Tasting Room Manager – Southwest Mountains Vineyards
Job Description
April 9, 2024

Southwest Mountains Vineyards is a first-generation family-owned winery in Keswick, Virginia seeking a full-time Tasting Room Manager for our 12,500 sq. ft. dynamic Tasting Room https://www.smvwines.com/. The ideal candidate will be a strategic ambassador of the winery and will be the daily driving force for creating an environment where visitors and employees both feel safe, valued, respected, and are converted into “Raving Fans”.

Job Description:
The Tasting Room Manager will work directly with the Owner, General Manager and Winemaker to generate sales and grow the company through increased on premises sales of food and beverage, club memberships and specialty off-premises sales. This is an essential position on the Southwest Mountains Vineyards team and is a customer service driven front-line manager. Candidates must have experience leading professionally by example, be an exceptional motivator, a first-string coach, and be able to train others to raise the bar in wine knowledge and create customer centric experiences offered in the winery.

Tasting Room Management:

Responsibilities:
•  Recruit, hire, train, schedule and evaluate all full and part-time hourly tasting room staff.
•  Manage tasting room reservation platform for multi-faceted service areas, wine and food pairings, programs and special on and off premise events ensuring appropriate staffing levels.
•  Hold staff accountable for adhering to policies and procedures, including proper safety guidelines, compliance, reporting, certifications, and record keeping for licensing.
•  Manage daily labor, operations, overhead and sales budgets for the tasting room.
•  Manage and organize the inventory of all tasting room supplies, sales collateral, food, merchandise, and wine and submit weekly wine shipping orders.
•  Perform regular meetings with the Tasting Room team as well as informative daily pre-shift and closing meetings.
•  Develop team sales goals, training initiatives, incentive tools to deliver on key sales metrics and financial deliverables.
•  Oversee the set-up of the tasting room and grounds daily and for all regular programing.
•  Work with the management team to foster activities for a novel wine club and membership program that inspires retention, curates exceptional guest experiences, and drives revenue growth.
•  Maximize revenue through all facets of the tasting room including F & B, merchandise, and wine sales.
•  Direct and oversee the execution of all tasting room practices, promote benefits of wine club membership to staff while creating a high-performance culture that puts the guest experience front and center.
•  Provide ongoing wine education to both staff and customers of Southwest Mountains Vineyards and promote Southwest Mountains Vineyards wines through various sales channels.
•  Administer to all customer service issues and troubleshooting for daily operational challenges.
•  Conduct quarterly competitive market analysis and benchmarking keeping SMV abreast of trends and changes in our marketplace.
•  Oversee the maintenance and care of all assets including the equipment (i.e., POS, communication systems, computers, etc.), furniture, and building maintenance related to hospitality areas.

Qualifications & Experience Requirements:
•  Experience in building and managing teams with a proven track record of supervising teams of 10 or more full and part-time employees as well as overseeing wine and food service in winery tasting room, restaurant or hospitality environment preferred.
•  Able to lead a team in a supportive and positive atmosphere, with solid organizational and problem-solving skills, attention to detail, with the ability to multi-task.
•  Willing to work weekend hours and evenings when special events are scheduled.
•  Knowledge of industry financial reporting, forecasting, and budgeting.
•  Solid personal communication skills and hands-on experience with winery point-of-sales systems, inventory management, DTC systems and shipping software. (WineDirect, Sling, Toast and Tock preferred).
•  Exceptional knowledge of wine and food with a formal education or WSET certification a plus.
•  Must be 21 years of age and have a valid driver’s license.
•  Must be able to lift 40-50 lbs. and stand for long periods of time.

Compensation and Benefits:
Commensurate with Mid-Atlantic industry standards, and work experience.

Commencement:
April 2024

Southwest Mountains Vineyards provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.