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Job Description
Job Title: Head of Beverage
Location: Ascot Racecourse, Royal Ascot, High Street, Ascot, SL5 7JX
Salary: up to £53,000 per annum + 10% performance Bonus and £1,300 Flexible benefit funds
Hours: 40 Hours / 5 days out of 7 days
Site Perks: Raceday tickets
Job Introduction
Take the Lead Behind an Iconic Beverage Operation
Behind every unforgettable occasion at Ascot Racecourse is an operation built on exceptional planning, precision, and teamwork.
Sodexo Live! is looking for an experienced Head of Beverage to take ownership of the beverage operation across Royal Ascot, racedays, conferences, private functions, and major external events.
This is a substantial, high-profile operation supporting up to 30 fine dining restaurants, 215 private boxes, and 150 retail units. You will oversee everything required to keep it performing at its best from purchasing, forecasting, and stock security to labor planning, financial control, and live event delivery.
Reporting to the Head of Operations
You will bring structure, commercial focus, and strong leadership to a complex department where preparation matters, standards are uncompromising, and no two events are the same.
What You'll Do
- Take ownership of beverage planning and operational readiness across racedays, Royal Ascot, conferences, and external events.
- Lead purchasing, forecasting, and inventory control, ensuring the right products are available without creating unnecessary stockholding or waste.
- Manage beverage cost of sales, labor expenditure, and departmental budgets, investigating variances and taking timely corrective action.
- Oversee stock reconciliation, invoice processing, and financial reporting, maintaining accurate and secure controls across the site.
- Lead, coach, and develop the Cellar Managers and Stock Controller, creating a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
- Work in partnership with Hospitality, Retail, Culinary, Finance, Commercial, and Event Operations teams to deliver a coordinated event operation.
- Manage supplier performance, delivery schedules, and product quality while building productive commercial relationships.
- Maintain high standards of licensing, food safety, equipment compliance, and safe working practices throughout the department.
- Review performance following each event and translate operational feedback and financial data into practical improvement plans.
- Standardize processes and introduce new ideas that improve service consistency, efficiency, and overall performance.
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What You Bring
Essential
- Significant experience managing beverage operations within a large-scale hospitality, stadia, events, or contract catering environment.
- Proven experience leading operational teams in a fast-paced environment.
- Strong commercial awareness with experience managing labor, budgets, and stock.
- Excellent knowledge of beverage stock management and inventory systems.
- Strong financial and analytical skills.
- Excellent planning and organizational skills.
- Experience leading teams through operational change and continuous improvement.
- Strong communication and stakeholder management skills.
- Highly visible leadership style with a hands-on approach to operational delivery.
- Excellent Microsoft Office skills, particularly Excel.
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Desirable
- WSET or equivalent beverage qualification.
- Forklift license or experience managing mechanical handling operations.
- Knowledge of EPOS and stock management systems.
Why Join Sodexo Live!?
This is an opportunity to make your mark within one of the most prestigious sporting and events environments in the world.
You will have genuine ownership of a complex beverage operation, the support of an experienced multidisciplinary leadership team, and the platform to introduce improvements that can be seen across some of the venue’s biggest occasions.
Alongside your role-specific package, you will have access to Sodexo’s wider benefits, wellbeing support, pension scheme, employee discounts, and learning and development opportunities.
At Sodexo Live!, you will be part of a team that creates memorable experiences at extraordinary venues while building a career with a global organization.
Ready to lead an operation where preparation, performance, and guest experience come together? Apply today and become part of the team behind Ascot’s most memorable events.
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