodlands Waterway. The resort is celebrating 50 years along with The Woodlands township. At HEI, we recognize that our enormous success is solely the result of our greatest asset:
Our People. Where people work is a choice. Against that choice, our greatest obligation is to ensure day in and day out that our associates have the compensation and benefits they deserve and industry leading tools, training and support that they need to excel. At HEI, simply said, we honor the privilege of our associates choosing us by investing in and making them more valuable.

Don’t meet every single requirement of this job? At HEI we are dedicated to building a diverse and inclusive workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to still send in your information. You may be the perfect candidate for this or for other roles within our organization!

We value U.S. military experience and invite all qualified military candidates to apply.

Assist the Director of Catering in the management, coordination and execution of the Catering and Sales Departments.

• Understanding of pace and productivity as well as monthly forecasting and the annual budget process.
• Optimize the catering mix of business and the use of historical data.
• Assist Director of Catering in evaluating every catering business opportunity to maximize revenue and profitability while achieving customer expectations.
• Interview, hire, train, develop, recommend performance evaluations, resolve problems, and recommend discipline and/or termination when appropriate of staff members.
• Assist in maintaining or exceeding budgeted sales and profits in all catering areas.
• Implement effective marketing plans for generating catering revenues.
• Carefully review all contracted services to assure proper contribution to profits.
• Identify trends, research the competition's products, services and pricing and use to develop strategic business plans.
• Optimize room rental charges.
• Experience selling to a variety of market segments.
• Consistently book repeat business by having a track record of long term client relationships.
• Actively participate in industry related organizations (NACE, MPI).
• Thorough knowledge of sales techniques including strong closing skills as well as negotiating skills.
• Comfortable with hotel site inspections and client presentations.
• Participate in trade shows and sales blitzes.
• Track record of strong prospecting efforts.
• Actively participate in community/civic activities to maintain awareness within community and to create booking opportunities.
• Excellent creative skills to provide innovative set-ups, menus, and functions for groups. Ability to generate creative and innovative menus while working closely with Chef on pricing specialty menus.
• Work closely with Director of Catering and banquet department on operations and event execution. Ability to quickly evaluate alternatives and decide on a plan of action.
• Experience providing A/V equipment and operating A/V as a profit center.
• Excellent knowledge of computers, specifically Delphi, Word and Excel. Utilization of the Delphi trace and activity tools while conducting business.
• Monitor group room blocks and pick up, generate detailed resumes for the operating departments.
• Ability to work with outside vendors to ensure client satisfaction for all events/groups.
• Detailed execution of all banquet event orders generated by the entire Catering and Convention Services Department.
• Comply with attendance rules and be available to work on a regular basis.
• Perform any other job-related duties as assigned.

• Prior experience in the field of hospitality with specific experience in catering sales.
• Must possess computer skills, including, but not limited to, use of Microsoft Word, Excel, and Delphi.
• Knowledge of computer accounting programs, math skills, as well as budgetary analysis capabilities required.
• Extensive knowledge of catering sales & convention…