Director, Destinations Food & Beverage Operations

Job Summary
The Director of Food & Beverage – Shoreside is responsible for the overall leadership, operational performance, financial management, guest experience, and strategic development of all Food & Beverage operations at Carnival Cruise Line’s RelaxAway at Half Moon Cay.

This position serves as the senior Food & Beverage leader on the island and is accountable for ensuring that all culinary, beverage, dining, service, sanitation, food safety, provisioning, staffing, and operational standards are consistently executed.

The Director will lead a high-performing Food & Beverage organization while working closely with Carnival Cruise Line shipboard teams, Destination Operations, Shoreside Food & Beverage leadership, Supply Chain, Finance, HESS/Public Health, Technical Services, Human Resources, and other key partners.
The position requires a highly visible, hands-on leader who can balance guest experience, operational excellence, food quality, financial performance, compliance, and team development within the unique environment of a remote private-island destination.
The Director will establish and maintain the operational standards necessary to deliver a consistent Carnival guest experience while identifying opportunities to improve quality, efficiency, revenue, cost control, sustainability, and overall destination performance.

Key Accountabilities/Job Functions

1. Overall Food & Beverage Leadership

• Provide strategic and operational leadership for all Food & Beverage operations at RelaxAway at Half Moon Cay.
• Establish clear expectations, accountability, and performance standards for all F&B leaders and team members.
• Oversee culinary, beverage, dining, service, BOH, sanitation, and supporting F&B operations.
• Maintain a highly visible leadership presence throughout daily operations.
• Ensure all F&B areas are properly prepared, staffed, stocked, clean, and operational prior to guest arrival.
• Establish clear lines of communication and chain of command across shipboard, shoreside, and island operations.
• Serve as the primary on-island F&B leader and subject-matter expert.
• Ensure consistency between Carnival’s brand standards and the unique requirements of a private-island operation.

2. Guest Experience & Service Excellence

• Own the overall Food & Beverage guest experience at RelaxAway at Half Moon Cay.
• Establish and maintain exceptional standards for food quality, service, presentation, cleanliness, and hospitality.
• Monitor guest feedback, satisfaction results, complaints, and operational trends.
• Develop corrective action plans when guest expectations or performance standards are not achieved.
• Identify opportunities to enhance the guest journey from arrival through dining and departure.
• Ensure menus, signage, promotions, service standards, and guest-facing materials accurately communicate the F&B offering.
• Partner with Destination Operations to identify opportunities to increase guest engagement and F&B participation.
• Support VIP, concierge, special-event, and premium guest experiences.
• Ensure consistent execution of Carnival service standards across all F&B outlets.

3. Culinary Operations

• Provide leadership and direction to the culinary operation.
• Ensure consistent execution of menus, recipes, portion sizes, production standards, and presentation.
• Monitor food quality, consistency, freshness, temperature, holding, and overall product execution.
• Establish effective production planning based on expected guest counts, menus, operating schedules, and historical consumption.
• Work with culinary leadership to improve menus and product offerings.
• Identify opportunities to improve food quality, throughput, efficiency, and guest satisfaction.
• Ensure appropriate staffing levels and culinary station assignments.
• Establish and maintain opening, operating, closing, and cleaning procedures.
• Monitor food waste and product utilization.
• Ensure proper management of allergens and prevention of cross-contact/cross-contamination.
• Partner with shipboard culinary leadership when applicable to ensure alignment of standards and expectations.

4. Beverage Operations

• Provide oversight of all beverage operations at RelaxAway at Half Moon Cay.
• Ensure consistent execution of beverage service, presentation, quality, and guest service standards.
• Monitor beverage availability, inventory, par levels, and product utilization.
• Support beverage revenue-generation initiatives and promotions.
• Ensure responsible beverage service practices are followed.
• Monitor beverage costs, product usage, and variances.
• Identify opportunities to enhance beverage offerings based on guest preferences, destination characteristics, and operational requirements.
• Partner with shoreside and shipboard beverage leadership to implement appropriate standards and initiatives.

