Purchasing Manager
Opening in early 2025, The Standard, Brussels marks the hotel brand’s third outpost in Europe. Set in the city’s Northern Quarter, The Standard, Brussels brings the brand’s design, culture, and activation-driven philosophy to Belgium.
With 180 guestrooms (plus 20 residences), the modern, new-build project features many stages for The Standard’s renowned day- and nightlife. A ground-floor greenhouse welcomes guests and locals into the lobby lounge, restaurant, and terrace. Upstairs, The Rooftop features its own restaurant, bar, and garden—set to become a neighbourhood destination. Throughout the building, additional public and private event spaces are platforms for happenings.
The Standard, Brussels will welcome a new set of creative, dynamic guests into the brand ethos. In Brussels, The Standard’s signature mix of playful, sophisticated, unexpected hospitality finds roots and resonances in local culture. The simple premise behind The Standard is that it is anything but. Founded in 1999, the goals of every Standard are to up the aesthetic stakes and defy convention while attending to every detail, embracing our local communities, providing a welcoming and inclusive environment for our teams and, of course, delivering a smashing good time for our guests.
We are defined by our richness of personality, diversity of background and lifestyle and are now looking for a Purchasing Manager who will embody our ‘Anything but Standard’ ethos as we commence our pre-opening period.
Your role
Reporting to our Director of Finance, you will work closely with our F&B and Operational teams to provide a full end to end Purchasing and Procurement service across the hotel. During the pre-opening period you will oversee our critical path to ensure all FF&E orders are placed and opening stock is coordinated for the hotels F&B outlets, and Kitchens to ensure that the project runs to schedule, pre-opening budgets are managed and the property is successfully launched.
With full responsibility for our purchasing department (supported by a Goods Receiver), you will be responsible for overseeing daily F&B orders through Birchstreet (our purchasing system) from fresh produce deliveries through to beverage orders; operating supplies and equipment to stationary.
With 2 expansive restaurants (both seating 150 covers inside and out) located on the ground floor and 29th floor rooftop (both with their own dedicated kitchen and brigade), plus lobby lounge bar, event spaces and 24 hour In Room Dining, you can imagine this is an incredibly hands on role in which you will need to be able to turn your hand to anything; including daily deliveries and requisitions; not to mention the management of our cellar and stores areas. You will be responsible for creating, implementing and maintaining procedures and work closely with the back of house and kitchen teams to ensure that quality and food safety checks are in place and stock levels are controlled to minimise wastage. You’ll also oversee the monthly stocktakes and general management of the hotel’s inventory with our F&B Director and Beverage Manager.
You will also provide specialist support in the procurement of ad-hoc items, or new product lines to ensure that the best prices are negotiated with suppliers, contracts and TOBs are reviewed and relationships are maintained to manage costs across the business. From as strategic perspective you will work closely with the F&B and Finance Director to support our annual budget process.
This is not a ‘Standard’ Purchasing Manager role so you will need to have serious stamina and passion, be highly social, upbeat, and friendly; confident and handle pressure well; thrive in a high-volume, high-energy environment and able to work equally well both independently and as part of a wider senior management team.
Do you have what it takes to be our Purchasing Manager at The Standard, Brussels....
A minimum of 3+ years’ experience as a Purchasing Manager or Purchasing Supervisor gained within a similar Lifestyle Hotel or large 4- or 5-star Hotel is essential for this role
In addition to this you may also have….
- Pre-opening Experience in either a Hotel or Restaurant with strong project management skills and prior experience of purchasing Food & Beverage products
- A background in a High-Volume property with a multi-outlet F&B operation with a strong understanding of Food Safety and HACCP, previous experience of recipe costing and food cost control is advantageous
- A solid financial understanding with experience of managing stock takes, implementing stock controls to minimise wastage and preparing inventory and cost analysis reports
- Have strong negotiation skills and have previous experience of procuring new and specialised products with previous experience of negotiating supplier contracts
- Have prior experience of writing and implementing purchasing guidelines and control procedures
- Have good knowledge of POS systems, Birchstreet; as well as strong Excel skills.
- Fluency in French and/or Dutch in addition to English is essential for this role
- During the pre-opening period you will need to have a flexible approach to working hours which may include some late finishes and weekends as we prepare the hotel for opening.
If you think you have what it takes to be our Purchasing Manager at The Standard, Brussels we’d love to hear from you!
All applicants must be eligible to live and work in the European Union. Documented evidence of eligibility will be required from candidates prior to commencing employment.
Benefits Include
- CDI - Contrat à Durée Indéterminée
- 20 Days Holiday + Public Holidays
- Meals on Duty (once hotel is open)
- Worldwide Travel Discounts via The Standard Advantage platform
- Employee & Family Rates across all Standard and Bunkhouse properties
- In-house Experience Programme
- F&B Discounts ranging from 25-50%
- Recruitment Referral scheme
- Local Transport benefit
- Eco-vouchers
- Social Committee with regular monthly social activities