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Hospitality Manager                                                                                  

Posted 8/17/10
Job Description

Garrison Brothers Distillery’s hospitality manager will be responsible for overseeing and executing tourism, merchandise sales and special events at the distillery. The person who holds this position should really like hanging out on a ranch in the beautiful Texas Hill Country because they are going to be there a lot.

Reporting to the proprietor and serving as a member of the Management Team alongside the proprietor, operations manager and production manager, this position's primary responsibility is to assure that everyone who interacts with us and/or visits the distillery is completely and totally pampered, and receives any information they need efficiently and immediately. Think Julie McCoy, the cruise director on The Love Boat. Our hospitality manager will be standing at the gate with a clipboard checking in every visitor that arrives and assuring they have everything they need.  

This person is our key contact with the outside world: our spokesperson, our cheerleader, our salesperson and the public face of Garrison Brothers’ Distillery.

In addition to this daunting cruise director responsibility, our hospitality manager will have P&L (profit & loss) responsibility for Garrison Brothers Distillery’s logo’d merchandise program (t-shirts, hats, coasters, shot glasses, furniture, etc.). The hospitality manager will run the gift shop and tasting room at the distillery, as well as the company’s online store. The hospitality manager will design, select order, market and merchandise all of our wearables and logo’d materials.

This is a marketing and sales role as well as a tourism role. Our hospitality manager will often accompany the proprietor on visits to tour operators, hotel concierges, and visitor and convention bureaus (CVBs) in towns across Texas. He or she will assure the CVBs and hotel doormen have a full complement of Garrison Brothers flyers, bumper stickers and promotional materials.

As if that’s not enough, our hospitality manager will also be responsible for organizing and overseeing special events that take place at the distillery. Past events have included a locals-only Christmas Egg Nog Party, our “Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner” luncheon (during the Stonewall Peach Jamboree and Rodeo), and Bourbon Camp, which is held annually for our Old 300 Ambassadors. In the future, we will be hosting outdoor concerts, movie nights and a wide assortment of distillery tours for individuals, families and special groups.

As a member of the management team, the position contributes to the development and implementation of business plans, strategies, policies and practices. This position will periodically interact with the Board of Directors, investors, visitors and the media.

This is a full-time position with salary, benefits, and shared gratuities as compensation. This is not a short-term job; this is a career! The position holds a massive amount of responsibility and the rest of us who work here will view this individual with a great degree of respect. You will become part of the family. If you’re looking for a part-time stepping-stone job, please do not apply. Only disciplined, motivated and responsible adults need apply.

There is travel involved, often at a moment’s notice, and some will involve overnight stays. You will go to Kentucky; maybe Tennessee, and definitely all over Texas. If you have children, please strongly consider this.

General Responsibilities:

• Achieve sales and visitation goals and carefully and accurately maintain merchandise inventory records; Monitor and report merchandise inventories
• Assure merchandise quality is maintained and improved
• Supervise, hire and manage hospitality staff and sub-contractors
• Adhere to company rules for safety and security precautions and assure adherence to safety and security precautions by staff and sub-contractors
• Be creative, proactive and vocal about solutions that will improve efficiency, productivity, quality and the bottom line
• Play a significant role in long-term planning and quality control; and even new product development
• Lead or assist with design, interior design, decoration and landscaping projects that are necessary
• Report to work in a timely and consistent manner.
• Act professionally
• Schedule tours; Host tours
• Promptly answer phone and email inquiries about tour times and information
• Schedule travel, tour and meetings for yourself and the Proprietor
• Help design, build, and maintain the Saloon, Hospitality Room and Gift Shop
• Tend bar; pour samples for visitors; Make and serve snacks for visitors
• Attend liquor conventions in Texas, and possibly some out of state events, such as the Kentucky Bourbon Festival
• Hire and train servers, kitchen and gift shop personnel
• Clean and maintain The Hospitality Room
• Order, design, produce, display, inventory and merchandise our logo’d wearables and gifts
• Manage the cash registers and merchandise sales income; Maintain sales records versus planned sales forecasts
• Oversee and direct our online store (we work with a company who does the actual programming and merchandise positioning)
• Learn everything possible about good bourbon; share everything possible about good bourbon with our visitors
• Fulfill and ship online orders from the gift shop
• Make contact and build “first-name-friendly” relationships with the staff at CVBs, tour operators and hotels across Texas
• Improve operations and production systems, processes and policies in support of the company mission
• Make good bourbon whiskey (don’t worry, we’ll teach you how)
• Have a great sense of humor; Have an attitude
• Tell jokes; Listen to jokes and laugh heartily at them, even if they’re not funny
• Meet or exceed annual visitor number goals
• Meet or exceed average-spend-per-customer goals
• Put up with our annoying, self-absorbed proprietor and the rest of the unruly staff
• Play practical jokes on the owner and the staff

Qualifications

• Complete and unwavering commitment to the company’s mission, values statement and product
• Strong moral character
• Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written
• Recognizes his or her critical role in the operation of the business; communicate with Proprietor frequently and in a timely manner
• Takes responsibility for mistakes, errors and omissions; Owns up immediately
• Familiarity and understanding of production equipment, mechanics and machinery
• Computer savvy
• Works a phone as well as my wife
• Genuinely cares for the welfare of other staff; tries to do what’s right
• Demonstrates leadership and vision
• Excellent interpersonal skills and a collaborative management style
• Budget development and oversight experience
• A commitment to high professional ethical standards and a diverse workplace
• Excels at operating in a fast-paced environment
• Leads by example; willing to do the hard jobs before asking anyone else to
• Ability to challenge and debate issues of importance to the company
• Ability to look at situations from several points of view
• Delegates responsibility effectively
• High comfort level working in a diverse environment

Anticipated Work Schedule:

• Five days a week (Tuesday through Saturday or Wednesday through Sunday) and occasional short stints on odd days
• Hours are still rather fluid but most likely will be 9 am to 4 pm, except when special events are planned or travel is necessary. These days will be longer.
• Taking paid vacation time will be required, but we’ll ask you to give us at least a month’s advance notice of the dates
• At present, no healthcare, benefits, or insurance can be offered. We’re working on that. The perks are awesome.
• After one year of service, the position will qualify for participation in the company’s employee stock option program

Experience Requirements

We recognize that this is a very unique position, so experience managing a bourbon distillery is probably unlikely. However, there are some similar career experiences that could be of benefit. If you have any of this type of experience, we’re going to give your resumé a closer look.

• Bartending
• Waiting tables
• Retail store manager
• Merchandise design, production and ordering management
• Tour director
• Gift shop manager
• Restaurant or bar manager
• Prison warden
• Event manager
• Chamber of commerce or CVB manager
• Road manager for a rock and roll band
• Hospitality manager at a country club, hotel or theme park
• Hotel, resort of golf course manager
• Flight attendant

Special Concerns

Candidates who live in the general area of Blanco and Gillespie Counties will be given special consideration. Since the distillery will become your second home, we don’t want you to have to drive long distances.

Candidates who reside in Austin or San Antonio will still be considered but must exhibit the discipline and responsibility to stay overnight in Hye if they’re too tired to drive home. Safe, comfortable and private overnight accommodations are available at the distillery.

Veterans of the armed forces will also receive special consideration.