career profile

results-oriented management professional with sales, service, and culinary experience within fast-paced environments. proven capacity to handle various functions necessary in leading the operations of a successful company. dynamic communicator and persuasive speaker, able to forge meaningful associations with internal/external customers, colleagues, and management. talent to consistently meet periodic and annual sales objectives and quotas. demonstrated leadership for developing and implementing plans that successfully meet the operational objectives of an organization.

 

business development / management / communication / sales strategy / training

 supervision / professional development / human relations / written & verbal communication

professional experience

olive garden, pittsburgh, pennsylvania

culinary/sales manager, march 2006 - present

• convert an underperforming restaurant into a top performing restaurant country-wide in less than11 months.
• select and train 60% of highly skilled culinary/service employees and motivate and retains them by providing ongoing training and development.
• select, train and retain highly skilled service-oriented and hospitality-focused employees.
• conduct and coordinate ongoing training for employees and managers to develop food and beverage product knowledge and sales skills, focusing on food and wine pairing.
• continually enhance food and beverage product knowledge and is regarded as the restaurant wine and alcohol beverage expert.

 

roxy caf , pittsburgh, pennsylvania

service manager, august 2005 c february 2006

• selected and retained highly skilled service-oriented employees; models the roxy caf principles.
• motivated and retained staff by providing ongoing training and development; and significantly reduced labor by 2.5% in 2 months.
• regularly measured and evaluated service levels and standards using guest and employee feedback and developed plans for continuous improvement.
• conceptualized a unique wine list to offer twice as many selections as the preexisting list.

 

olive garden, pittsburgh, pennsylvania

culinary manager, august 2002 c august 2005

• continually developed culinary employees cooking, food preparation, food safety, food and wine pairing and sanitation skills to ensure the delivery of great tasting, piping hot food.
• headed up successful culinary operations in the most lucrative unit in the pittsburgh market; recognized sales exceeding $4mm in annual sales.
• remained aware of consistent customer satisfaction resulting in maximized guest satisfaction survey scores and reduced labor costs by a total of 2%.

 

b.t. woodlipp dba applebee s, pittsburgh, pennsylvania

kitchen manager, february 2001 c august 2002

• directed the success of new managers and hourly associates through effective training and relevant professional development.
• significantly reduced boh labor by 1.2% and cost of sales by 1.5% in less than 5 months using strong operational strategies and knowledge of business context.
• generated profit/loss statements on behalf of the general manager exhibiting financial management expertise.

education

indiana university of pennsylvania

point park college

serve safe food safety certified