Premium Head Bartender - Manchester, Greater Manchester

Oak View Group

Oak View Group (OVG) is the world’s leading arena development, management, and hospitality company founded in 2015 by Tim Leiweke and Irving Azoff to positively disrupt business as usual. As the largest developer of sports and entertainment facilities in the world, OVG prioritises the way we do business focusing on making long-term investments in our people and our planet.

About the Venue

Co-op Live will offer a food and beverage hospitality service that will put us head and shoulders above the crowd, as we welcome over 23,500 fans and amazing artists to taste the delicious food and drinks unique to the space in Manchester.

With 32 amazing bars and restaurants and 12 premium lounges and clubs – we’re going to be delivering an exceptional hospitality service for the people of Manchester and beyond. On the menu will be great food, seasoned with world class service and all with a planet friendly vibe in the heart of our vibrant community.

Role Purpose

As we gear up to opening our doors, we’re excited to announce we are looking for talented Head Bartenders to work with F&B Supervisors to deliver a unique beverage hospitality experience for our highest end area of premium hospitality. On live events the bar would be supervised by you with the support of a talented and engaged team who instinctively strive to exceed expectations, supporting us in creating the best live music experience in the UK.

Supervised by you on a day-to-day basis with the support of a talented and engaged team who instinctively strive to exceed expectations, supporting us in creating the best live music experience in the UK.

In this role you will: 

• Work with the Food & Beverage Supervisor to maintain a team of talented Hospitality Bar professionals for your area.
• Coach and mentor team members, ensuring they fullfill their potential and are part of our internal succession strategy.
• Know what exceptional service looks and feels like and support our Training Manager and help to deliver a best-in-class training plan for the Bar team.
• Manage “On the Job” training, implementing it into your live event day team and assist with team training and development of your area.
• Proactive preparation and supervision of a premium Bar operational area for all event and non-event days to ensure a seamless, well executed operation.
• Use interpersonal and communication skills to lead, influence, and encourage others; demonstrate honesty/integrity; lead by example.
• Deliver experiences which blow our competition out of the water and last long in the memory of our fans.

This is a casual role offering flexible shifts available around your other commitments - involves shifts at evenings and weekends.

Hourly Rate: £13.25 per hour + holiday pay on top + Service Charge

Start Date: March or April 2024 - when we open our doors to Co-op Live!

Knowledge, experience & skills required: 

• Proven experience of supervising a premium hospitality food and beverage area in a stadium, events arena, festival environment or equivalent fast-paced hospitality setting or volume-led environment.
• Ability to make sound operational decisions for a premium Bar quickly and under pressure
• Ability to help build and develop a diverse team and culture which is focused on delivering the very highest standards of customer service.
• Strong team-management skills, leads from the front, acts as a role model for the staff.
• People focused, confident and a passion for motivating and developing staff.

Our Inclusion Commitments

Our venue is for the fans, the artists, everyone! Attracting a diverse workforce which reflects our local community is what will make our venue the best music venue in the UK!

We understand that to continue positively disrupting the sports and live entertainment industry, we need a diverse team to help us do it. We also believe that inclusivity drives innovation, strengthens our people, improves our service, and raises our excellence.

We are committed to creating a great place to work amplifying voices from all different backgrounds. There is something for everyone at Co-op Live, come and get involved.

If you do require any additional support or reasonable adjustments to support your application, please let us know and we will work with you to ensure you have everything you need.

We will consider applications from all candidates who are able to demonstrate the required skills necessary to fulfil the role.

Employee Screening and Eligibility to Work

We recognise the importance of safeguarding, dependent on role you will be required to undertake a Disclosure and Barring Service Check, details of which will be shared with you at interview.

If successful in your application, you will be required to provide eligibility to work evidence in line with the ‘Eligibility to Work in the UK’ requirements.