Director of Restaurants & Food - Buying & Merchandising

The Director of Restaurants & Food is a member of the Selfridges Senior Leadership team and reports directly to the Executive Director – Buying & Brand. This is a visionary team and role, executing Selfridges' buying direction and ensuring the team is set up for success to deliver.

The role is pivotal to providing creative thought leadership, provoking debate and bringing in industry-wide collaborators, enabling Selfridges' vision to Reinvent Retail and create a sustainable future for our customers.

The Director of Restaurants & Food will be a visionary, industry-connected collaborator and will manage a team that encompasses both strategic and operational roles across the divisions of Restaurants, Food and Product Compliance/ Food Safety.

The ideal candidate has proven expertise in managing complex multi-unit operations; negotiating concession partnerships; and fostering innovation, profitability, and exceptional guest experiences.The Director will be an industry-admired visionary, cementing Selfridges’ place as a retail pioneer and the brand that will truly Reinvent Retail.

Scope of work:

Lead 5-year ‘masterplan’ reinvention of the hospitality and restaurant offer across 4 store locations; Act as principle stakeholder in workstreams to plan and deliver a new bar, dining and entertainment destination across 2 floors of the Oxford Street flagship;

Develop, communicate and implement a strategic vision and commercial strategy for all hospitality, restaurant and food offers, to maximise sales and hit profit targets, across all categories and partner business models;

Partner closely with culinary leadership and concession operators to design innovative, cost-effective, and sustainable offers that resonate with customer preferences and market trends; Ensure consistency and excellence in food and beverage offerings across all venues, maintaining alignment with company values and brand identity;

Champion a "guest-first" approach, ensuring that all food and beverage initiatives consistently exceed guest expectations; Regularly analyze customer feedback and implement targeted improvements to continually enhance guest experience and satisfaction;

Lead the negotiation of contracts with concession partners and vendors, securing favorable terms, ensuring product quality, and maintaining effective long-term relationships; Evaluate partner performance regularly, addressing performance gaps to uphold established quality and operational standards;

Conduct detailed market research to identify emerging trends, customer preferences, and competitive opportunities, translating insights into actionable strategies;

Lead, motivate and engage the teams of Restaurants, Food & Product Compliance by building a solid, positive working environment, helping to coach them in their development and celebrate their successes; while clearly defining roles, expectations, and responsibilities, fostering accountability and collaboration within this group;

Foster a culture of innovation and creativity, inspiring and supporting the team to build capability to deliver compelling propositions that align to our brand;

Create an environment which encourages teamwork and continuous improvement, setting the standard for high output, efficiency, sense of urgency and accountability while advocating and living core values and higher purpose;

Establish clear and effective ways of working to facilitate cross functional collaboration with key stakeholder groups – including in Retail, Property/Design, Marketing/Communications, Logistics, Technology and Creative;

Reinforce the brand by ensuring the desired quality standards are achieved and sustainably sourced in line with our Reselfridges initiatives; Understand the importance of sustainability and circular business models; incorporate this within our buying, supplier strategy and creative approach;

Continually strive to improve and build mutually effective supplier relationships, as well as identify new sourcing opportunities and provide focused, clear development direction to the current supplier base;

Partner with the Finance team to plan long-term business models with Concession and Own Bought brand partners, including management of continuity and seasonal OTB both before- and in-season;

Partner with the Retail team to ensure a standard of excellence across all dining, eatery, bar and hospitality offers, in terms of daily operations of all food and beverage venues, ensuring consistency in service, quality, and guest satisfaction;

Partner with the Creative team to set the creative direction for the Restaurants & Food division, positioning Selfridges as a ground-breaking global destination for Restaurants & Food;

Partner with the Brand Partnerships team, and in particular the Head of Brand Partnerships, to evaluate and improve the effectiveness and value of the partnership model, ways of working, and perceived value to brand partners;

Partner with Marketing, Customer, and Communications teams to effectively promote restaurant offerings, drive traffic, and reinforce brand reputation.

The role requires the following experience:

Industry-recognised leader in the Food & Beverage industry with a strong brand and commercial mindset;
Record of success and achievement in a comparable directorate position;
Experienced strategic leader who can evidence a record of conceptualising, implementing and delivering the commercial and creative strategy for a hospitality division;
Record of success in leading significant organizational change initiatives or large-scale operational transformations;
Progressive leadership experience managing multi-unit food and beverage or hospitality operations;
Preferred education/work experience background in Hospitality Management, Business Administration, Supply Chain Management, or related fields;
Previous experience in Michelin-starred or high-volume, high-profile hospitality operations;
Extensive food product development experience covering a diverse range of categories; leadership of a corresponding commercial business at scale across retail and wholesale channels;
In-depth experience of working in market globally, including: APAC = Asia Pacific. EMEA = Europe, Middle-East and Africa. AMER = North, Central and South America;
Demonstrated success in managing large purchasing, merchandising, and planning teams;
In-depth experience of a business with brands of scale that are complex, ideally multichannel and global;
Industry visionary and collaborator, able to provide inspiration and challenge to ensure we are continually looking to the future, anticipating opportunities for the long-term view of the Selfridges brand;
A natural relationship builder, able to further strengthen the exceptional relationships Selfridges has with its suppliers/vendors, creative partners and its consumers;
Strong influencing and stakeholder management skills; Able to work effectively cross-functionally and build partnerships with different Senior Leadership and Executive team leaders, as well as ensure that the full team is committed to working cooperatively and creatively with other internal teams;
Demonstrated success in managing large purchasing, merchandising, and planning teams; A successful background in strategic leadership, fostering internal progression of team members & championing internal learning/ development initiatives;
An understanding of the principles of corporate governance, business planning and financial systems.

Selfridges has always been much more than a shop. We’re a social space where everyone is welcome and feels a sense of belonging, a creative playground where culture and commerce collide, and an experimental hub where you can discover the most innovative and sustainable ideas in retail. We’re here to help make the world brighter. And you can be an important part of this. We’ll talk more about the role below, but before we get to that, let’s share with you the good stuff…

Rewards and benefits

Life at Selfridges is dynamic, exciting, and always evolving. As well as working with some of the most cutting-edge, iconic and boundary-pushing brands, designers and creatives, we also offer our team members opportunities to help make a positive difference through our network of communities, both within and outside Selfridges. Here are just a few of our rewards and benefits that help make our team experience that bit more extraordinary.

Up to five paid volunteering days
Family leave that suits your set up including Maternity, Paternity, Adoption, Surrogacy and Shared Parental leave policies
Flexible working options to benefit you, your family and your wellbeing that can include part-time, flexi-time, job sharing or hybrid working
Generous annual leave that increases with length of service
Defined pension contribution scheme
Generous bonus and/or commission scheme
Enviable team member discount including sale previews and double discount days
Exclusive local discounts on a range of restaurants, bars, beauticians and entertainment
Subsidised gym memberships
Annual travel pass and cycle-to-work schemes
A sustainable car salary sacrifice scheme
Several internal communities to get involved in from our Diversity Board and Green Warriors who are leading the charge on D,E&I and sustainability, to the Wellbeings who are always thinking of new ways to champion healthy minds, bodies and routines for our team members
Workplace Options, our confidential team member assistance programme for when life gets tricky or you need a little guidance
Access to a wide range of training programmes to help your career development