Lead Food & Beverage Operations Across One of Florida's Premier Destination Resorts

Sandestin Golf & Beach Resort is seeking an accomplished and dynamic Director of Food & Beverage to oversee the resort's extensive and diverse food and beverage operations. This is a high-impact leadership position responsible for multiple restaurants, bars, lounges, seasonal and poolside outlets, private-club dining, marina operations, and a robust banquet and catering business.

Spanning 2,400 acres along Florida's Emerald Coast, Sandestin offers an exceptionally complex hospitality environment with multiple resort neighborhoods, four championship golf courses, a marina, private clubs, Hotel Effie, extensive meeting and event space, and numerous dining and entertainment venues.

The ideal candidate is a strategic and hands-on F&B leader who thrives in a large, multi-outlet resort environment, understands high-volume operations, develops strong leaders, and consistently delivers exceptional guest experiences while driving revenue, profitability, and operational excellence.

What You'll Do

Lead Resort-Wide Food & Beverage Operations

• Provide overall leadership and strategic direction for all Food & Beverage operations throughout Sandestin Golf & Beach Resort.
• Oversee multiple restaurants, bars, lounges, pool and beach outlets, marina dining, private-club food service, and seasonal operations.
• Lead F&B operations across a wide range of concepts, from casual and poolside dining to upscale and private-club experiences.
• Partner with Hotel Effie and other resort entities to ensure a consistent, elevated guest experience.
• Establish operating standards, service expectations, and financial goals across all outlets.
• Ensure appropriate staffing levels and scheduling based on occupancy, seasonality, events, outlet volume, and business demands.

Banquets, Catering & Events

• Provide high level leadership and oversight for the resort's extensive banquet and catering operation, supporting meetings, conferences, weddings, golf events, social functions, and large-scale resort events.
• Collaborate closely with Catering & Conference Services, Sales, Culinary, and Operations teams to successfully execute events from planning through completion.
• Ensure banquet operations consistently meet or exceed guest expectations while maintaining labor and food-cost objectives.
• Develop operational strategies for high-volume event periods and multiple events occurring simultaneously throughout the resort.
• Ensure seamless coordination between front-of-house, culinary, stewarding, setup, and event teams.
• Monitor banquet revenue, labor, food and beverage costs, service standards, and guest satisfaction.

Financial & Business Leadership

• Develop and manage annual F&B budgets, forecasts, revenue goals, and departmental financial objectives.
• Drive profitability through effective management of food cost, beverage cost, labor, purchasing, menu pricing, productivity, and inventory controls.
• Analyze outlet performance and develop strategies to maximize revenue and profitability.
• Review financial reports, P&L statements, forecasts, and key performance indicators.
• Identify opportunities for new revenue streams, improved efficiencies, menu optimization, and enhanced guest spending.
• Work closely with Finance, Purchasing, Culinary, Sales, and Executive Leadership to achieve resort-wide financial objectives.

Leadership & Team Development

• Lead, mentor, and develop a diverse team of F&B leaders, managers, supervisors, and hourly associates.
• Establish clear expectations, accountability, and performance standards throughout the department.
• Develop a strong leadership pipeline and succession plans for key F&B positions.
• Recruit, train, coach, and retain top hospitality talent.
• Create a culture focused on teamwork, service excellence, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Ensure managers are actively engaged in their operations and visible to both guests and employees.
• Support the successful integration and management of seasonal, international, and high-volume staffing needs.

Guest Experience & Service Excellence

• Maintain a strong presence throughout the resort and regularly engage with guests and employees.
• Establish and maintain exceptional service standards across all F&B outlets.
• Monitor guest feedback, online reviews, surveys, and operational trends to identify opportunities for improvement.
• Resolve elevated guest concerns professionally and effectively.
• Ensure all outlets consistently deliver experiences that reflect the quality and reputation of Sandestin Golf & Beach Resort.
• Develop creative F&B initiatives, promotions, events, and experiences that enhance guest engagement and revenue.

Operations & Compliance

• Ensure compliance with all federal, state, and local health, safety, alcohol-service, and sanitation regulations.
• Maintain strong relationships with vendors and ensure purchasing standards are followed.
• Oversee inventory controls, receiving, storage, product quality, and waste management.
• Ensure proper implementation of resort policies, procedures, and operating standards.
• Partner with Engineering, Housekeeping, Security, and other departments to ensure efficient resort operations.
• Monitor equipment, facility, and operational needs and communicate capital requirements to leadership.

Leadership Scope

This position requires the ability to effectively manage a large and highly complex F&B operation, including:

• Multiple restaurants and dining concepts
• Tiki Bars and seasonal outlets
• Marina events food & beverage operations
• Private-club dining
• Golf-related F&B operations
• Large-scale banquet and catering operations
• Weddings, meetings, conferences, and special events
• High-volume seasonal business
• Multiple outlets operating simultaneously across a 2,400-acre resort

What We're Looking For

• Bachelor's degree in Hospitality Management, Business, or related field preferred.
• 7+ years of progressive Food & Beverage leadership experience, preferably within a large resort, hotel, or destination property.
• Proven experience managing multiple F&B outlets and significant banquet/catering operations.
• Experience managing large teams and multiple levels of F&B leadership.
• Strong financial acumen with demonstrated experience managing budgets, labor, food and beverage costs, and profitability.
• Proven ability to lead through high-volume and seasonal operations.
• Strong knowledge of restaurant, banquet, bar, catering, and hospitality operations.
• Exceptional communication, organization, and leadership skills.
• Strong understanding of service standards and luxury/upscale hospitality.
• Ability to work a flexible schedule, including evenings, weekends, holidays, and high-volume resort periods.
• Experience with resort or hotel F&B technology, POS systems, inventory systems, and financial reporting platforms preferred.

Why Sandestin?

This is an opportunity to join one of the largest and most diverse resort environments in the country and lead Food & Beverage operations on an extraordinary scale.

At Sandestin, no two days are alike. From beachfront dining and marina experiences to golf, private-club events, weddings, conferences, and resort-wide celebrations, the Director of Food & Beverage will have the opportunity to shape the guest experience across an incredibly diverse collection of venues and experiences.

If you are an experienced F&B executive who is energized by scale, complexity, high-volume operations, and developing exceptional hospitality teams, we want to meet you.