Area Manager

Maki & Ramen; Greater London; On-site; GBP 41,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

Maki & Ramen is seeking an ambitious Area Manager to lead performance across London and the South East. You will oversee Soho, Shoreditch, Lakeside and Southampton locations and help drive guest experiences and commercial results on the floor.

We want a visible leader who coaches teams in real time, travels between sites, and sets high operational standards. This role suits someone with multi-site experience in casual dining and a passion for hospitality.

Qualifications

• Minimum 3 years' experience in a multi-site Area Manager or Operations Manager role.
• Overseeing at least three restaurants within casual dining.
• Experience with P&L management, labour forecasting and cost control.
• Experience using operational management systems such as Mapal.

Responsibilities

• Oversee day-to-day operations across multiple restaurants, ensuring high standards of service, food quality, cleanliness and brand execution.
• Be present in restaurants during key trading periods, including evenings and weekends.
• Drive operational compliance, food safety, health and safety, and audit outcomes.
• Identify opportunities to improve efficiency, guest experience and profitability.
• Take ownership of KPIs including labour costs, gross profit and sales performance.
• Coach and develop General Managers and their teams to deliver strong results.

Skills

Area Manager experience

Managing multiple restaurants

P&L / financial management

Leadership on floor

Guest experience focus

Tools

Mapal

Job description

Casual Dining | Multi-Site Operations | Growing Restaurant Brand

Locations: London (Soho & Shoreditch), Lakeside (Essex) and Southampton

Salary: £45,000 OTE (dependent on experience)

Working pattern: Full-time, including some evenings and weekends

Reporting to: Senior Operations Leadership

The Opportunity

Maki & Ramen is looking for an ambitious, commercially minded and hands-on Area Manager to help lead the performance of our growing restaurant estate across London and the South East.

You'll oversee our restaurants in Soho, Shoreditch, Lakeside and Southampton, with the opportunity to take on additional locations as the business continues to expand.

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced multi-site operator who thrives in a fast-paced casual dining environment, leads from the front and knows how to deliver outstanding guest experiences while driving strong commercial results.

We're not looking for someone who manages restaurants from behind a laptop. We want a visible, energetic leader who is comfortable being on the floor during busy services, coaching teams in real time and taking ownership of operational standards.

Your Responsibilities and Day to Day

Operational Excellence

• Oversee day-to-day operations across multiple restaurants, ensuring consistently high standards of service, food quality, cleanliness and brand execution.
• Be present in restaurants during key trading periods, including evenings and weekends when required.
• Drive operational compliance, food safety, health and safety, and successful audit outcomes.
• Identify opportunities to improve efficiency, consistency and the overall guest experience.

Commercial Performance

• Take ownership of key performance indicators, including labour costs, gross profit, sales performance and controllable costs.
• Work closely with restaurant management teams to improve profitability and deliver against budgets.
• Drive guest engagement through Google reviews, loyalty/app sign-ups and customer retention initiatives.
• Maximise delivery performance, including Deliveroo sales, operational efficiency and customer ratings.
• Identify opportunities to grow additional revenue streams, including delivery, events and corporate/B2B business.
• Coach, mentor and develop General Managers and their management teams to deliver consistently strong results.
• Build a culture of accountability, high standards and genuine hospitality.
• Support recruitment, succession planning, training and retention across the region.
• Identify performance gaps and implement clear, measurable improvement plans.

Growth & Development

• Support new restaurant openings, operational mobilisation and team training.
• Lead improvement plans for underperforming restaurants.
• Help implement scalable systems and processes as the business grows.

What Maki & Ramen is Looking For

• Minimum 3 years' experience in a multi-site Area Manager or Operations Manager role, overseeing at least three restaurants within the casual dining sector.
• Alternatively, an exceptional high-volume General Manager who has successfully operated a restaurant generating £2m+ annual revenue, with full P&L responsibility.
• A proven track record of delivering labour cost, gross profit, sales and compliance targets.
• Strong financial understanding, including P&L management, labour forecasting, rota planning and cost control.
• Experience using operational management systems such as Mapal, food-safety auditing platforms and labour scheduling tools.
• Demonstrable success in developing restaurant management teams and improving operational performance.

Personal Attributes

• Hands-on, proactive and comfortable leading from the restaurant floor.
• Commercially sharp, highly organised and results-driven.
• Passionate about hospitality, exceptional service and attention to detail.
• Confident in challenging underperformance while supporting and developing teams.
• Adaptable, resilient and comfortable working across multiple locations.
• Willing and able to travel regularly between London, Essex and Southampton.
• Experience within Japanese or Asian casual dining concepts.
• Successful involvement in new restaurant openings or operational turnarounds.
• Experience growing delivery-led revenue and managing third-party delivery platforms.
• Exposure to corporate catering, events or B2B sales opportunities.
• Experience supporting a growing or expanding restaurant group.

Why Join Us?

This is an opportunity to play a key role in shaping the operational performance of an ambitious, growing restaurant business. You'll have genuine responsibility, direct exposure to senior leadership and the chance to influence how our restaurants operate as we continue to expand. We're looking for someone who wants to make a measurable impact, develop great people and grow with the business.