Cafe General Manager

Summary/Objective

The General Manager sets the tone in the café and brings energy in everything they do. The GM is responsible for the overall profitability of the store and delivering a daily escape to our locals. They drive the sales, efficiency and hospitality in the café with a high performing stable team, quality food and a beautiful store environment. With keen awareness of the store’s financial performance, the General Manager drives store performance in the café to maximize and meet sales targets and average customer spend, reduce waste and achieve operational excellence in all store activities. The General Manager leads by example and trains, coaches and develops their teammates to deliver the Steps of Service every day.

Positioning

The General Manager is typically positioned at the front of the store, positioned so that they can see locals coming into the café to welcome them and can see them at their tables to assess needs and ensure the Steps of Service are executed and sales achieved. The GM floats from front of house to back of house to ensure direction and support across the business.

Essential Functions / Responsibilities

• Financial Targets: meets sales revenue and average check targets regularly; manages labor costs and optimizes productivity of teams.
• Employee Development: holds high performance team standards and helps them achieve through a coaching environment focused on continuous improvement.
• Connection through effective communication: keeps the team connected and engaged by consistently communicating expectations and holding teams accountable.
• Leads by example – sets high standards for yourself and your team.
• Ensures orders are placed timely and accurately; manages COGs to minimize waste.
• Communicates clearly and consistently, sharing successes, needs and opportunities with Operations Manager and BLHQ as needed.
• Ensures accuracy and timeliness of schedules and payroll.

Spend through Service

• Drives sales in the café with a stable, efficient, high‑performing staff that drives spend with service following the Steps of Service.
• Is a peer, coach and mentor; develops teams to continuously improve performance and reach goals.
• Onboards and develops new team members; works with line manager and People Operations to create action plans to address performance needs.

Human Connection

• First point of contact for locals, displaying optimism and energy.
• Communicates and interacts with locals using clear and enthusiastic words, tone of voice and body language; makes locals feel appreciated and valued.
• Builds strong connection with locals, learning names and creating a personal connection to build repeat business and a daily escape.
• Understands locals’ community; remains aware of trends and competition; builds relationships with community and participates in local events.
• Participates in projects to increase guest count, daily sales and operational profitability, and develops a loyal local base.

Premium Broad Product

• Ensures appropriate stock levels are ordered.
• Escalates supplier issues to Supply Chain in a timely manner.
• Ensures proper measures are in place to maintain freshness and quality of food and beverage products.
• Follows implemented systems to avoid wastage.
• Leads accurate product knowledge and ensures all team members follow specifications, including portion control and costing.

Beautiful Spaces

• Ensures environment meets standard (physical setup, music volume, cleanliness).
• Maintains Department of Health standards at all times; performs timely reviews and follows up with action plans for sanitation, shop scores and inspections.
• Drives cleaning schedules daily, weekly and monthly; ensures deep cleans are performed regularly.
• Maintains an organized and clean working environment.
• Ensures team completes store opening and closing procedures accurately and efficiently; ensures safety, cleaning, storage, ordering and sanitation expectations are met.

Measures of Success

• Meets sales, average check and labor percentage targets of the store.
• Achievement of store’s sales revenue and average check of $30.
• Average table turn in 30 minutes or 1 hour with alcohol (less than 25 minutes on the weekend).
• 7 minute walk to build community engagement (5 business per week).
• Staff understand and follow direction; stable, high‑performing team.
• Food quality, speed and a beautiful store environment are consistently presented.
• Beautifully presented food.

Skills, Knowledge & Experience

• Minimum 2 years’ experience as a manager in a quick‑service or full‑service restaurant or 2 years’ experience as a Team Captain.
• Experience in various roles in hospitality with a passion for service and understanding of high‑level hospitality.
• Passion for working with and developing teams.
• Proven achievement of key performance indicators and ability to articulate key actions implemented to drive performance.
• Ability to work in high‑pressure environments; leads and keeps teams calm and focused.
• Well‑organized and detail‑oriented.
• Experience with and ability to use a Point of Sale system.
• Demonstrates the 5Cs of leadership: Competency, Commitments, Courage, Candour & Consistency; has strong interpersonal and communication skills.

Work Environment

Working conditions are typically indoors in environmentally controlled conditions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.