2. Delaware
North
Delaware North manages and provides food and beverage
concessions, premium dining, entertainment, lodging,
retail at many large venues and special places. These
special places include sports stadiums, entertainment
complexes, national and state parks, airports, and
casinos.
They are a team 55,000 strong. Our role is to work behind
the scenes to create world-class experiences. And our
spirit, our passion, is to go beyond your expectations.
They are working behind the scenes, making each guest
experience, moment and memory the best it can be.
3. Background questions
What was your career path to this position? Jeff Thompson usually
worked in the hospitality industry, 7 years ago though he got into managing big
events and concerts, He also at one time was a manager on a train.
What are the core responsibilities of your position? Jeff’s core
responsibilities are to make sure they have enough inventory and the proper
products and personnel. He also makes sure that the numbers are right and
guest relation issues are held to the highest standards there is.
What are the basic prerequisites, training, and educational
requirements for this position? Experience in the field and managing people
and products is a must.Working concessions and bartending would be the way
to learn your way around. Educational you’ll need an associates degree but
bachelors is preferred and also 3-5 years experience in hospitality.
5. What are the most critical skills a
manager needs to successfully lead their
team?
Jeff said the most critical skills you need is definitely
good communication, Leadership, Team building, and
especially with my job good organization, you’ll always
need to have your stuff in order or your employees
won’t have theirs in order.
6. How do you motivate your employees/team members
and encourage them to bring value to the
organization?
• Jeff said everyone trying their best to be and stay
positive. Being mindful how we act can have a
profound effect on others. We all work towards the
same goals.
7. When evaluating an employee or team
member’s performance, what factors are
most important to you
• Jeff said the most important thing in evaluating my
team to me is how that person fits into our goals and is
making a noticed difference in achieving them.
8. What part of managing employees do
you find the most satisfying and the
most challenging?
• Jeff said the most satisfying is when everyone comes
together. The most challenging is getting
EVERYTHING together in those stressful moments.
9. How do you define
success?
Jeff said success is an accomplishment of a goal you
are trying to reach, if you reach that goal then you have
reached success, You always want to keep hitting that
goal, once you keep hitting it is when you’ll keep hitting
success.
10. What is your biggest
management weakness?
Jeff told me that his biggest weakness is there are
times when he forgets he’s responsible for the success
or failures he is doing with his team and he has to try
and trust his employees to do the jobs he put them in,
He said there are times where he did the job for the
people because he wanted to make sure the job was
successfully done and ended up losing people he
needed.
11. Lessons I learned
I learned that to get to where he is you need some experience in the
field he is in and in hospitality, If you don’t have that experience behind
you, you won’t know how to run the type of job he does. My strengths
with this job though would be I am good with communication and I am
a good team builder, My weaknesses are I don’t have any experience
with hospitality and I don’t have my bachelor's in It.
I am not interested in this position because it doesn’t seem like
something I would be passionate about, I think I would end up getting
bored and not knowing what to do or just not doing it. You have to
have a strong passion to be able to manage a team to help you cater
and organize big events.
