Managing Director, Old Brewers' Yard

Old Brewers’ Yard is a new, authentic brand home for Guinness in the UK, located in the historic brewing quarter in Covent Garden. Consisting of 52,000 square feet of historic buildings and central courtyard, this will become a key growth driver for Guinness, placing the brand in culture, driving relevancy and salience among a new generation of drinkers. The London brand home will be the GB home of Guinness: designed with sustainability in mind, bold, brave, exciting, and rooted in culture and community.

It will provide beer which will be produced and served on site. This experimental beer will be produced from a live working 10hl brewery , a world-leading brewing facility which will produce innovation and limited-edition liquids to be served across the OBY site . The brewery will form part of a grain to glass immersive visitor experience in 1 Mercer Walk, which will also house dedicated space to build Diageo’s southern hub for the Learning 4 Life programme, training hundreds of people per year in hospitality skills.

Community will be at the heart of OBY; we will create opportunities for local jobseekers, give our brewery waste products a second life in the community, and share OBY spaces with local community groups. The site is scheduled to open in December 2024.

Key elements of the site include:

Iconic Guinness Gates as main entrance to the experience, offering huge cultural impact in the heat of London

Taproom/bars – world class food and beer produced and served on site

Central all weather historic courtyard with world class bar experience

Unique 5th floor glass box rooftop eating and drinking experience creating brand new rooftop view of London

Brewery and beer experience/tastingtours

Cultural events space designed and fit out with technology to enable world c la ss meeting and conference experiences

Retail spaces, one of which to stock items produced through exciting short-term brand collaborations

Purpose of Role

The Managing Director will oversee the pre- and post-opening operations of Old Brewers’ Yard with a strategic viewpoint towards achieving excellent guest service, strong working partnerships with third party operators, team member excellence, and financial profitability. The role will require excellent leadership skills, an analytical mind with a broad vision of the business, and a high level of maturity and knowledge to manage passionate employees, operational processes, and positive visitor experiences.

The Managing Director will be the public face of Old Brewers’ Yard, ensuring outstanding and courteous service to both VIP and everyday guests from day one.

Y ou will champion innovation, creativity and social connection. You’ll be at the forefront of engaging a huge variety of people, helping us to go further than we ever imagined. You’ll do this by:

Making sure our guests embrace every minute with us – and rave about their experiences afterwards.

Overseeing everything that we’re offering at Guinness OBY , whether directly or through third party operating partners – cementing our reputation as an international leader of visitor attractions.

Making sure OBY delivers a very positive contribution to the Covent Garden area, through great relationships with local partners and delivering schemes and events supporting the local area, everything from coffee mornings to apprenticeships .

Creatively translating global brand and Brand Homes central team strategies for OBY – without taking away from our own unique personalit y .

Growing the business, placing great value on everything from tour admissions to retail to F&B – and delivering against the P&L targets that quantify that success.

Ensur ing OBY is set up to successfully deliver the relevant aspects of Diageo’s Society 2030 goals, including promoting responsible drinking .

Top Accountabilities

Site and operations set up as part of Project Reality

Assist HR and the OBY/Project Reality team to recruit, interview, and select experienced, team-oriented, and passionate applicants for positions in the Retail, Events, and Sales, Marketing & Digital teams

Work with D&T project workstream leads to assess, procure , and implement the ticketing, admissions, and access control systems to provide seamless integration and operations throughout experience

Work closely with third party Food & Beverage operat ing partner to ensure the ir offering and service levels go above and beyond Guinness brand, Diageo GB and guest expectations

Establish and deliver staff training program prior to site opening , including, but not limited to, on site systems, sales procedures and events management processes .

Ensure sustainable operational readiness of all OBY departments prior to grand opening

Support site management team to devise cross-site storage and stock management procedures

Ongoing site operations

Budget management of OBY P&L, including direct and indirect staff costs, maintenance, marketing, events, brand collab orations and local sponsorship .

Ownership of operational OBY critical metrics, including reaching sales targets for tours, events and retail .

Actively seek and implement cost saving programs to provide positive financial results .

Formulating business cases and strategy for any improvements to OBY .

Manage F&B Operating Partner and Facilities Management provider contracts while maintaining a constructive and collaborative working relationship .

Ensure seamless, consistent, and safe consumer experiences on-site to deliver high levels of customer satisfaction, measured through online and offline feedback .

Understand, follow, and enforce all established Diageo Operating Procedures to exceed operational requirements and ensure employees and guests receive the highest standards of quality, safety, and service at all times .

Establish, evaluate, and direct short- and long-term experience operation strategies, policies, and procedures .

Ongoing recruitment, onboarding, training and development of staff .

Work to create close links with the local community (residents, businesses and other organisations) to generate positive PR and increase local visitor numbers .

Create plans that attract visitors from overseas markets while also drawing in visitors when in-market, resulting in YOY increases in visitor numbers across all operational elements of OBY .

Maintain a close working relationship with our landlord, the Mercers Company .

Work with the Learning for Life program team and collaborators to implement and execute Diageo’s mission and commitment to this program, and to other agreed on site training and/or apprenticeship schemes .

Execute Guinness brand events, h ost VIP experiences, and internal and external visits .

Work with Diageo GB Beer Marketing and Commercial teams on strategy for site advertising, events and sponsorship .

Liaise with external contractors to deliver any maintenance work as required .

Keep an up-to-date knowledge with external best practice to develop the OBY experience and stay ahead of the competition .

What you’ll bring to the role

Managing Director with a proven track record of building and leading a high performance commercially and highly customer focused team

Financial acumen and operational expertise shown through evidence of leading a similar business, ideally in premium bars, restaurants, large event venues or hospitality with turnover north of £30m

Proven experience of managing third party partners/contractors, ideally food and beverage partners

Proven experience manging teams and cross-functional business units to achieve operational KPIs, sales, revenue and profit targets

Significant experiencemanaging complex stakeholder relationships (landlord, community, Diageo internal etc)

Ability to champion innovation, creativity, digital and social connection

Strong networker in/around London with knowledge of who to engage to build the reputation of Old Brewers Yard London and to drive new business.

An honours undergraduate degree, ideally in business management and administration

Experience in a business start-up environment would be an added bonus

With over 200 brands sold in more than 180 countries, we’re the world’s leading premium drinks company. Every day, over 30,000 talented people come together at Diageo to create the magic behind our much-loved brands. From iconic names to innovative newcomers – the brands we’re building are rooted in culture and local communities. Our ambition is to be one of the best performing, most trusted and most respected consumer products companies in the world.

Our founders, such as Arthur Guinness, John Walker, and Charles Tanqueray, were visionary entrepreneurs whose brilliant minds helped shape the alcohol industry. And through our people, their legacy lives on. Join us, and you’ll collaborate with talented thinkers, leaders, and makers from all corners of the world. Together, you’ll innovate and push boundaries, shaping a more inclusive and sustainable future that we can all be proud of.

With diversity at our core, we celebrate our people's unique passions, commitments and specialist skills. Because when varied voices, mindsets, and personalities come together, great ideas are born. In our supportive culture, your voice will be heard and you’ll be empowered to be you. Just bring your ambition, curiosity and ideas, and we’ll celebrate your work and help you reach your fullest potential.

DRINKIQ

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