Walk me through your CV.

What it tests: Story coherence and conviction. Whether the candidate has a deliberate path to the F+B Director seat (Outlet Manager → Restaurant Manager → Assistant F+B Director → F+B Director, or Banquet Manager → Director of Catering / Banquets → F+B Director) or has backed into it through a single-outlet or single-channel route. Interviewers screen out candidates who sound reactive ('I happened to end up in hotel F+B').

Walk me through your most impressive outlet reposition, banquet program rebuild, or F+B commercial decision.

What it tests: Depth of ownership and willingness to take a view on a specific F+B operating decision. Whether the candidate can move from reciting outlet facts to articulating a contrarian or nuanced takeaway on the lever sequencing.

Tell me about a weakness, a failure, or feedback you've received and worked on.

What it tests: Self-awareness plus the ability to take a real critique without deflecting plus evidence of improvement. F+B Directors absorb pushback from the general manager, the Chef, the Director of Sales, and the owner-rep on different days; fake weaknesses (perfectionist / works-too-hard) downgrade immediately.

Why an F+B Director seat, and why hotel F+B specifically?

What it tests: Authentic interest in hotel F+B vs. restaurant-only routes (chain restaurant management, independent restaurant ownership, restaurant group multi-unit). Interviewers can tell within 30 seconds whether the candidate has actually thought about why hotel F+B vs. standalone restaurants.

Why the sector, what's your point of view on this asset type's F+B profile?

What it tests: Whether the candidate understands the structural differences in F+B intensity and economics across asset types (urban transient vs. resort vs. convention vs. all-inclusive vs. lifestyle vs. select-service) and has a reasoned preference.

What it tests: Whether the candidate has done the homework. Interviewers spot a generic 'great property' or 'great F+B program' answer instantly, they hear it five times a week.

When a guest is choosing between dining at this firm's signature outlet and a leading competitor in the sector, what's the F+B-level reason she ends up booking this firm?

What it tests: Whether the candidate understands this firm's F+B edge from the GUEST's perspective, not just from the marketing materials. F+B Directors who articulate the guest-level differentiator land the offer.

If you had a USALI F+B P+L, a covers report, and a banquet pace for this firm, walk me through how you'd diagnose F+B health in the first 90 days.

What it tests: Whether the candidate has a structured 90-day F+B diagnostic framework and reads the public reporting (USALI F+B P+L, capture rate, banquet pace, outlet GSS) the way an experienced F+B Director would. Interviewers want balanced operator judgment, not cheerleading.

Food Beverage Ops interview prep.

Sounds like someone who has run a $10-30M F+B P+L across three to six outlets plus a banquet department, sat next to the general manager defending an F+B prime cost under a banquet-mix shift, partnered with a signature Executive Chef on a menu reposition that moved capture rate, run a...

What interviewers look for

Can the candidate run a full F+B P+L across restaurants, bars, in-room dining, and banquets, or only a single outlet? The general manager wants someone who has held F+B prime cost across the mix and lived with the consequences.
Does the candidate read banquet and catering as the largest single F+B revenue line at full-service / resort / convention properties, and price it for total contribution, not gross banquet revenue?
Can the candidate defend an F+B forecast and a labour plan to the general manager under cross-examination, covers, capture rate, banquet pace, labour hours per cover?
Has the candidate partnered with an Executive Chef (and held the line on menu engineering, food cost, and waste) without breaking the relationship?
Has the candidate owned a service-recovery event end-to-end, a wedding-night failure, a banquet-room walkout, a guest-illness complaint, a liquor-license incident, with composure and brand-aligned escalation?
Does the candidate understand the difference between a leased outlet, an operated outlet, a signature-chef partnership, and an in-room dining program, and which margin profile each carries?
Can the candidate develop the F+B bench. Outlet Manager, Banquet Manager, Beverage Manager into Assistant F+B Director and F+B Director seats?

