General Manager for Student Athlete Dining

The Dining Hall Manager reports to the Senior Director of Student Dining within Stanford Residential & Dining Enterprises (R&DE) and serves as the on-site operational leader responsible for the daily execution of the residential student dining meal program and late-night retail operations within an assigned dining hall (as applicable).

This role is accountable for delivering high-quality meals and exceptional hospitality that support student success, well-being, and the overall campus experience. The Dining Hall Manager ensures that all aspects of the dining operation are executed consistently at a high level, including food quality, service standards, cleanliness, and operational reliability. The Dining Hall Manager leads and develops frontline teams, ensuring staffing, training, and day-to-day operations are aligned to meet student demand throughout all meal periods, including late-night service. This role is responsible for creating a welcoming, student-centered environment that fosters connection, care, and community.

Working closely with students, peers, and campus partners, the Dining Hall Manager addresses operational challenges in real time, incorporates student feedback into service improvements, and ensures compliance with all food safety, ADA, and university standards. The role is ultimately responsible for delivering a seamless, high-quality dining experience at the unit level that reflects Stanford's commitment to excellence and hospitality.

This role is designated as essential and requires incumbents to report to work onsite. Telecommuting is not available for this role. Weekend and dinner service hours will be required.

JOB PURPOSE:

Provide hands-on oversight during transaction periods of assigned units in larger and more complex operations to uphold customer service and food quality standards. Will typically be the leader for a standalone unit with more than $750,000 in revenue targets and 5 to 15 FTE. May also be part of the overall leadership team responsible for a large or multiple units with more than $750,000 in revenue targets and a combined size of 15 or more FTE.

CORE DUTIES*:

• Execute a high-quality daily dining experience by consistently meeting standards for food quality, presentation, and hospitality, while achieving unit-level student satisfaction targets.
• Deliver strong student engagement at the unit level by maintaining high participation rates, responding to feedback, and creating a welcoming and inclusive dining environment.
• Ensure compliance and operational integrity by meeting all food safety, ADA, and university standards, and effectively implementing accommodations within the dining hall.
• Achieve financial and operational targets by managing labor, food cost, and waste within established benchmarks, including cost per meal and labor efficiency.
• Maintain excellence in service execution across all meal periods, including late-night retail, ensuring proper staffing, throughput, and service consistency.
• Perform general management duties of the food service manager 1, with a focus on controlling revenue and expenses, and provide strategic input into short and long term goals and talent decisions.
• Uphold customer service standards, and ensure client expectations are met by receiving and resolving customer inquiries, concerns, and/or complaints; perform daily interactive customer discussions.
• Contribute to business optimization by compiling and analyzing data and reports to guide daily operational decisions, ensuring budgetary goals are met, monitoring and meeting the revenue and expenses control goals, establishing and managing annual operational budget, and balancing customer service with labor, cost, and food quality goals (activities include, but are not limited to, the scheduling of labor to meet or exceed budgetary guidelines and productivity standards and the managing of food costs to meet quality and budgetary guidance).
• Optimize employee relations by participating in the processes of interviewing, hiring, training, counseling, mentoring, and evaluating all levels of staff.
• Lead local menu and marketing development by suggesting marketing and merchandizing strategies and features, overseeing strategy implementation, collaborating with staff to create innovative and fun programs and promotions, and planning and executing special events and theme dinners.
• Lead health and safety standard compliance by conducting regular on-site food quality, merchandising, sanitation, equipment maintenance, real-time safety and food handling practices, and staff and facility appearance inspections at assigned unit.

* - Other duties may also be assigned

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:

Education & Experience:

Bachelor's degree in institutional management, nutrition, dietetics, or hotel hospitality. Five years of institutional, hotel, or restaurant food service facility management experience, including large quantity production culinary skills and experience managing unionized employees.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Proven track record of successfully controlling costs and managing annual budgets exceeding one million dollars.
• Proficiency and experience with computerized culinary and menu management software, and knowledge of office and industry software applications.
• Ability to work independently and show creativity and initiative on projects with minimal supervision.
• Ability to effectively supervise and train a diverse work staff.
• Demonstrated proficiency in the research, development, and implementation of new food products.
• Strong technical skills and working knowledge of food production and food safety in a full service restaurant environment.
• Demonstrated experience with a high volume, dynamic, and complex menu cycle that meets a variety of customer tastes.
• Demonstrated experience with daily planning and daily organization.

Certifications and Licenses:

• ServSafe CA Certification.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS*:

• Ability to exert up to 50 pounds of lifting force occasionally and/or a negligible amount of force constantly to move objects.
• Ability to bend, stoop, and perform extensive walking.
• Ability to see and taste food for quality.
• Ability to exert well-paced mobility to move quickly to the different areas of the facility as service and production demands require.

* - Consistent with its obligations under the law, the University will provide reasonable accommodation to any employee with a disability who requires accommodation to perform the essential functions of the job.

WORKING CONDITIONS:

• Work flexible and demanding hours. Frequently work long hours completing widely diverse duties. Subjected to wet floors, temperature extremes, and excessive noise.

WORK STANDARDS:

• Interpersonal Skills: Demonstrates the ability to work well with Stanford colleagues and clients and with external organizations.
• Promote Culture of Safety: Demonstrates commitment to personal responsibility and value for safety; communicates safety concerns; uses and promotes safe behaviors based on training and lessons learned.

Subject to and expected to comply with all applicable University policies and procedures, including but not limited to the personnel policies and other policies found in the University's Administrative Guide