Director - Food & Beverage Concept Development

Lake Buena Vista, FL

The Walt Disney World Resort features four theme parks, twenty nine Disney owned and operated hotels including 10 Disney Vacation Club properties, two water parks, ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex and Disney Springs, a dining shopping and entertainment complex.

Food and beverage is a significant part of the Disney vacation experience and we are known for our diverse dining options from food trucks to Five Diamond restaurants. With over 500 food and beverage locations, the Walt Disney World Resort serves over 60 million meals annually.

As the Director, Food & Beverage Concept Development, you will lead the creation, development, and execution of new and reimagined dining experiences for the Walt Disney World Resort. You will also be accountable for portfolio planning and site-wide efforts to ensure Food & Beverage at Walt Disney World is focused on our future Guest experience. You will partner with Food & Beverage site executives, functional disciplines, internal partners and industry experts within a matrix structure to jointly accomplish Walt Disney World Food & Beverage goals.

The scope of the role includes the Walt Disney World, with many projects impacting both operating and non-operating areas. You will have a significant level of visibility; you have a high level of comfort in working with executives across the organization. Executive interactions include project leadership, individual meetings, and large-scale Executive Committee presentations. You will lead and drive concepts and portfolio planning with scalability across sites requiring interface and integration with executives and partners site-wide.

You will report to the Vice President - Food & Beverage/Merchandise, Development, Optimization, and Standardization

Responsibilities/How You Will Make a Difference

Set the vision for how Walt Disney World guests will experience dining in the future leveraging innovative ideas and great stories as the foundation for best-in-class, relevant concepts that drive satisfaction and business/financial value
Lead all aspects of concept development from ideation to implementation
Lead Food & Beverage program development for new concepts including design and facility planning
Infuse corporate and Food & Beverage strategies, standards and priorities into new concepts
Continually advance and evolve concepts through innovations in industry trends, technology, equipment, design, sustainability, and safety
Partner with culinary concept group in the creation of menus that complement concepts, drive quality and maximize value
Establish a strategic approach for new business growth through new concepts; position WDW Food & Beverage as a key business driver of overall Guest visitation, experience excellence, and profitability
Optimize and drive growth through innovative new concepts and products, cost management strategies, and efficiencies in design and construction
Partner with key Food & Beverage industry leaders, senior executives, internal clients and partners in the development and delivery of concepts
Provide leadership and development to the Walt Disney World Food & Beverage concept development team and project managers
Generate creative ideas with practical approach
Leverage industry research, network partnerships, and benchmarking to drive a vision for future
Direct a range of external suppliers, designers, and consultants
Plan, organize, and deliver project updates and concept presentations for senior executives
Coordinate internal and external benchmarking to identify sustainable and measurable applications, which may be executed for guest and/or cast experience improvement, revenue growth, or cost initiative implementation
Communicate with site-level client groups to maintain an understanding of priorities, business requirements, climate, environmental impacts, and overall landscape of conditions and attitudes affecting food and beverage operations
Leverage/engage a broad audience of key stakeholders, partner groups and operations clients including, but not limited to, Environmental Services, contractors, Walt Disney Imagineering, Facility Asset Management, Safety Services, Engineering Services, and Architecture and Facility Engineering
Provide a cohesive analysis of concept post-launch, including revenue, operating income, Guest & Cast insights, income, COS, etc

Basic Qualifications/What You Will Bring to the Team

Proven experience with Food & Beverage Concept Development
Ten (10) years progressive leadership experience in the food and beverage industry
Knowledge of the latest trends and technologies, and relationships with industry influences to proactively transfer knowledge to the greater team
Experience and success leading food safety and healthy practices and initiatives
Ability to effectively lead in a fast paced, highly dynamic global environment with a focus on increasing heart of house efficiency while considering front of house operating environments
Demonstrated passion and commitment for inclusion including inviting diverse perspectives, fostering an inclusive work environment
Experience fostering innovative thinking and appropriate risk taking
Unquestioned ethics and integrity
Strong relationship skills and ability to navigate change

Preferred Qualifications

Experience with restaurant design and equipment
Portfolio planning / location strategy