Behavioural questions to expect

Walk me through your CV.
What it tests: Story coherence and conviction. Whether the candidate has a deliberate path to the F+B Director seat (Outlet Manager → Restaurant Manager → Assistant F+B Director → F+B Director, or Banquet Manager → Director of Catering / Banquets → F+B Director) or has backed into it through a single-outlet or single-channel route. Interviewers screen out candidates who sound reactive ('I happened to end up in hotel F+B').
Walk me through your most impressive outlet reposition, banquet program rebuild, or F+B commercial decision.
What it tests: Depth of ownership and willingness to take a view on a specific F+B operating decision. Whether the candidate can move from reciting outlet facts to articulating a contrarian or nuanced takeaway on the lever sequencing.
Tell me about a weakness, a failure, or feedback you've received and worked on.
What it tests: Self-awareness plus the ability to take a real critique without deflecting plus evidence of improvement. F+B Directors absorb pushback from the general manager, the Chef, the Director of Sales, and the owner-rep on different days; fake weaknesses (perfectionist / works-too-hard) downgrade immediately.
Why an F+B Director seat, and why hotel F+B specifically?
What it tests: Authentic interest in hotel F+B vs. restaurant-only routes (chain restaurant management, independent restaurant ownership, restaurant group multi-unit). Interviewers can tell within 30 seconds whether the candidate has actually thought about why hotel F+B vs. standalone restaurants.
Why the sector, what's your point of view on this asset type's F+B profile?
What it tests: Whether the candidate understands the structural differences in F+B intensity and economics across asset types (urban transient vs. resort vs. convention vs. all-inclusive vs. lifestyle vs. select-service) and has a reasoned preference.
Why this firm?
What it tests: Whether the candidate has done the homework. Interviewers spot a generic 'great property' or 'great F+B program' answer instantly, they hear it five times a week.
When a guest is choosing between dining at this firm's signature outlet and a leading competitor in the sector, what's the F+B-level reason she ends up booking this firm?
What it tests: Whether the candidate understands this firm's F+B edge from the GUEST's perspective, not just from the marketing materials. F+B Directors who articulate the guest-level differentiator land the offer.
If you had a USALI F+B P+L, a covers report, and a banquet pace for this firm, walk me through how you'd diagnose F+B health in the first 90 days.
What it tests: Whether the candidate has a structured 90-day F+B diagnostic framework and reads the public reporting (USALI F+B P+L, capture rate, banquet pace, outlet GSS) the way an experienced F+B Director would. Interviewers want balanced operator judgment, not cheerleading.

Technical concepts to master

USALI, the F+B department P+L structure every F+B Director must read fluently

F+B Department Revenue (top of the F+B P+L): Sum of F+B revenue lines: Food (outlet + in-room dining + banquet food), Beverage (outlet + in-room + banquet bar), Other F+B (room rental, service charges, audio-visual where F+B-allocated, miscellaneous).
F+B Cost of Sales (food cost + beverage cost): Food cost and beverage cost as separate USALI lines. Food cost typically runs 28-35% of food revenue (outlet) and 26-32% (banquet); beverage cost typically 22-28% overall, lower on cocktails (18-22%) and higher on premium wine (28-35%).
F+B Labour and Departmental Expenses: F+B labour (salaries, wages, benefits, payroll taxes) plus departmental expenses (linen, china, glassware, smallwares, paper supplies, cleaning supplies, music and entertainment, banquet operating expenses). The Director controls labour productivity and departmental-expense discipline.
F+B Department Profit (the Director's accountability line): F+B revenue minus F+B prime cost minus F+B departmental expenses. The F+B Director's primary accountability metric, rolling into property GOP under the general manager.

Banquet and catering, the largest single F+B revenue line at full-service properties

BEO (Banquet Event Order) and pricing discipline: The BEO is the contractual specification for an event: cover count, menu, beverage package, room set, AV, service style, timing. The F+B Director sets BEO pricing floors and reviews high-value BEOs before signature to protect F+B-per-group-room-night.
F+B-per-group-room-night and group displacement: Banquet F+B revenue / group room nights, the canonical metric for evaluating group business from an F+B contribution lens. Group displacement analysis includes rooms ADR plus F+B-per-group-room-night vs. transient alternative.
Banquet labour productivity: Banquet hours per cover, typically 0.5-0.8 for plated dinners, 0.3-0.5 for buffet service, 0.2-0.4 for reception. Banquet captain ratios run 1:30-1:50 for plated and 1:50-1:75 for buffet. The Director sets these productivity standards.
Catering sales partnership: The Director of Catering Sales (or Catering Sales Manager) sits in Sales reporting to the Director of Sales; the F+B Director partners daily on pricing discipline, BEO floor enforcement, menu development, and beverage package design.

