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Category
Music Venue
Cuisine
American
  • Summary
  • Description
  • Skills
Summary
Wine Director
Salary To be discussed
Schedule Full Time
Experience Minimum 3 years of experience
Location 1200 W Randolph St, Chicago, IL 60607, USA
Category Music Venue
Cuisine American

Wine Director


Description

City Winery strives to deliver the highest-end combined culinary and cultural experience to our customers who are passionate in sharing wine, music, and culinary arts. We are a unique facility, combining a fully functioning winery with intimate concerts, food & wine classes, private events in a variety of configurations, and fine dining. We have created a compelling mix for our sophisticated clientele of foodies, and active cultural patrons—bringing the wine country experience to the middle of a large city.


We are proud to offer a safe workplace for our employees. In the interest of safety for all City Winery employees, the Company requires all employees to be fully vaccinated (defined as 1 completed dose of a 1-dose series or 2 completed doses of a 2-dose series of the COVID-19 vaccine), and encourage employees to receive their booster shot if eligible, unless due to a bona fide medical and/or sincerely held religious reason in which case a reasonable accommodation will be discussed unless it causes an undue hardship to City Winery.  

 

Position Summary:

The Wine Director is an essential member of the Beverage team. This role aids the General Managers and Operations Manager by providing excellent oversight, management of, and training on a vast variety of international wines in a timely and accurate manner. Providing support with skill and professionalism, this role will be responsible for a wide variety of purchasing, training, event organization, sales, and oversight functions. In addition to maintaining our vision by adhering to our values, this position must provide the highest level of service to our staff, partners, and guests.

 

The Wine Director supervises day-to-day maintenance of non-CW wine inventories and inventory software; communicates with internal teams and outside vendors; reviews sales and manages accurate and timely purchasing; reviews and updates wine menus (Wine Tomes) and related marketing assets.


This position is designed to strengthen City Winery’s positioning as a food-, beverage- and service-centric destination with focus on hospitality and education, through providing expert wine training, assistance and support, and aiding in accurate, clear and timely inventory maintenance and reporting, as well as public event programming.

 

Minimum Qualifications

·        5 years restaurant service experience required

·        3 years experience as a wine and beverage buyer at a restaurant required

·        3 years management experience required

·        Experience training and coaching teams in service, food, beverage, and wine offerings

·        Experience with cellar organization and binning systems preferred

·        Outstanding knowledge of wine, beer, spirits, and cocktails, their origins, and ingredients

·        Current knowledge of local and national beverage markets: offerings, limits and beverage related laws

·        Demonstrated competence with cloud-based based software (Google Drive), Microsoft Office, Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Excel

·        Familiarity with POS Systems, beverage inventory software, and event management systems preferred

·        Ability to maintain confidentiality of sensitive materials and information

·        Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal

·        Public speaking experience preferred

·        Excellent organizational and multitasking skills

·        Ability to maintain excellent customer service skills and presence in the midst of a fast-paced, changing environment

·        Ability to identify and resolve problems efficiently

  

Overview of Responsibilities

Purchasing

·        Manage external wine selections within the approved budget and partnership plan approved by the National Beverage Director

·        Create an extensive, diverse, and accessible wine list of international wines

·        Practice creative purchasing and staff training of pars to maintain a full & diverse list, without depleting staff favorites

·        Ensure attention is given to City Winery-produced wines on both the wine list and by staff

·        Manage all purchasing information; invoices, contracts and company credit card receipts ensuring accurate record keeping and timely submittal of documentation and (expense) reports to finance

·        Coordinate and maintain vendor and supplier information

·        Assist City Winery locations with purchasing of wine, beer, liquor, and non-alcoholic beverage on as-needed basis

 

Beverage Storage Maintenance

·        Coordinate and manage storage organization for all beverage ingredients and alcoholic beverages, including but not limited to wine (kegs, bottles, etc.), liquor, beer, water, mixers, etc.

