Company description

The Anna Tasca Lanza Cooking School is a farm-to-table cooking school located in Tasca d’Almerita’s 19th-century wine estate in the beautiful, remote Sicilian countryside. Courses are taught by Fabrizia Lanza, cookbook author, video maker and founder Anna Tasca Lanza's daughter, alongside the school chef. The school is set within the 550-hectare family property and includes a working farm and extensive vegetable garden, orchard, and herbal garden, all grown according to organic principles. At the Anna Tasca Lanza Cooking School we celebrate the connection between cooking and farming. Nurturing the land and preparing and sharing a good meal together go hand in hand. The Anna Tasca Lanza Experience teaches a true f‘arm’-to-table ethos. We believe guests should feel just as at home in the garden as in the kitchen, and our ingredients are locally sourced, primarily from the estate.

Job description

The Anna Tasca Lanza Cooking School is looking for someone to act as our hospitality manager. You will act as the first point of contact and hostess to their stay, following the guest from their initial email inquiry to the entirety of their stay. You should be prepared to interact and converse with guests, greeting them when they arrive, joining them for family-style meals, assisting them on local tours and acting as a point of reference. You will be in charge of organizing staff to make sure the stays run smoothly and efficiently and the schedule is feasible. You will also be responsible for posting daily social media to Facebook and Instagram.

The ideal candidate should be passionate about hospitality, organized and driven to lead an international cooking school. They should be well versed in Sicilian culture and able to engage with a diverse audience. Upbeat, a team player and organized. We’re a small but dynamic group that looks for people with a sense of humor but strong self-motivation.

This is a career opportunity to manage an internationally renowned cooking school attracting guests from all over the world. Written up in the likes of the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and other international publications including Vogue Italia and Swiss Air Magazine, the school offers an opportunity to grow your professional hospitality experience but also immerse yourself in Sicilian food and culture. We’ve hosted culinary professionals from around the world including Alice Waters, Darina Allen and Jamie Oliver, writers and food bloggers such as Rachel Roddy and David Lebovitz. You will be part of team developing new workshops, concepts and ideas for the school. If you love good food, good company and have a passion for people, this is the place for you.

Visa Requirements: Non-EU residents/citizens must have a Permesso di Soggiorno (permit of stay) in Italy or another Schengen (EU) country in order to work in Italy or Italian citizenship.

Required Qualifications

• Native English speaker with advanced Italian language skills/ bilingual
• Interest in the school’s mission in teaching sustainable food practices and knowledgeable about global food trends.
• Willing and comfortable being in a remote place, but able to manage everything from crazy hectic moments to very calm and quiet periods A love for the countryside and experience living on farms, no city person can last here.
• Creative, flexible, energetic and attentive to detail
• 5 years work experience, 2 years experience in hospitality management
• Excellent interpersonal communication skills
• Experience with booking, managing a business and staff calendar and Google Drive
• Knowledgeable and passionate about social media
• Ability to drive manual (stick shift) car

Key Responsibilities

• Follow up with all booking email inquiries (from initial inquiry to payment, arrival, stay and departure you will be the host and point of reference for the guests)
• Coordinate guest stays (outline schedules, organize staff, liaison with logistics coordinator, chef and head of housekeeping)
• Join at meals for entertaining and conversation
• Posting daily social media (Instagram and Facebook)
• Along with head housekeeper, oversee housekeeping staff organization and training
• Communicate with guest workshops leaders
• Communicate with chef for guest needs
• On call for any emergency guest needs

Timeline, Schedule and Pay: We are looking for someone willing to commit to two years. The position starts in Spring 2018. This is a full time position and you will be provided with room and board as well as a monthly salary, commensurate upon experience. Bonus incentives for increasing guest occupancy rates. When there are guests present, you need to be here from their arrival to departure. As the manager, you act as head of house. A guest staying 5 nights typically arrives on Monday evening and departs Saturday morning. The school is typically closed 4 weeks in the summer and 4 weeks over the Christmas holidays. You will be given two weeks during the holiday periods where you don’t need to respond to emails.

Compensation

this position is: salaried, less than $50,000

Application instructions

Deadline

March 02, 2018