Beverage program, wine, cocktail, and bar economics

Beverage cost by category: Overall beverage cost typically 22-28%; cocktail-heavy / spirits 18-22%; wine-heavy fine dining 28-35%; beer 25-30%. Mix shift to wine increases overall beverage cost % but typically lifts absolute beverage revenue and cover-level check.
Wine list engineering: Wine list balance across by-the-glass (BTG) and by-the-bottle (BTB), price tiers, and varietal coverage. Industry-canonical: BTG at 25-30% beverage cost (high turn), house BTB at 28-32%, premium BTB at 32-38% (low turn, prestige).
Cocktail program and bar economics: Cocktails run the lowest beverage cost (18-22%) and the highest cover-level check at full-service bars. The cocktail program is a brand-pull lever at lifestyle and signature properties.
Pour discipline and theft control: Beverage theft is the industry-canonical food-cost-equivalent for beverage. Controls: jiggers and pour spouts, ounce-level recipe costing, inventory cadence (weekly minimum on premium spirits), comp slip discipline, sweep audits.

Food safety, the non-negotiable F+B baseline

TCS foods and the temperature danger zone: TCS = Time / Temperature Control for Safety foods. Danger zone = 41-135°F (5-57°C); TCS food held in the danger zone more than 4 hours must be discarded. Banquet buffet service is the highest-risk environment.
Allergen control and the Big 9: FDA Big 9 allergens: milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soy, sesame. Allergen events are reportable and litigatable; the BEO must flag every allergen request and the kitchen must run the dedicated prep protocol.
HACCP at scale, outlet plus banquet plus in-room dining: HACCP = the industry-canonical food-safety framework (FDA-aligned). The F+B Director runs HACCP plans across multiple production environments (outlet kitchens, banquet kitchen, in-room dining pantry, pool / spa cafe).
Liquor liability and responsible-service discipline: F+B Directors own liquor-license compliance. TIPS / ServSafe Alcohol training for the team, over-service refusal protocol, last-call discipline, ID-check standards, dram-shop liability awareness.

Outlet operating models, operated, leased, signature-chef, concept-license

Operated outlets: Hotel operates the outlet directly, full P+L on the F+B Director's books, full operating control, full capex burden, full GSS accountability. Default model at most full-service properties.
Leased outlets: Hotel leases the outlet space to a third-party operator (often a known restaurant brand or local operator) for a fixed rent or revenue share (typically 6-10% of revenue plus minimum). Lower margin, lower capex, lower operating control.
Signature-chef partnerships: Hotel partners with a name-brand Chef (the Chef brings the concept and brand pull; the hotel provides capex and operations). Royalty structure typically 4-8% of F+B revenue. Brand-halo high; operating-control complexity high.
Concept-license and franchise outlets: Hotel licenses an external concept (coffee chain, fast-casual brand) and operates under the brand standard with a license fee. Lower brand-pull than signature-chef; higher operational standardisation.

Practical drills

Your full-service property runs F+B at 35% of total revenue ($14M F+B revenue against $40M total). F+B prime cost is at 72% (food cost 30%, beverage cost 26%, labour 36%). A group sales lead has a 600-room-night group asking for $85 F+B-per-group-room-night against the property standard of $110. The group dates would displace 4 nights of standard transient outlet dinner business of ~200 covers per night at $75 average check. Walk me through: (a) the F+B contribution math on the group ask; (b) the impact on F+B prime cost if you take the group at the asked rate; (c) the labour flex you'd recommend to defend prime cost.
You are taking over F+B at this firm. Last year F+B contribution was 28% of total revenue (vs. brand-comparable 35%), F+B prime cost 76% (vs. brand-comparable 70%), signature outlet capture at dinner 8% (vs. brand-comparable 18%), banquet revenue per group room night $90 (vs. brand-comparable $130), outlet GSS 7.2 (vs. brand target 8.5). Walk me through your 12-month F+B repositioning plan.
It's 7:45pm on a Saturday. Your Banquet Captain calls, the 320-cover wedding plated dinner in the Grand Ballroom is starting service and you've just discovered the protein for half the covers was held in a cold-hold unit that failed at some point this afternoon; the unit is reading 52°F. The bride and groom and 318 of their guests are seated; the first course has just been cleared. Walk me through your next 60 minutes.

Smart-question anchors

F+B portfolio strategy, operated vs. leased vs. signature-chef vs. concept-license decisions, recent or planned outlet repositions, and the F+B-as-amenity vs. F+B-as-profit-driver lens
Banquet and catering, capacity, group-segment mix, F+B-per-group-room-night targets, and the partnership cadence between F+B and Sales
Beverage program, wine and cocktail program direction, sommelier and Beverage Manager bench, beverage cost discipline, and any signature beverage moves
Executive Chef partnership and signature-chef strategy. Chef tenure, menu development cadence, and any branded-restaurant partnership economics
F+B prime cost discipline and labour productivity, covers per labour hour, banquet hours per cover, and the labour-model investment this firm has made

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