·        Develop and implement location-specific binning and cellar management systems for proper storage and access to for Non-City Winery wines

·        Work with receiving and management teams to set up and maintain organization of wine storage room

·        Monitor wine storage conditions for storage spaces (temperature, physical organization, etc.); create areas of storage for different temperatures

·        Supervise the restocking and organization of each area

 

Training

·        Assist planning and implementing Beverage training and SOP materials

·        Maintain communication with local teams about regular staff trainings regarding wines and wine service

·        Maintain an updated handbook of printed materials and tech sheets to help staff learn wines

·        Conduct tastings and discussions (in person and virtually) of new glass pours at changeovers

·        Conduct monthly staff tests or quizzes of wine knowledge, with special focus on glass pours

 

Inventory

·        Manage beverage inventory software, including but not limited to new item creation, recipe & modifier creation and updates, sales mapping, transfers, depletions, and reconciliation.

·        Complete and document monthly inventory in your location

·        Provide monthly overview of non-City Winery wine inventory status, opportunities, and successes to the National Beverage Director

 

Public Events

·        Develop and maintain relationships with distributors and importers through scheduled tasting appointments, portfolio tastings, wine seminars, and the occasional travel to wine regions

·        Facilitate access to winemakers for wine events and dinners

·        Encourage distributors to hold portfolio tastings at CW

·        Work with distributors, importers, winemakers and other contacts to bring industry leaders to CW for tastings & pairing dinners; participate with these leaders to select wines for each dinner and work with the chef to create pairing menu

·        Create and maintain files on contracts for beverage event records (menus, sets ups, AV requests and correspondence for each event; build historical files for repeat customers or similar events

·        Create, post and keep up to date location and event calendar coordinating with National Beverage Director and location General Manager

 

Other Duties

·        Participate in service in an active sales capacity, leading and guiding a sommelier team

·        Submit entries for wine list awards (Wine Spectator, etc.)

·        Represent City Winery within the industry in varied capacity as needed

·        Perform other duties as assigned by the National Beverage Director

 

This is a full time benefits-eligible position. We offer health insurance with Company contribution towards premium, generous paid time off policy, commuter benefits,  401K Retirement Plan, Volunteer Opportunities, Flexible Spending Accounts including pre-tax commuter benefits and parking, & more depending on position and other Company eligibility requirements.

 

City Winery strives to deliver the highest-end combined culinary and cultural experience to our customers who are passionate in sharing wine, music, and culinary arts. We are a unique facility, combining a fully functioning winery with intimate concerts, food & wine classes, private events in a variety of configurations, and fine dining. We have created a compelling mix for our sophisticated clientele of foodies, and active cultural patrons—bringing the wine country experience to the middle of a large city.


We are proud to offer a safe workplace for our employees. In the interest of safety for all City Winery employees, the Company requires all employees to be fully vaccinated (defined as 1 completed dose of a 1-dose series or 2 completed doses of a 2-dose series of the COVID-19 vaccine), and encourage employees to receive their booster shot if eligible, unless due to a bona fide medical and/or sincerely held religious reason in which case a reasonable accommodation will be discussed unless it causes an undue hardship to City Winery.  

 

Position Summary:

The Wine Director is an essential member of the Beverage team. This role aids the General Managers and Operations Manager by providing excellent oversight, management of, and training on a vast variety of international wines in a timely and accurate manner. Providing support with skill and professionalism, this role will be responsible for a wide variety of purchasing, training, event organization, sales, and oversight functions. In addition to maintaining our vision by adhering to our values, this position must provide the highest level of service to our staff, partners, and guests.

 

The Wine Director supervises day-to-day maintenance of non-CW wine inventories and inventory software; communicates with internal teams and outside vendors; reviews sales and manages accurate and timely purchasing; reviews and updates wine menus (Wine Tomes) and related marketing assets.


This position is designed to strengthen City Winery’s positioning as a food-, beverage- and service-centric destination with focus on hospitality and education, through providing expert wine training, assistance and support, and aiding in accurate, clear and timely inventory maintenance and reporting, as well as public event programming.

