Hospitality Operations Manager (Contract) - Tampa, FL at The Wilkinson Firm in Tampa, Florida, United States

Job description

• A note from the founder
• Every venue operator in this market has been burned by the same thing.
• You book staffing for a 600-person plated dinner. The agency sends 30 servers. Half do not know how to fire a course. A quarter cannot read the BEO. None of them have been on a property like yours before.
• The night ends with the host humiliated and the operator quietly deciding to lower the bar next time.
• The hospitality field has stopped expecting trained staff. Most operators have given up on the standard because they have stopped finding partners who can hold it.
• We started The Wilkinson Firm Premium Hospitality + Event Staffing because the gap is not bodies. The gap is trained captains and trained crews.
• This seat is for the hospitality training leaders who have spent their careers building service standards in the field and want to help us put those standards back into the workforce.
• What we are building
• A staffing model where every event has a TWF-trained captain on the floor leading the service.
• Servers who have been through our cohort cycle before they ever step on a property
• Captains promoted on demonstrated competence, not tenure
• BEO walk-throughs and venue-specific prep before staff arrive
• Service recovery, allergen protocol, and alcohol compliance baked into the cohort, not bolted on
• We want to be the staffing partner that hotels, venues, caterers, and convention centers call when the event is too important to leave to luck.
• The firm operators reach for when the service standard has to hold.
• Where we are right now
• We are 14 months in.
• PHES active in the field
• Captain-led model proven on early engagements
• Building the training infrastructure that scales it
• You would be helping build that training engine from the ground.
• The relationship we want with you
• This is not a job. It is a working partnership.
• You stay in your current role. Hotel F&B training, venue training, restaurant T&D, hospitality school faculty, or boutique training consultant.
• You build the cohort curriculum. You train the captains. You become the named training voice of PHES. Your reputation in the field becomes part of what makes operators trust the model.

Responsibilities

• Build the cohort curriculum for bartenders, servers, banquet staff, line cooks, housekeeping, and captains
• Run cohort training cycles in our primary markets (Atlanta, Charlotte, Charleston, Savannah, Jacksonville, Nashville, Tampa, Orlando, Miami)
• Train and credential the captains who lead crews on event nights
• Pre-event readiness sessions: BEO walk-throughs, diagram reads, venue-specific prep for high-stakes events
• Service recovery and compliance: ServSafe, TIPS, allergen protocol, OSHA banquet basics, alcohol service liability
• Field QA: observe crews on event nights, write coaching notes, recalibrate the curriculum
• Co-author content under your name on hospitality training and service standards

Requirements

• You have 10+ years in hospitality with deep training experience.
• Forbes 5-Star, AAA Five Diamond, Ritz-Carlton, Four Seasons, Marriott Luxury Collection, or cruise line luxury background welcome
• Multi-unit training director, hotel F&B training lead, convention center training director, or large-format banquet training experience
• Cornell School of Hotel Administration or equivalent field-built credential
• ServSafe Instructor and TIPS Trainer certifications strongly preferred
• Banquet captain experience required. You have led the floor on a 1,000-cover plated dinner.
• Bilingual English / Spanish a strong plus. We respect the labor force we recruit from.
• You believe service standards are not nostalgia. They are protection for the host and dignity for the staff.
• You know the difference between a server who can recite the sequence of service and a captain who can hold the floor when a kitchen goes down 45 minutes before salads fire. You have trained both.

Skills

Required

• Deep training experience in hospitality
• Training and credentialing captains
• Field QA and coaching

Preferred

• ServSafe Instructor certification
• TIPS Trainer certification
• Bilingual English / Spanish