Job Description

About Illegal Pete's

Illegal Pete's is a Colorado-born restaurant company with 14 locations serving Baja-inspired Mexican food — burritos, bowls, nachos, tacos, and more. Our menu is built for sharing, which makes it built for catering: weddings, meetings, game days, classrooms, conference rooms, and every gathering in between. We're values-driven, community-rooted, and looking for someone who'll bring real energy to growing our catering business.

The Role

The Executive Catering Sales Manager owns catering sales for Illegal Pete's. You'll be the face of our catering program in the community — building relationships, opening doors, and turning schools, hospitals, offices, sports teams, and event planners across Colorado and in Tucson into regular customers. You'll partner with our restaurant teams to execute flawlessly, and work with the home office to evolve what we offer and how we sell it. This role is equal parts hands-on hustle and high-level strategy. One day you're dropping off samples at a hospital break room; the next you're sitting with leadership recommending changes to our menu, pricing, or systems.

What You'll Do

Drive catering sales

• Own the catering sales number and the strategy to hit it.
• Prospect, pitch, and close new business across Colorado and Tucson, AZ
• Build a healthy pipeline of repeat clients and one-off events.

Build community relationships

• Be boots on the ground in the communities around our 14 restaurants.
• Develop relationships with schools, universities, hospitals, government offices, sports teams, corporate offices, event planners, wedding venues, and nonprofits — anyone who feeds a group.
• Represent Illegal Pete's at networking events, community events, and industry gatherings.

Get creative to drive business beyond catering

• Develop ideas to drive in-restaurant event business — buyouts, private parties, fundraisers, watch parties, themed nights.
• Help grow bar business through creative programming, partnerships, and events.
• If there's a fun idea that makes sense operationally, let's give it a shot.

Evaluate and evolve the catering offering

• Continuously assess our menu, packaging, pricing, and presentation for value and marketability.
• Translate field insights into recommendations for leadership.
• Identify gaps in our offerings, processes, training, and systems — and propose solutions.

Support restaurant execution

• Partner with GMs and teams at all 14 restaurants to coordinate and execute catering orders and events.
• Help build the training, tools, and playbooks teams need to deliver at a high standard.
• Be a resource and a problem-solver when things get complicated.

Collaborate across the home office

• Work with marketing on campaigns, event promotions, collateral, and lead generation.
• Partner with operations, finance, and leadership on pricing, logistics, and strategy.
• Share insights and reporting that help the company understand what's working.

Requirements

Who You Are

• Relationship-driven. You genuinely like people, and people like you back.
• A closer. You're not afraid to ask for the business, and you follow through.
• Organized. You can juggle a packed prospecting calendar, an active client list, and 14 restaurants' worth of moving parts.
• Creative. You see openings other people miss — new markets, new menu ideas, new ways to pitch what we do.
• Strategic and hands-on. Equally comfortable building a quarterly sales plan and personally driving samples across town.
• Energetic and hard-working. You bring real presence to the room, take ownership, and do what it takes to hit the number.

What You Bring

• 7+ years of sales experience, ideally in catering, hospitality, food service, or a related field selling into businesses and community organizations.
• Track record of hitting and exceeding sales goals.
• Strong Colorado and Tucson) network — or the skills to build one fast.
• Must have availability to work evening and weekends to accommodate events and sales opportunities.
• Excellent communication skills: in-person, on the phone, over email, and in front of a room.
• Comfort with CRM tools, spreadsheets, and basic reporting.
• Valid driver's license, reliable transportation, and willingness to travel across our Colorado footprint, and in Tucson AZ.
• Genuine love for great food, great drinks, and the role both play in bringing people together.

Why Illegal Pete's

• A 14-restaurant company that still feels like a family.
• A menu built for catering — you're selling food people actually want to eat.
• A team that values your ideas and gives you room to run.
• Competitive compensation $65,000 - $85,000 base plus commission/bonus structure, benefits, and the kind of culture that's kept Illegal Pete's people around for the long haul.