5. Food Safety, Sanitation & Public Health

• Maintain full accountability for Food & Beverage sanitation and food safety standards.
• Ensure compliance with Carnival, HESS, HACCP, public health, regulatory, and destination requirements.
• Establish a culture of proactive food safety rather than reactive compliance.
• Conduct regular operational inspections and audits of culinary, BOH, FOH, beverage, storage, and service areas.
• Ensure appropriate food temperatures, storage, labeling, dating, cooling, reheating, and holding procedures.
• Ensure proper cleaning and sanitizing procedures are implemented and consistently executed.
• Monitor pest-control activities and environmental conditions affecting food operations.
• Immediately address deficiencies and establish corrective and preventative action plans.
• Partner with HESS/Public Health and other regulatory stakeholders during inspections and follow-up activities.
• Maintain appropriate documentation and operational records.

6. Financial Management & Cost Control

• Own the financial performance of the island’s Food & Beverage operation.
• Develop and manage annual operating plans, budgets, forecasts, and financial targets.
• Monitor food cost, beverage cost, labor cost, supplies, waste, and other controllable expenses.
• Analyze financial performance and identify opportunities for improvement.
• Develop corrective action plans for unfavorable financial variances.
• Monitor revenue performance and identify opportunities for incremental F&B revenue.
• Establish appropriate inventory controls and accountability.
• Review purchasing and product usage to ensure cost-effective operations.
• Support business cases for capital investments and operational improvements.
• Participate in the development and management of annual CAPEX requirements.

7. Inventory, Provisioning & Supply Chain

• Ensure adequate food, beverage, disposable, cleaning, smallwares, and operational supplies are available to support daily operations.
• Establish appropriate par levels and inventory controls.
• Monitor inventory levels, usage, shortages, spoilage, and variances.
• Partner with Supply Chain and shipboard teams to ensure reliable provisioning and logistics.
• Forecast product requirements based on projected passenger counts, menus, events, seasonality, and operating schedules.
• Identify opportunities to improve ordering accuracy and reduce waste.
• Ensure proper receiving, storage, rotation, and security of products.
• Develop contingency plans for delayed shipments, shortages, weather disruptions, equipment failures, or other island-specific challenges.

8. Staffing & Talent Development

• Lead, coach, develop, and hold the island Food & Beverage team accountable.
• Establish appropriate staffing models based on forecasted business levels and operational requirements.
• Participate in recruiting, interviewing, onboarding, and selection of F&B leadership and team members.
• Develop training programs for culinary, service, beverage, sanitation, and operational standards.
• Establish performance expectations and conduct regular performance reviews.
• Identify high-potential employees and develop succession plans.
• Promote a culture of teamwork, accountability, respect, communication, and continuous improvement.
• Ensure appropriate scheduling and deployment of personnel.
• Address performance issues promptly and in accordance with company policy.
• Foster a positive and professional work environment.

9. SOPs, Standards & Operational Excellence

• Develop, implement, maintain, and continuously improve F&B Standard Operating Procedures.
• Establish opening and closing procedures for all F&B areas.
• Develop station-specific operating standards and checklists.
• Establish cleaning and sanitation schedules.
• Ensure SOPs are trained, implemented, audited, and consistently followed.
• Identify operational inefficiencies and develop solutions.
• Standardize best practices across all F&B outlets.
• Establish measurable operational KPIs.
• Use data and operational observations to drive continuous improvement.
• Ensure changes to procedures are effectively communicated and implemented.

10. Emergency & Contingency Management

Because Half Moon Cay is a remote destination, the Director must maintain strong contingency planning capabilities.

