Physical Demands and Work Environment

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the functions.

● Regularly required to talk or hear.

● Frequently required to use hands or fingers, handle, or feel objects, tools or controls.

● Frequently required to stand; walk; sit; reach with hands and arms; climb or balance; and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl.

● Must occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds.

● Specific vision abilities required include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, and the ability to adjust focus. The noise level in the work environment is usually loud.

● Depending on location and time of year, extreme high and low temperatures within the building will be experienced.

● Personal protective equipment may be required to be worn for specific duties.
 

La Cocina’s catering program supports La Cocina’s food entrepreneurs in accessing sales opportunities and operational training to cultivate and grow their business, by connecting them to customers who are seeking food and event services. The Catering Sales and Events Coordinator is the primary point of contact between the customer and La Cocina’s catering entrepreneurs, and coordinates all stages of the catering contract from the initial customer inquiry, to the proposal process and closing of a contract, and through to the conclusion of the catering service. This position will deliver hands-on coaching to La Cocina’s caterers and will collaborate with the Incubator Program team to deliver industry-related technical assistance, such as with supporting the caterer in fine tuning their menus, pricing, and successfully preparing for and fulfilling their service. This position is responsible for meeting food catering, bar and venue sales goals.

The ideal candidate is energetic, self-motivated, excellent at multitasking multiple events at a time, with a knack for details, and who is inspired by La Cocina’s 40+ entrepreneurs and is genuinely committed to their growth and success. This individual has a strong catering and hospitality background, is skilled at negotiating the desired service for the customer and caterer, and has the industry know-how to coordinate a range of event resources and logistics. The role incorporates a mix of sales, coordination between multiple parties, and catering/event operations.

The Catering Sales and Events Coordinator is a full-time, exempt position with competitive health, vision, dental, paid time off and 401k benefits, a weekday schedule, including frequent night, weekend and seasonal requirements for on-site and day-of duties. This position works in-person.

JOB DUTIES

Sales and CRM

• Meet and exceed sales goals of our food, La Paloma Bar and Marketplace venue revenue streams
• Upsell, negotiate and knowledgeably promote La Cocina’s products, services and La Cocina’s 40+ caterers
• Manage and cultivate a catering customer email list 
• Execute campaigns that promote our catering offerings
• Conduct outreach proactively for peak-season events such as galas, holiday parties, weddings
• Organize open houses and host tours of La Cocina’s Marketplace to connect wedding and event planners with our venue

Coordination

• Coordinate and execute all La Cocina brokered-catering opportunities, such as with drop-offs to full service catering, cooking classes, bar packages, venue reservations and rentals 
• Respond to catering customer prospects promptly as distributed by the Customer Sales & Intake Specialist
• Build catering proposals and finalize all necessary catering services and logistics with attention to detail from start to finish
• Regularly communicate with the customer and La Cocina’s caterers at every stage of the process to ensure needs are met
• Work closely with the Manager to support La Cocina’s caterers’ readiness to fulfill the service, through coaching and technical support
• Oversee the Catering calendar for on and off-premise events and lead a weekly lineup meeting to ensure that caterers and team are informed and prepared to fulfill catering services
• Conduct marketplace and off-premise site visits, and consult with external clients and event planners to determine objectives and special requirements for events, such as securing rentals, timelines, insurance and permits
• Provide on-site support for catering and other events as needed
• Collaborate with La Cocina’s program team on defining an improvement plan that assists the caterer in strengthening their product and services
• Finalize contract billing details on a weekly basis, ensure customers settle their balance; and review and approve the caterer’s invoices to pay them for their rendered services.
• Work closely with the bookkeeper to accurately close out monthly reconciliation duties

General Expectations

• Communicate kindly and effectively with all staff, customers and caterers and our community
• Follow the organization’s administrative and catering standard operating procedures, and use of Triple Seat catering platform 
• Perform administrative duties such as answering the phone, filing, billing, impact data and sales performance reporting
• Manage a marketplace catering and events calendar in collaboration with the AGM, Enterprise team and Community Manager to ensure reservations and proper support are in place
• Uphold account information with confidentiality
• Attend meetings and training required by the organization
• Perform other duties as assigned by manager

OPTIMAL SKILLS AND QUALIFICATIONS

• Cultural competency and empathy required to work with diverse and BIPOC communities
• Bilingual in Spanish and English highly desired
• At least 4+ years of catering coordination, ideal with onsite execution experience
• Excellent communication skills both in written and verbal format
• Deep understanding of catering and food service industry principles such as generating resources, developing menu and pricing, negotiating and upselling, budgeting, managing a timeline and logistics
• Proven track record of increased catering sales
• Skilled to tap into industry resources such as partners and vendors needed to execute events optimally and cost-effectively
• Proficient in Triple Seat or other Catering Management system, Office, Salesforce, GSuite Services and general use of computer skills
• Strong interpersonal skills
• Highly detail-oriented, responsive and organized
• High level of competency with managing multiple catering contracts and coordinating multiple vendors at a time
• Adaptive and creatively implements solutions to deliver the best outcome
• Self-motivated, strong communication skills, and able to collaborate in a team
• Patient, flexible, good sense of humor
• Valid CA Driver’s license with clean driving record
• Able to speak passionately and articulately about our mission, caterers and products