General Manager Winchester, England
Job description
Chesil House is our beautiful boutique venue in the heart of Winchester. We are looking for a General Manager who will be part of the senior management team reporting into the Directors.
Whilst there is no accommodation or in-house catering on site, this role will manage our relationships with our chosen caterer and other suppliers to ensure the high level of customer satisfaction we expect at Chesil House. This is a unique opportunity to be part of a 160 year old family run business.
Job Purpose
The General Manager will be responsible for all aspects of service, people, operational and financial management at our Chesil House events venue.
Key accountabilities for this leadership role will encompass the setting and maintaining of appropriate service standards, recruitment, training and management of all key personnel, delivering to agreed targets and the ongoing upkeep of the premises itself.
The priority will always be the provision of the very highest levels of customer service and ensuring that all visitors/guests have an experience that naturally leads to them becoming an advocate for Chesil House. These experiences will differ by event type and each event must be treated as bespoke to the specific needs of our clients. Reputation is everything and therefore everything must be done to protect the very positive position that has been gained by the venue.
This is very much a hands-on operational role with an emphasis on leading by example. The post holder will manage a small team and be expected to support, nurture and develop staff and suppliers to achieve the very best customer service in a challenging and sometimes pressured environment. They will ensure that their team effectively and professionally manages funerals, weddings, venue hires, room set-ups, corporate conferences, and community activities and events.
The General Manager will be responsible for delivering against both revenue and cost targets and report performance figures monthly to the Directors.
Key Tasks
(comprehensive, but not exhaustive)
- Attendance at all daily ‘group’ teams calls at 8.30am – setting the scene for day ahead and sharing appropriate information
- Develop strategies and activities to meet revenue targets within cost budgets:
- marketing strategies (all formats) to drive Weddings and Corporate bookings
- consider and present additional/new opportunities for driving income
- manage all enquiries to satisfactory conclusion
- ensure effective use of existing Booking System by all relevant teams
- arrange diaries to ensure smooth delivery of every event
- ensure that all pre-planning activities completed (working with key stakeholders)
- make certain required levels of resource available and appropriately trained to deliver events including a Duty Manager on site for all events
- Recruit (where/when required), train, develop and motivate staff to ensure that a great working environment is maintained including regular performance reviews and appraisals
- Establish appropriate working practices and processes for optimising resource and maximising services levels
- Actively manage rotas to cover Reception, event cover and the opening and closing of the building, including weekend garden opening
- To personally be on site as Duty Manager for a number of events across the year
(min 50% of out of hours events and always when no other duty manager available)
- Manage all Health & Safety elements of the Chesil House working and entertaining environment, ensure policies in place and practices adhered to
- Ensure that all required licences are in place/up to date, ie; weddings/premises/alcohol/ entertainment/TV/etc
- Manage the Chesil House specific Website, working with key stakeholders (internal and external) ensuring it is always up to date and to maximise effectiveness of this critical tool
- Proactively manage the ongoing narratives via Chesil House social media forums
- Regularly seek feedback from clients and customers and establish tools for displaying/utilising positive feedback and appropriately actioning any areas of identified improvements
- Ensure all spending is within budget and spend outside of authorisation levels is agreed with a Director in advance
- Report revenue, cost and service performance on a monthly basis to the Director team
- Ensure all areas are presented to a high standard and ongoing maintenance is managed
- Develop and manage an effective booking system and processes for venue hires
- Actively manage the maintenance and development of the venue, establishing and maintaining relationships with key stakeholders/suppliers – keeping clear logs of activities and contract dates
- Monitor cleanliness, security, footfall, lighting, temperature, customer behaviour and all other elements contributing to the atmosphere on site
- As part of the Senior Management Team:
- attend and contribute to monthly SMT meetings
- work with other managers to ensure organisational objectives and targets are met
- Seek opportunities and promote Chesil House as a venue in the wider community
- Personal Development -- Ability to design, produce and deliver visual tributes via internal AV systems at events
- Establish strong links with key business source – Richard Steel & Paterners Funeral Director team.
Additional Duties
- Any other reasonable duties at the request of the company, which are within your capabilities.
- Maintain the health and safety and security of the working environment and abide at all times by the published health and safety guidelines for the role.
- Identify and support improvements to client services and business operations.
- Comply with all the company’s policies as outlined in the employee handbook and Health and Safety procedures manual
Personal requirements
- At least 2 years experience of managing a venue
- Experience of achieving excellence in a service-led environment catering for a large number of members of the public
- At least 3 years experience of successfully managing multi-disciplinary staff teams
- Experience of supporting hospitality and corporate events
- Experience in risk assessment writing and review
- Key supplier and contractor management experience
- Experience of successfully managing departmental budgets
- Smart business presentation at all times when the venue is open
Skills:
- Strong leadership skills
- The ability to inspire and motivate a team of full-time, part-time and casual staff
- Excellent written, numerate and verbal communication skills
- Excellent IT skills, including Word, Excel and Outlook
- Excellent social media skills
- Event tech experience and ability to use our in-house tech desk for service media
- Ability to put together a professional visual tribute in the absence of the Duty Manager
- An excellent manner when dealing with the public
- The ability to be flexible, and to work calmly and effectively under pressure
- A proactive and positive approach to solving problems in a prompt and independent manner
Job Types: Full-time, Permanent
Salary: £32,000.00-£38,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Company pension
- Life insurance
- On-site parking
- Private medical insurance
Schedule:
- Monday to Friday
- Weekend availability
Ability to commute/relocate:
- WINCHESTER: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)
Work Location: One location
