Director of Food & Beverage

Who We Are & About This Role

Since 1946, Blake’s Orchard & Cider Mill has been a cornerstone of Michigan agriculture and agritourism: an 80-year family operation with deep roots in Armada and a genuine growth ambition. Our mission is to cultivate growth in our people, our community, and our business. We make world-class hard and sweet cider, operate tasting rooms, tap rooms, and restaurants across four locations, and host thousands of guests every year across festivals, seasonal events, and signature experiences.

Blake’s is built on three pillars: Farm, Community, and Family. We grow it here, we share it here, and we welcome every guest like they belong here. Food is central to all three. It is how we express the farm’s harvest, how we bring the community together, and how we make people feel at home the moment they arrive.

The Director of Food & Beverage is the senior leader accountable for all of it. You are the strategic mind and operating force behind every food outlet we run: the primary point of contact across the organization for F&B, the person who sets the direction and builds the team, and the leader who owns the results. This is not a support role or a coordination role. This is the person who decides how Blake’s food program runs, and is responsible when it succeeds or falls short.

If you’ve led multi-unit food operations, built teams that take pride in their work, and driven both guest experience and financial performance, we want to hear from you.

Your Role With Blake’s: Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership & Program Ownership

You set the direction for F&B at Blake’s across every format, every location, and every season. This role demands Achievement & Accountability: you are measured by what the program delivers, not what it attempts.

• Serve as the primary point of contact for all food and beverage operations across the organization, from the CRO and ownership to kitchen teams, vendors, and guests
• Own the annual F&B strategy: format development, menu positioning, outlet mix, seasonal programming, and long-term growth priorities
• Lead and develop F&B leadership across all sites: set expectations, invest in people, and build a team that holds itself to a high standard
• Represent the F&B program to the CRO and leadership team with clear, honest reporting on performance, risks, and opportunities
• Identify and pursue opportunities to grow revenue, improve margins, and raise the overall quality of the guest food experience

Multi-Site Operations

Blake’s runs restaurants, tap rooms, fast casual, and mobile food outlets across multiple locations. You keep all of it running well. Passion & Positivity are what make a hard operational environment feel like somewhere people want to work and guests want to return to.

• Oversee daily operations across all food outlets, including sit-down restaurants, tap rooms, quick-service and fast casual formats, and mobile food operations
• Establish and maintain SOPs across formats so every outlet operates consistently, regardless of season or staffing
• Drive continuous improvement in speed of service, food quality, kitchen efficiency, and guest satisfaction
• Manage opening and closing of seasonal outlets; build the operational playbooks that make scaling up and down predictable
• Ensure all locations meet health department, food safety, and sanitation requirements. No exceptions.

Team Leadership & Culture

You are responsible for the people in this program, from hiring philosophy to how your leaders develop their own teams. Blake’s runs on Teamwork & Character: we build each other up, we do what we say, and we show up for the people around us.

• Recruit, develop, and retain F&B leadership across all sites; build a bench of capable operators who can grow with the business
• Set the cultural tone for F&B at Blake’s. Integrity & Commitment are non-negotiable: accountability, honesty, and follow-through are the floor, not the ceiling
• Partner with HR on hiring, onboarding, performance management, and workforce planning across the seasonal cycle
• Build training programs and career pathways so the people in this department have a visible future here

Financial Accountability

You own the F&B P&L. Revenue, cost, and margin are yours.

• Own and manage the F&B budget across all outlets: revenue targets, food cost, labor cost, and overhead
• Analyze financial performance by outlet and format; identify variances and drive corrective action
• Develop pricing strategy and menu engineering with a clear lens on margin and guest value
• Manage food and beverage purchasing, vendor relationships, and inventory controls to minimize waste and cost
• Present financial results and forecasts to the CRO with clarity and ownership

Guest Experience & Standards

Every guest who eats at Blake’s is forming an impression of this place. Our Family pillar means every person who walks through the door belongs here. You make sure the food program lives up to that promise.

• Hold every outlet to a consistent standard of food quality, presentation, and service, and make it stick across teams and seasons
• Build feedback loops that surface guest insights and turn them into action
• Partner with Marketing and Events on F&B programming tied to festivals, seasonal releases, and special experiences. Our Community pillar lives in these moments: food is what brings people back year after year
• Be a visible presence across operations. This is not a behind-the-desk role.

Learning & Innovation

Blake’s is a growth business. Learning & Innovation is one of our six core values, and this role is expected to model it.

• Stay current on food trends, guest expectations, and competitive offerings in the agritourism and hospitality space
• Bring new ideas to format development, menu evolution, and operational efficiency; not every idea needs to be perfect, but the thinking should never stop
• Build a culture of Trust & Communication within the F&B team: candid feedback flows up and down, problems surface early, and no one is left guessing where they stand
• Share knowledge across the organization; what works in one outlet should make every outlet better

Requirements

What Great Looks Like: Qualifications

Backgrounds that succeed here look different: multi-unit restaurant operations, hospitality group leadership, food and beverage director roles in resort or agritourism environments. What matters is that you’ve run something real, at scale, and made it better.

Required

• Proven experience leading multi-unit or multi-format food and beverage operations
• Demonstrated track record of building and developing F&B teams across more than one location
• Strong financial acumen: P&L ownership, food and labor cost management, budgeting, and variance analysis
• Experience managing seasonal operations with variable volume and staffing demand
• Excellent communicator: you can run a leadership meeting, write a clear brief, and talk to an hourly employee or an executive with equal credibility
• Working knowledge of food safety, health department compliance, and sanitation standards
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office and operations or restaurant management software

Preferred

• Bachelor’s degree in hospitality, Business, Culinary Arts, or a related field
• Experience across multiple service formats, including full service, fast casual, and mobile or event-based F&B
• Background in agritourism, farm-based dining, or experience-driven hospitality
• ServSafe certification or equivalent food safety credential
• Experience building or scaling an F&B program from an early or mid-stage operation

How You’re Rewarded: Compensation & Benefits

Competitive base salary, performance-based incentive, 401(k) with match, full health/dental/vision benefits, PTO, and all the perks of working at one of Michigan’s most beloved farms. Full details shared during the interview process.

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