The Denver Press Club, the oldest operating press club in the United States, is looking for a general manager to help it at a key point in its history.
The organization, still in its two-story downtown building constructed in 1925, needs a general manager with strong sales skills to find new events business for the Club. The top priority is growing revenue by booking business and social events, from meetings to weddings.
At the same time, the general manager will supervise bartenders and other staff and work with outside vendors to provide beverage and food service to members and renters. In this time of transition, our manager must strike the delicate balance between implementing change and making those members feel valued.
Hospitality and food service experience is a plus, as is a background in membership clubs. But the successful candidate must have the contacts, the plan, and the desire to market the club externally and rent the space to bring in revenue.
The position pays a base salary plus incentive pay based on success in generating rental revenue. For a full description of the job and its requirements, please see below.
General Manager
Denver Press Club — Denver, CO
About the Denver Press Club
With a mission “to further the ethics and ideals of journalism …,” the Denver Press Club is the oldest continuously running press club in the United States. Denver journalists met as “a press club” in 1867 and incorporated as “the Denver Press Club” in 1877, a year after Colorado became the 38th state. The DPC sits in a historic two-story building in downtown Denver and has 400 members whose professions range from media and journalism to political, nonprofit and others. The club hosts multiple events per year.
Position Summary
The Denver Press Club (DPC) is looking for an innovative General Manger capable and eager to take the lead in promoting the DPC as a premier events venue as well as helping invigorate a new generation of potential members to take part in its programming and membership options. A successful GM candidate will have experience with event marketing, sales and coordination as well as restaurant management. The GM will actively participate in marketing outreach and sales efforts for the Club, coordinate events from conception through completion, anticipate project needs, create Club services budget/s, and manage priorities and deadlines. In addition, the GM will be responsible for the management of a small staff of part time employees and will handle the administration of club operations.
Events will occur primarily in the evenings and weekends, and the successful candidate will be flexible to work the hours and times required. This is a full-time, salaried position with additional compensation based on event bookings. This position will report to the Club’s president.
Essential Functions:
Club marketing and sales, event planning and management of venue and employees.
- Promotes and markets the facility as a venue for corporate, private and community events.
- Develops ideas and concepts for events and carries them through to completion.
- Provides prospective clients with tours and information about the Club and its services.
- Negotiates and signs contracts with clients for the use of the Club
- Plans, coordinates, attends and evaluates Club events.
- Maintains a complete file of each event, including the contract, payments, floorplan, special instructions, notes, final evaluation of the event and any other relevant information.
- Attends all regular Board meetings and provides a management report.
- Handles guest complaints and disputes and resolve them to satisfactory results.
- Sets guest experience targets within 60 days of start and reviews guest feedback to ensure we meet or exceed guest experience targets
- Acts as a liaison between staff and event hosts for special events and venue rental
- Establishes restaurant business plan within 60 days of start by surveying club demand; conferring with people in the community; identifying and evaluating competitors; preparing financial, marketing, and sales projections, analyses, and estimates.
- Helps club’s board meets financial objectives by assisting in the preparation of strategic and annual forecasts and budgets; helping with the analysis of variances; initiating corrective actions; assisting in establishing and monitoring financial controls; and developing and implementing strategies to increase average sales.
- Attracts clients, members, customers and patrons by developing and implementing marketing, advertising, public and community relations programs; evaluating program results; identifying and tracking changing demands.
- Controls purchases and inventory; negotiating prices and contracts; developing preferred supplier lists; reviewing and evaluating usage reports; analyzing variances; taking corrective actions.
- Maintains operations by preparing policies and standard operating procedures with board approval; implementing production, productivity, quality, and patron-service standards; determining and implementing system improvements.
- Maintains client and member satisfaction by monitoring, evaluating, and auditing food, beverage, and service offerings; initiating improvements; building relationships with preferred clients.
- Accomplishes club and bar human resource objectives by recruiting, selecting, orienting, training, assigning, scheduling, coaching, counseling, and disciplining management staff; communicating job expectations; planning, monitoring, appraising, and reviewing job contributions; planning and reviewing compensation actions; enforcing policies and procedures.
- Maintains safe, secure, and healthy facility environment by establishing, following, and enforcing sanitation standards and procedures; complying with health and legal regulations; maintaining security systems.
- Ensures club passes all health, safety and other on-site regulatory inspections.
Required Skills and Qualifications:
- High school diploma required; bachelor’s degree preferred
- 2-3 years of venue / bar general management or similar experience
- Sales skills and ability to build productive business relationships
- Creative and enterprising in sales and marketing strategies
- Excellent time management and communication skills
- Ability to come up with creative solutions under tight financial restraints
- Ability to manage multiple projects independently and on budget
- Calm demeanor with the ability to work well under pressure
- Extremely organized
- Excellent interpersonal skills, with a customer-centered personality
- Customer-first approach to the service and hospitality industries
- Creative, with an eye for detail
- Ability to work flexible hours
- Familiarity with kitchen equipment and operations
- Bartending experience a plus
Certificates, licenses, administrations:
- Valid Driver’s License.
Physical demands:
While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit; talk; hear; and use hands and fingers to handle and feel. The employee is often required to stand; walk; bend; reach with hands and arms; climb or balance; and stoop or kneel. The employee must regularly lift and/or move 20 – 50 pounds, often up one to two flights of stairs. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision.
Work Environment:
While performing the essential functions of this job, the employee is usually indoors, in a controlled environment, and experiences a moderate noise level in the work environment.
Compensation and Benefits:
Base salary plus incentive pay based on success in event bookings
Job Type: Full-Time
The Denver Press Club is an equal opportunity employer.
Please send coverletter and resume to: president@denverpressclub.org
