- Senior
- Office in Chicago
About Puttshack:
Puttshack is an upscale, tech-infused mini golf experience that appeals to everyone. More than just indoor mini golf, Puttshack leans on its ground-breaking technology to elevate the game while also serving world-class food and full bar in a cool environment. The Puttshack experience is really all about having fun - and doing something fun - together.
Our Purpose: To bring everyone in to play.
Our Vision: To be the universal answer to the question 'Where should we get together?'
Our Mission: To create lasting memories for people of all generations through a shared, world-class entertainment experience.
Our Values:
- Bring your 'A' game - We strive for excellence in everything we do.
- Lead the Way - Our associates embrace and are inspired by change.
- Own the Fun - We revel in our guests' enjoyment.
- Care Deeply - We take great care of our guests, our associates and the communities we call home.
Location: This position is a hybrid role, with 3 days onsite at our Home Office in Chicago (River North), IL.
Position Summary:
The Director of Beverage will drive the company’s beverage and bar innovation agenda, translating trends, consumer insights, and customer needs into strategic initiatives to create competitive advantages for Puttshack. This role leads the development and management of the Puttshack’s bar and beverage program, serves as a key interface with internal and external customers, and provides leadership and development to the operations and culinary teams. The position will drive process standardization, manage menu and recipe development following cost guidelines based on labor models and supply chain availability, lead customer service delivery, support the development of training programs, and deliver financial growth targets using an analytical and operational mindset. The ideal candidate brings a blend of creative expertise, strategic thinking, and people leadership to elevate the bar experience across the brand.
Position Responsibilities may include, but not limited to:
Beverage Strategy Leadership
• Functions as the strategic business leader of the brand’s bar operation for all venues.
• Position oversees the development and implementation of departmental strategies and ensures implementation of the brand execution strategy and initiatives.
• Partner with Operations and Training to create and validate initial training and ongoing development of our bartenders and other associates.
• Lead the identification of trends, flavor profiles, and emerging beverages to inspire innovation.
• Management of Material Resources - obtaining and seeing to the appropriate use of equipment, facilities, and materials needed to do certain work.
• Partner with marketing, finance, and sales to ensure product development is complete with trends and cost in mind so that the concept has the greatest success to be acceptable to customers.
• Drive innovation initiatives with cross-functional partners (operations, purchasing, marketing, sales & research and development).
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure menu offerings deliver efficiency, scalability, and creative value.
• Creates and manages departmental budget.
Customer & Trend Analysis & Insights
• Serve as a primary contact for key customers, providing menu ideation, tasting presentations, and strategic input.
• Support customer innovation sessions and co-creation initiatives.
• Analyze consumer behavior, competitive activity, and industry innovations to inform development.
• With procurement, be able to identify, partner, develop, and manage a supplier base to deliver technical and creative product solutions when needed.
People Leadership & Development
• Lead and develop a high-performing team of hospitality professionals.
• Provide mentorship, performance management, and career development opportunities.
• Foster a collaborative, inclusive, and creative team culture.
• Adding insights, using industry inputs, to optimize org structure.
• Other projects or duties as assigned.
Required Skills and Experience:
• Bachelor’s Degree in Hotel & Restaurant Management, Hospitality Management, Culinary Management or a related Business Degree.
• 8+ years of progressive leadership experience in Food & Beverage, R&D, product innovation, or training, including leadership roles.
• Experience includes managing a high volume, multi-unit organization and 20+ locations previously.
• Demonstrated record of launching successful products and leading training programs for geographically dispersed teams.
• Requires solid Financial and administrative background with excellent time management and problem resolution skills.
• Excellent hospitality experience in building, developing and implementing new and creative Food & Beverage concepts and experiences.
• Excellent track record of developing and implementing property-wide, scalable strategies.
Preferred Skills and Experience:
• Experience in working in a corporate office setting and working inter-departmentally to meet and exceed company goals and targets.
Physical Requirements:
Physical activities on a continuous basis, sit at desk for a long period of time; frequent use of telephone/video conferencing and write or use a keyboard to communicate through written means. Some walking and lifting, up to 25 lbs. may be required. The noise level in the work environment is
typically low to moderate. The physical demands described above are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions and responsibilities of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions and responsibilities.