Responsibilities include:

• Develop and maintain F&B contingency plans for operational disruptions.
• Prepare for weather-related interruptions and transportation/logistics challenges.
• Develop contingency plans for power, water, refrigeration, cooking equipment, provisioning, and food-service disruptions.
• Establish alternative food production and service strategies when normal operations are compromised.
• Coordinate with Destination Operations, shipboard leadership, Technical Services, HESS, and other departments during emergencies.
• Ensure teams understand emergency procedures and responsibilities.
• Maintain operational readiness for unexpected changes in guest counts, ship schedules, weather, or island conditions.

11. Cross-Functional Leadership

The Director will work closely with:

• Destination Director / General Manager
• Carnival Cruise Line shipboard leadership
• Shoreside Food & Beverage leadership
• Executive Chefs and Culinary leadership
• Beverage leadership
• Restaurant/Dining leadership
• HESS / Public Health
• Supply Chain
• Finance
• Human Resources
• Technical Services / Engineering
• Procurement
• IT
• Sustainability / Environmental teams
• Security
• Concessionaire and third-party partners, where applicable

The Director will establish strong communication between all stakeholders to ensure the island operates with one clear F&B strategy, one set of standards, and one accountable leadership structure.

Perform other duties as assigned.

Adheres to Corporate Policies and Procedures, including Code of Conduct, Audit Procedures and any control related responsibility for financial data entered, stored, or reported via business systems within employee’s control (list not exhaustive).

Ongoing Obligation

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities needed

• Scope: Overseeing and enhancing the food and beverage experiences at HMC. This leadership position entails comprehensive management of both third-party food and beverage operators and internal F&B operations, ensuring seamless and high-quality service delivery (both in terms of guest experience, food and beverage quality, and public health).
• Problem solving: Including performing audits for guest service, F&B quality, and public health. Implement corrective and preventative action plans in case of non-compliance.
• Impact: The Director will also be instrumental in defining and implementing the food and beverage model for the destination, encompassing menu development, operating procedures and standards, staffing model and levels, KPI development, cost management, sourcing of F&B and supplies, and provisioning/logistics.
• Leadership: Lead the business needs and operations.

HESS Responsibilities

• Lead by example by ‘respecting and protecting’ the health and safety of yourself and others
• Ensure your team and colleagues speak up report all accidents, ‘near miss’ incidents and work related ill health conditions
• Help your team follow HESS rules and procedures by promoting the HESS Golden Rules
• Attend HESS training & conduct risk assessments where required
• Demonstrate HESS leadership in accordance with our Heroes of Safe & Well programme.

HESS Responsibilities

• Lead by example by ‘respecting and protecting’ the health and safety of yourself and others
• Ensure your team and colleagues speak up report all accidents, ‘near miss’ incidents and work-related ill health conditions
• Help your team follow HESS rules and procedures by promoting the HESS Golden Rules
• Attend HESS training & conduct risk assessments where required
• Demonstrate HESS leadership in accordance with our Heroes of Safe & Well programme.

Essential/Minimum Qualifications

Bachelor's Degree in Hotel/F&B Management.

Essential Experience Required

10 + years of full-services Hospitality experience. Restaurant, culinary and catering experience required. Cruise operations or large hotel environment preferred. Multi-unit experience in a matrix organization. Restaurant, culinary and catering experience required, food sanitation proficiency, strong computer literacy, F&B design. Environmental and regulatory compliance acumen as it applies to cruise vessels or US land-based operations.

About Us

Carnival Corporation & plc is the largest global cruise company and among the largest leisure travel companies in the world. Our eight leading cruise brands are Carnival Cruise Line, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, and Seabourn in North America; P&O Cruises and Cunard in the United Kingdom; AIDA Cruises in Germany; and Costa Cruises in Southern Europe.

Our portfolio of exclusive Caribbean destinations includes:

• Celebration Key – The Bahamas

• RelaxAway, Half Moon Cay – The Bahamas

• Princess Cays – The Bahamas

• Isla Tropical – Honduras

• Amber Cove – Dominican Republic

• Grand Turk – Turks & Caicos

• Puerta Maya - Mexico