Aunty Ed’s is a restaurant, bar and live music venue established by myself and my husband Dwayne Ninnis in late 2017. Together we built a venue for guests of all ages, with a strong focus on customer service, supporting Australian small business, and staff training and development. During our time as proprietors we successfully navigated the 2019 Bushfires, followed by COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions. Aunty Ed's was sold to Grugru & Co in June 2021.

On top of my existing duties as Reservations Manager, my major project as Client Services Manager was to separate the central reservations office into separate teams over three locations across Melbourne. I ensured a smooth transition for both office and venue staff, and made sure customer experience was not disrupted. My main responsibilities during this time were:- relocating and reinstalling hardware, software and telephony-liaising with our IT and telephony companies- setting timeframe goals and ensuring timely completion to allow for a seamless migration-relocating existing staff, and hiring and training new staff for each site- communicating upcoming changes and timelines with directors and managers- predicting potential issues, and preparing solutions - updating websites and other online media with new phone numbers, office locations- ensuring the main purpose and high standard of the reservations department was undisturbed Other responsibilities:Management:- - overseeing three teams; offering onsite support, or remote support when possible - rostering, recruiting, training and monitoring staff performance - assisting in social media and marketing- ensuring consistent policy and procedure compliance and writing or revising where necessary-troubleshooting and fault loggingResPak:-- furthered my knowledge of ResPak Reservations software (eg creating meal periods, floor plans and bookarestaurant inventory; Introducing credit card capture; integrating ResPak with our new telephony)- increased knowledge of Redcat POS and its integration with ResPak- purging and cleaning client database- managing users and user groups with ResPak Administrator moduleTelephony:-- understanding SIP trunks, line hunts and PSTN - assisting with installation and setup of new PBX- utilising call forwarding and Auto Attendant- recording and updating PBX messages- training managers

As manager of a small team I was the first point of call for all questions and queries the staff had. The position involved rostering, coordinating and maximising reservations and liaising with venue managers in regards to procedures and processes.

This role involved working in a small team in a central reservations office and liaising with guests to coordinate bookings and functions across multiple venues. This included both phone and email correspondence and required a strong understanding of Microsoft Outlook and ResPAK Restaurant software.

Gained skills in many facets of a front of house position including hosting, waiting tables, customer service, reservations, administration duties, training and supervision.