The Vice President, Training & New Venue Openings (“the VP”) will develop and execute training strategies as well as act as a key functional leader for venue activations for Tao Group Hospitality. The VP will work in concert with the Chief People Officer and Vice President, Training & Quality Assurance as well as key operational and culinary stakeholders, in providing strategic training guidance and developing materials to improve team member knowledge, skills, and abilities that will maximize the guest experience. Training efforts will be focused across several areas from venue operational standards, service improvements as well as learning and development curriculums to advance leadership and organizational capabilities.

The VP will also play a key role in the activation of new venues by collaborating across the organization with operations task force resources and other venue leaders to ensure openings are executed to company standards. This will involve effectively partnering with senior leaders in areas such as development, operations, and culinary to ensure that human capital resources are appropriately allocated based on venue scope and training programs are effectively deployed to support operational needs.

In addition, the VP will be expected to collaborate with and support targeted culinary training initiatives in partnership with the Chief Culinary Officer. This will include internal skills progression training within the culinary division designed to grow talent internally and mitigate the demands on external recruitment.

• Develop, drive, and execute a comprehensive operational standard training for each of the Tao Group Hospitality brands, inclusive of front of house and heart of house positions.
• Design and deploy specific standards-based training programs for new venue openings and service improvements within existing venues.
• Conduct “Train the Trainer” sessions for venue managers in an effort to maximize capabilities in existing and new venues.
• Personally facilitate training classes during new venue openings and in service improvement scenarios.
• Champion and leverage the existing 1Huddle training platform as an extension of training programs to ensure knowledge is retained by team members.
• Partner with operations stakeholders to determine areas of training need based on venue performance metrics to optimize service and maximize revenue.
• Collaborate with VP, Training and Quality Assurance on a new company management training program and continually evaluate and evolve the program for sustained effectiveness.
• In partnership with the Chief Culinary Officer, create a culinary skills progression training program in an effort to organically grow culinary talent and improve food quality.
• Support company training initiatives for team member adoption of new company programs and/or technology (i.e. Rewards, Micros, Oracle HCM, etc.)
• Stay current on leading trends to deliver practical and insightful training recommendations and thought leadership.
• Lead and deploy a team of training managers to satisfy organizational needs.
• Establish tools to measure and report on success metrics for various training initiatives.
• Complete other duties as assigned.

• Minimum of 10 years of experience in venue operations in either front of house and heart of house restaurant operations, or a combination thereof.
• Proven track record of developing service standards and operationalizing them to restaurant team members.
• Excellent writer with highly strategic approach to curriculum design, introduction and value validation.
• Strong relationship-building skills and takes initiative in project leadership.
• Responsible for a high volume of work while meeting tight deadlines with an eye for detail.
• Proactive and passionate about providing an exceptional experience for our team members.
• Team leadership skills and the ability to move projects forward in a complex environment in a timely manner.
• Take a problem-solving approach with communications issues and always consider the team member experience.
• Great collaborator and confident in garnering commitment and cooperation from other as all levels.
• Experience working with senior leaders and the ability to exercise discretion when dealing with sensitive topics.
• Be a self-starter, excellent work ethic, positive, energetic attitude.

Tao Group Hospitality delivers distinctive culinary and premium entertainment experiences through its portfolio of restaurants, nightclubs, lounges, and daylife venues. Tao Group Hospitality acquired Hakkasan Group in April 2021. The combined company operates more than 60 entertainment dining and nightlife venues in over 20 markets across five continents and features a collection of widely recognized hospitality brands. These include TAO, Hakkasan, OMNIA, Marquee, LAVO, Beauty & Essex, Avenue, Cathédrale, Wet Republic, Yauatcha, Ling Ling, Sake no Hana, Casa Calavera, Jewel, Little Sister, and more. Tao Group Hospitality is part of Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp. (MSG Entertainment) (NYSE: MSGE), a leader in live experiences