Dining Room and Member Experience Manager

Dining Room & Member Experience Manager

The Guard House is not meant to feel like a traditional dining room. It's meant to feel personal, familiar, warm, and deeply connected to the members who call it their home away from home. The Dining Room & Member Experience Manager plays a central role in protecting that feeling.

This role is responsible for leading daily dining room service, supporting front of house staff, managing reservations and member requests, assisting with events, and maintaining service standards. More importantly, this is a relationship first leadership role. The right person becomes a trusted presence in the dining room, building genuine relationships with members and their families, remembering preferences and milestones, anticipating needs, and making every visit feel personal.

The Guard House succeeds when it feels less like a restaurant and more like walking into your own dining room at home. This position is essential to preserving that culture while continuing to elevate service, hospitality, and member satisfaction.

Member Experience & Relationship Building

• Build genuine, long-term relationships with members, guests, and their families
• Create a warm, familiar, and welcoming environment where members feel known and cared for
• Learn and remember member preferences, dining habits, celebrations, and personal milestones
• Utilize emotional intelligence, discretion, and professionalism to personalize the member experience
• Serve as a constant and trusted presence in the dining room
• Assist with member outreach, reservation follow up, special requests, birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, and other meaningful occasions
• Personally assist with service recovery and turn member concerns into opportunities to strengthen relationships
• Partner with the General Manager to protect the unique culture, chemistry, and personality of the Guard House

Dining Room Leadership

• Actively manage service on the floor with a visible, engaged, and hands on presence
• Control the flow of the dining room, including reservations, pacing, table turns, special requests, and member expectations
• Support the General Manager in implementing and maintaining Union League and Guard House service standards
• Conduct daily pre-shift meetings with the front of house
• Lead by example in professionalism, tone, appearance, communication, and service execution
• Support the team during service wherever needed
• Communicate effectively with the culinary team to ensure alignment between the dining room and kitchen
• Maintain a calm, even tempered, and solutions focused presence during busy or challenging services

Staff Development & Team Culture

• Support hiring, onboarding, orientation, and training of front-of-house employees
• Help create a team culture built on warmth, accountability, hospitality, and pride in the Guard House
• Coach staff in member recognition, service standards, menu knowledge, beverage knowledge, and emotional intelligence
• Provide real-time feedback and follow up training as needed
• Complete the weekly schedule based on business levels, events, labor needs, and budget guidelines
• Ensure side work, opening duties, closing duties, and dining room checklists are clear, current, and completed consistently

Reservations, Events, & Special Occasions

• Oversee day-to-day reservations and ensure member requests are handled thoughtfully and accurately
• Manage reservation notes, preferences, special occasions, waitlists, and member follow up
• Work closely with the General Manager and culinary team to prepare for holidays, private events, wine dinners, and high-volume services
• Help create personalized touches for reservations, including flowers, cakes, note cards, preferred tables, and other special requests
• Support the planning and execution of private parties, member events, holiday events, and special programming
• Ensure event details are communicated clearly to culinary, service, and support teams

Food, Beverage, & Administrative Support

• Maintain strong knowledge of current menus, wine selections, cocktails, spirits, and beverage offerings
• Support staff education around food, wine, cocktails, and service language
• Partner with leadership to promote dining functions, wine events, tastings, and special offerings
• Assist with beverage inventory, order sheets, product organization, and beverage storage as needed
• Use and help maintain systems including Sevenrooms, Jonas, ADP, Beverage Metrics, and other Union League platforms
• Ensure menus, pricing, POS items, sales categories, printed materials, and website information are accurate and current
• Respond to emails and phone calls in a timely, professional, and member focused manner
• Assist with financial reporting, daily sales information, payroll, inventory, and assigned spreadsheets as needed

Property & Club Wide Awareness

• Serve as an ambassador for the Guard House and the Union League
• Develop strong working relationships with other departments and properties
• Maintain knowledge of Union League properties, dining rooms, amenities, events, and member offerings
• Help connect members with the appropriate resources across the League when needed
• Communicate building, maintenance, cleanliness, or safety concerns to the appropriate departments
• Contribute ideas that improve the member experience, staff experience, and overall operation

Skills & Competencies

• High emotional intelligence
• Warm, genuine, and relationship driven personality
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills
• Professional appearance and polished demeanor
• Calm, even tempered, and composed under pressure
• Self-directed, proactive, and organized
• Strong attention to detail
• Strong service recovery skills
• Ability to coach, train, and hold staff accountable
• Comfortable working closely with culinary and service teams
• Flexible and willing to assist wherever needed
• Ability to balance professionalism with warmth and personality
• Sales minded while remaining hospitality focused
• Passion for private club service and member relationships

Requirements

• At least 6 years of restaurant, private club, hotel, hospitality, or food and beverage management experience
• Experience leading or supervising front of house staff
• Strong understanding of elevated service standards
• Beverage, wine, or cocktail knowledge
• Proficiency or willingness to learn systems such as Sevenrooms, Jonas, ADP, Beverage Metrics, and Microsoft Office

Schedule Requirements

• This is primarily an evening role, Tuesday through Sunday, based on dining room, event and member needs. The Dining Room & Member Experience Manager will receive two days off per week, with the schedule determined by business levels and operational needs. This position requires availability to work evenings, weekends, and key holidays, including Easter, Mother's Day, New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, Thanksgiving, and other major club events.

Compensation

Salary is open and commensurate with qualifications and experience. The club offers an excellent bonus and benefits package, including:

• Employee meals
• Energetic, multi-faceted, team-oriented work atmosphere
• Exposure to a national market
• Opportunities for promotion from within
• Health Insurance
• Vision Insurance
• Dental Insurance
• Life and Disability Insurance
• Flexible Spending and Health Savings Accounts
• Employee Assistance Program
• 401(k) plan with Company Match
• Paid Time Off (PTO)
• Paid Holidays, Bereavement, and Jury Duty
• Paid Pregnancy/Parental leave
• Tuition Reimbursement

Key Measures of Success

• Members feel personally known, welcomed, and cared for
• The Guard House maintains its warm, familiar, 'home away from home' feeling
• Service is consistent, polished, and member focused
• Staff are trained, supported, and held accountable
• Communication between the dining room, kitchen, and leadership is strong