Front of House Manager, 61 St James, Home of Justerini & Brooks

Location: London

Please note the official title for this role will be Head of House

Justerini & Brooks www.justerinis.com was established in 1749 and is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading fine wine and spirits merchants, known for the quality of its portfolio and service. It has held a Royal Warrant for supplying wine and spirits to each British monarch since 1761. The company has sales offices in London, Edinburgh and Hong Kong and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Diageo PLC www.diageo.com, the world’s leading premium drinks business.

Justerini & Brooks (J&B) has dedicated sales channels focused on servicing Private Clients globally and GB On-Trade & Off-Trade including Luxury Retail. J&B’s registered office and the home of the brand & business is 61 St James (SJS), London SW1A 1 LZ.

The J&B management structure includes managing private client sales & marketing teams in SE Asia and Taiwan and sits within the Diageo Luxury Group. J&B also works with indirect Private Client businesses globally, setting best practice and running global programs (e.g. Cask of Distinction, PC exclusive innovations).

Context:

J&B operates globally with a global footprint across private clients and trade channels. Within the Trade channel, J&B offers a portfolio of fine wines and spirits. We operate across iconic off-trade luxury retailers, top restaurants, PMCs etc, as well as B2B sales.

Externally, our competitors operate across the same channels as us. We aspire for our key differentiators to be our unrivalled portfolio of wines and spirits and our quality of service.

Internally, J&B sits within the Diageo Luxury Group (DLG) along with the Scottish Brand Homes and reports via the global marketing organisation. Operationally, we work closely with the Diageo Luxury Company (DLC) within the GB market, ensuring that we offer our customers the best possible product and service with our combined offering.

Purpose of the role:

As the welcoming face of 61 St James, the Head of House is dedicated to ensuring clients, partners, and stakeholders enjoy exceptional and memorable experiences. This role also involves overseeing the building's upkeep, maintenance, and operations while supporting teams in their service delivery.

Key Deliverables:

Exceptional service

• Warmly greet private clients and visitors, providing an introduction to our business, portfolio and building where relevant
• Demonstrate exceptional levels of hospitality and premium service
• Concierge attitude: assist our guests with recommendations
• Ensure all experiences are seamlessly implemented thanks to careful forward planning and attention to detail
• Support the teams in hosting their guests
• Be a Brand Ambassador for the Justerini & Brooks wine and spirits portfolio as well as our exceptional experiences

Operations – stock management:

• Place orders for retail and sampling
• Receive orders, ensure proper stock management/organisation and perform stock takes when required
• Place orders and manage levels of operational merchandise such as glassware, packaging, gifts etc.

Operations – facilities:

• Ensure maintenance upkeep and manage contractors on site (cleaning, construction, repairs …)
• Ensure rules, safety standards and sanitation requirements are followed at all times
• Uphold security policies and procedures
• Ensure full compliance of H&S regulations as required by Diageo
• Complete opening and closing procedures in an efficient and timely manner
• Manage and monitor operational and CAPEX costs for the building with the support of your line manager and the finance team

Operations – systems:

• Be comfortable with basic IT set ups to assist stakeholders with calls and videoconferencing, control building lighting and sound, security systems; as well as manage relationships with relevant support functions
• Learn how to use the scheduling and booking software, and ensure there are no scheduling conflicts
• Learn how to use the payment system in order to process payments, returns and refunds where applicable; as well as troubleshooting any issues the bank, payment provider or support function

Events and activations:

• Supporting the marketing team with events and product launches and activations both on and off site (guest list management, operational tasks etc.)
• Manage and supervise installation and de-rig of window displays and internal visual merchandising ensuring all health and safety procedures are followed
• Support the Managing Director in delivering company events

Experience:

• 5+ years’ experience in luxury hospitality in a client facing role
• Previous VIP client experience is essential
• Operational experience from a retail, hospitality, F&B or other client-facing environments
• Wine and spirits knowledge is preferred
• Foreign language skills are desirable
• Knowledge of international luxury markets and customers is highly desirable
• Excellent communicator, both verbal and written
• Ability to work independently with minimal direction
• Desire to work in a fast-paced environment
• Be guided by a customer-first mindset
• Possess a friendly, helpful, confident, and engaging personality
• Be familiar with visitor experience best practices and procedures
• Must have ability to prioritize and plan work activities in a timely and efficient manner
• Ability to adapt to changes in the work environment, manage multiple work demands, and adjust to delays and unexpected events
• Must be flexible with work schedule including weekends, holidays, and evenings

Working with Us

Flexibility is key to success. From part-time and compressed hours to different locations our people work flexibly in ways to suit them. Talk to us about what flexibility means to you and we’ll work together so that you’re supported from day one.

We recognise and value performance, offering our people a highly competitive Rewards and Benefits package including:

• Contemporary work life balance policies and wellbeing activities

• On site gym or subsidised gym membership

• Contributary pension scheme

• Comprehensive health insurance for you and your family

• On site nursery or vouchers

• Annual bonus of circa 10% of your base salary (dependent on performance)

• Share options

• 28 days’ vacation per annum

Our purpose is to celebrate life, every day, everywhere. And creating an inclusive culture, where everyone feels valued and that they can belong, is a crucial part of this.

We embrace diversity in the broadest possible sense. This means that you’ll be welcomed and celebrated for who you are just by being you. You’ll be part of and help build and champion an inclusive culture that celebrates people of different gender, ethnicity, ability, age, sexual orientation, social class, educational backgrounds, experiences, mindsets, and more.

Our ambition is to create the best performing, most trusted and respected consumer products companies in the world. Join us and help transform our business as we take our brands to the next level and build new ones as part of shaping the next generation of celebrations for consumers around the world!

Feel inspired? Then this may be the opportunity for you!

If you require a reasonable adjustment, please ensure that you capture this information when you submit your application.