 

Minimum Qualifications

·        5 years restaurant service experience required

·        3 years experience as a wine and beverage buyer at a restaurant required

·        3 years management experience required

·        Experience training and coaching teams in service, food, beverage, and wine offerings

·        Experience with cellar organization and binning systems preferred

·        Outstanding knowledge of wine, beer, spirits, and cocktails, their origins, and ingredients

·        Current knowledge of local and national beverage markets: offerings, limits and beverage related laws

·        Demonstrated competence with cloud-based based software (Google Drive), Microsoft Office, Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Excel

·        Familiarity with POS Systems, beverage inventory software, and event management systems preferred

·        Ability to maintain confidentiality of sensitive materials and information

·        Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal

·        Public speaking experience preferred

·        Excellent organizational and multitasking skills

·        Ability to maintain excellent customer service skills and presence in the midst of a fast-paced, changing environment

·        Ability to identify and resolve problems efficiently

  

Overview of Responsibilities

Purchasing

·        Manage external wine selections within the approved budget and partnership plan approved by the National Beverage Director

·        Create an extensive, diverse, and accessible wine list of international wines

·        Practice creative purchasing and staff training of pars to maintain a full & diverse list, without depleting staff favorites

·        Ensure attention is given to City Winery-produced wines on both the wine list and by staff

·        Manage all purchasing information; invoices, contracts and company credit card receipts ensuring accurate record keeping and timely submittal of documentation and (expense) reports to finance

·        Coordinate and maintain vendor and supplier information

·        Assist City Winery locations with purchasing of wine, beer, liquor, and non-alcoholic beverage on as-needed basis

 

Beverage Storage Maintenance

·        Coordinate and manage storage organization for all beverage ingredients and alcoholic beverages, including but not limited to wine (kegs, bottles, etc.), liquor, beer, water, mixers, etc.

·        Develop and implement location-specific binning and cellar management systems for proper storage and access to for Non-City Winery wines

·        Work with receiving and management teams to set up and maintain organization of wine storage room

·        Monitor wine storage conditions for storage spaces (temperature, physical organization, etc.); create areas of storage for different temperatures

·        Supervise the restocking and organization of each area

 

Training

·        Assist planning and implementing Beverage training and SOP materials

·        Maintain communication with local teams about regular staff trainings regarding wines and wine service

·        Maintain an updated handbook of printed materials and tech sheets to help staff learn wines

·        Conduct tastings and discussions (in person and virtually) of new glass pours at changeovers

·        Conduct monthly staff tests or quizzes of wine knowledge, with special focus on glass pours

 

Inventory

·        Manage beverage inventory software, including but not limited to new item creation, recipe & modifier creation and updates, sales mapping, transfers, depletions, and reconciliation.

·        Complete and document monthly inventory in your location

·        Provide monthly overview of non-City Winery wine inventory status, opportunities, and successes to the National Beverage Director

 

Public Events

·        Develop and maintain relationships with distributors and importers through scheduled tasting appointments, portfolio tastings, wine seminars, and the occasional travel to wine regions

·        Facilitate access to winemakers for wine events and dinners

·        Encourage distributors to hold portfolio tastings at CW

·        Work with distributors, importers, winemakers and other contacts to bring industry leaders to CW for tastings & pairing dinners; participate with these leaders to select wines for each dinner and work with the chef to create pairing menu

·        Create and maintain files on contracts for beverage event records (menus, sets ups, AV requests and correspondence for each event; build historical files for repeat customers or similar events

·        Create, post and keep up to date location and event calendar coordinating with National Beverage Director and location General Manager

 

Other Duties

·        Participate in service in an active sales capacity, leading and guiding a sommelier team

·        Submit entries for wine list awards (Wine Spectator, etc.)

·        Represent City Winery within the industry in varied capacity as needed

·        Perform other duties as assigned by the National Beverage Director

 

This is a full time benefits-eligible position. We offer health insurance with Company contribution towards premium, generous paid time off policy, commuter benefits,  401K Retirement Plan, Volunteer Opportunities, Flexible Spending Accounts including pre-tax commuter benefits and parking, & more depending on position and other Company eligibility requirements.

 


Details
Salary To be discussed
Schedule Full Time
Experience Minimum 3 years of experience
Location 1200 W Randolph St, Chicago, IL 60607, USA
Category Music Venue
Cuisine American

Skills
Wine knowledge
Restaurant Management
beverage buyer
By applying you confirm you have these skills.

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1200 W Randolph St, Chicago, IL 60607, USA