Director of Restaurants, Bars & Experiences

About the job Based at the Emirates palace Mandarin Oriental, Abu Dhabi within the Restaurants, Bars & Experiences Department, the Director of Restaurants, Bars & Experiences is responsible for positioning RB&E as a strategic driver of hotel performance, creating distinctive concepts and destination venues that guests actively seek out, return to and recommend. The Director is accountable for long-term business growth through compelling concepts, memorable experiences, high-performing teams, driving revenue, guest loyalty and profitability. leads all dining and experiential operations, including restaurants, bars, banqueting, entertainment programming and guest experiences, ensuring strong commercial performance, operational excellence, innovation and exceptional guest experiences in line with Mandarin Oriental brand standards. As Director of Restaurants, Bars & Experiences, you will be responsible for the following duties: Strategy & Operations: • Lead all restaurants, bars, banqueting events and experiences. • Execute the RB&E strategy on property, aligned with Group objectives. • Ensure each outlet has a clear concept identity, target guest, and positioning, bringing concepts to life, aligned with Corporate. • Ensure consistent and exceptional service is delivered, whilst driving operational excellence. Team Leadership & Development: • Lead and develop a high-performing RB&E team. • Define clear roles, responsibilities and recruitment strategy across the department and continuously engage all colleagues. • Define and drive training and continuous improvement plan from commercial performance to operational excellence and exceptional service. • Set a culture of accountability, collaboration, creativity, and continuous improvement. Commercial Performance: • Own and drive the overall commercial performance of Restaurants, Bars & Experiences, including restaurants, bars, banqueting and experiential offerings. • Lead budgeting, forecasting and strategic business planning processes. • Drive revenue growth, profitability, guest loyalty and external demand generation. • Maximise banqueting revenue, profitability, market share and guest satisfaction through strategic positioning, experience design and close collaboration with Sales & Marketing. • Drive margin discipline by optimising labour and food cost through demand planning, menu engineering, concept design and cost control. • Actively monitor outlet and banqueting performance, identifying opportunities to optimise, reposition, enhance or rejuvenate concepts to maximise business performance and guest appeal. • Leverage guest insights, market trends and performance data to strengthen commercial outcomes and long-term destination positioning. Guest Experience & Quality: • Deliver and embed innovation and memorable guest experiences across all outlets and touchpoints • Continuously raise standards for product quality and service delivery • Monitor guest feedback and seek to always improve satisfaction metrics • Ensure compliance with hygiene, safety, and HACCP standards Marketing & Business Development: • Position outlets as destination venues within the local market • Drive cultural relevance through activations, partnerships, and experiences • Work with Sales & Marketing on promotions and partnerships, and leverage all relevant channels including social media • Monitor market trends and competitor activity, to ensure Mandarin Oriental RB&E concepts remain distinctive and desirable • Ensure brand visibility and organise guest engagement initiatives Systems & Controls: • Ensure effective use of and drive adoption for operational and reporting systems and data, according to Mandarin Oriental standards, ensuring regular training for the team • Maintain oversight on cost control, inventory, and performance tracking • Embed performance tracking and accountability at outlet level • Bachelor s Degree in Hospitality Management or relevant field. • Senior leadership experience in luxury F&B operations. • Strong operational, commercial and financial management skills, experience in driving marketing and public relation activities in food and beverage. • Proven ability to manage multi-outlet high-performing operations including restaurants and bar management, banqueting, room service, culinary and stewarding. • Excellent leadership, communication skills and People Management skills. • Strong knowledge of food safety (HACCP) and service standard