Associate Director, Dining Services Details

Associate Director, Dining Services

George Mason University - Fairfax, VA

Employment Type : Full-Time

Associate Director, Dining Services Operations & Business Services
George Mason University (“Mason”) seeks a seasoned and innovative leader to serve as the Associate Director, Dining Services (“AD-DS”). George Mason University has a strong institutional commitment to the achievement of excellence and diversity among its faculty and staff, and strongly encourages candidates to apply who will enrich Mason’s academic and culturally inclusive environment.

About George Mason University:

Located in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, and known for its entrepreneurial spirit and rapid emergence, Mason is one of the most remarkable success stories in the past half-century of American higher education. Originally a branch college of the University of Virginia (1957-72), Mason has grown rapidly since its establishment as an independent entity into an R1 university. The University has accounted for almost 50 percent of the public university enrollment growth in Virginia over the past decade. In 2018, Forbes ranked Mason 54th among the 500 top midsize U.S. companies.
About the Position:

Reporting to the Executive Director, Auxiliary Services (“ED-AS”), the AD-DS oversees dining and food service operations across three campuses in the metropolitan D.C and Northern Virginia area. The AD-DS will be a member of the Operations & Business Services (OBS) division, whose purpose is to support the overall mission of Mason and to improve quality of life on campus for all students and staff. OBS provides innovative services and strategic business partnerships that improve value, increase student success, and enhance financial conditions.
The AD-DS is responsible for supporting the ED-AS with the day-to-day operations and management of the University’s contracted residential dining program and retail dining locations. This position coordinates and maintains standards of excellence for contracted food services, and works closely with contracted dining vendors to provide high-quality, financially profitable dining services through residential dining halls, retail dining establishments, and campus catering services.
The AD-DS will assist the ED-AS in directing all food service activities, ensuring contract compliance, safeguarding food safety, sanitation and regulatory compliance, and developing strategies to improve stakeholder satisfaction, increase sales and decrease expenses. The position will also assist the ED-AS in developing business and marketing plans, as well as performance goals and metrics, for the successful operation of all dining services.
Responsibilities:
Food Service Operations
The AD-DS will support the ED-AS and must possess extensive knowledge of food service operations, including a strong knowledge of food and catering trends, with a focus on health and wellness, quality, production, sanitation, safety, costs, and presentation. The AD-DS recommends and coordinates facility and equipment upgrades and maintenance for food service facilities to ensure quality service and accessibility. This position will provide day-to-day operational monitoring and quality control of dining and retail food operations and assists in the development of strategies to upgrade technologies, enhance customer service, improve delivery systems, and decrease overhead expenses. The AD-DS upholds customer service standards and ensures client expectations are met by receiving and facilitating resolution of inquiries, concerns, and/or complaints; performs frequent interactive customer discussions with faculty, staff, students and parents. This position will conduct monthly student feedback meetings, annual dining customer satisfaction surveys, and annual vendor performance reviews. The AD-DS is also responsible for driving all sustainable practices for dining services, and implements new programs in collaboration with the Office of Sustainability.

Contract Administration
The AD-DS is responsible for effectively ensuring contract compliance, under the direction of the ED-AS. The position assists in tracking performance measurements to help ensure OBS’s financial performance objectives are met. The position helps track all revenues from sales, commissions, rents, annual guarantees and all expense categories to enable effective surplus optimization. The AD-DS also ensures contract compliance of all lease agreements with independent retail operators, under the direction of the ED-AS.

Financial Responsibilities
The AD-DS assists the ED-AS and the Senior Director of Finance and Operations / Chief Business Officer (CBO) in the development of annual budgets and quarterly forecasts for all food service units. This position also monitors sales and expenses to ensure positive fiscal outcomes, reviews and approves all price increases, and reconciles expenses and invoices vendors on a monthly basis.
Required Qualifications:
The ideal candidate will demonstrate many of the following personal qualifications, skills, and experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration or related field (or equivalent experience), Master’s degree preferred;
• Significant experience in food services operations (at least 7 years preferred), preferably in higher education, or equivalent experience;
• Expertise in food service operations;
• Advanced skills in contract management, retail sales, reporting, and lease management;
• Ability to develop and maintain strong vendor relationships;
• Ability to promote productive relationships with the student, campus and business communities;
• Work closely with other university departments often requiring persuasive communication;
• Highly professional skills managing all customer service-related issues;
• Appreciation and understanding of diversity, equity, and inclusion and engaging with a diverse community of students, faculty, and staff;
• Ability to apply discretion and proper decorum in decisions, daily activities, and interactions with constituents;
• Experience with budget development, projections/forecasting and project analysis;
• Ability to work on multiple projects simultaneously and work well under limited time constraints;
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills (verbal and written); and
• Ability to effectively present information and respond to inquiries from faculty, staff, students, parents, clients and the general public.

Special Instructions to ApplicantsFor full consideration, applicants must apply at https://jobs.gmu.edu/; complete and submit the online application; and upload a cover letter, resume, and a list of three professional references with contact information.For Full Consideration, Apply by: 04/15/2022