Assistant Store Manager

Hotel Chocolat; Hartford; On-site; GBP 25,000 - 35,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading chocolate retailer in the UK is seeking an experienced Assistant Store Manager to oversee store operations, drive sales, and enhance customer experiences. This role requires a passion for customer service and a background in hospitality or retail. Join a family of chocolate lovers and enjoy benefits like competitive salary and staff discounts.

Benefits

Competitive salary

Incentives based on performance

50% unlimited staff discount

70% discount on hotel stays in St Lucia

Career development opportunities

Qualifications

• Current or previous role in hospitality or premium retail.
• Understanding of P&L responsibility.
• Ability to work autonomously and collaboratively.

Responsibilities

• Manage store operations in absence of Store Manager.
• Drive sales and meet KPIs.
• Train and coach the team to improve customer experience.

Skills

Customer experience in hospitality or retail

Strong communication skills

Decision-making skills

Teamwork

IT literate (Excel, Word, Outlook)

Job description

About the role

As the Assistant Store Manager, you will hold overall accountability and responsibility for managing your store in absence of the Store Manager: driving profitable sales and meeting KPIs and completing all operational tasks including Health and Safety and HR processes and procedures. You will regularly collaborate with your Store Manager, working together and supporting each other as one team, towards a shared goal and vision for Hotel Chocolat. You'll consistently drive KPIs and performance in store, motivating your team to achieve targets and deliver our premium shopping experience to every customer, every day.

Sharing your expert knowledge as a brand ambassador, you will train, support and coach your team along with the Store Manager to ensure your team is best in class. Lastly, people are the reason you are in retail – you thrive off building and maintaining excellent relationships with your customers and stakeholders with your infectious communication style.

We're looking for an Assistant Store Manager with natural people-focused skills – someone passionate, curious, customer obsessed, and of course a chocolate lover to support the Store Manager and team to drive profitable sales and an excellent customer experience in‑store. Ideally you will have experience in food and beverage, hospitality, or a premium retailer.

Qualifications

• A current role or background working in a hospitality or café environment or premium high street retailer delivering an excellent customer experience.
• An understanding of P&L responsibility.
• Commercial Awareness to support decisions to benefit the store's business.
• Strong communication skills with an ability to flex your communication style as needed.
• Teamwork: you can work autonomously and collaboratively with your team effortlessly.
• Effective decision‑making and problem‑solving skills.
• Reliable, with effective time keeping and organisational skills.
• Goal‑oriented to drive your own performance, demonstrating a continuous improvement mindset.
• IT literate with a good understanding of Microsoft Excel, Word and Outlook.

We're not just a chocolate company; we're a family of chocolate lovers. From luxury gifts to our iconic Velvetiser and beyond, we've built a brand that's all about crafting moments of indulgence. Our journey began as a humble mint company, but we soon found our passion for cacao and never looked back. Today, we're proud to operate over 150 stores across the UK and continue to grow across categories, channels, and territories.

Patience, passion, and purpose drive everything we do – just like the perfect cacao pod, our success doesn't happen overnight. It's the result of hard work, innovation, and the shared dedication of our customers, colleagues, farmers, and suppliers.

To learn more about who we are and our People Pledge to equality, diversity, and inclusion, visit hotelchocolat.com/uk/engaged-ethics/our-people.html

Benefits

• A competitive salary.
• Incentives based on performance.
• 50% unlimited staff discount to treat yourself and your friends and family.
• 70% discount off a stay in our Hotel in St Lucia.
• A chance to develop yourself personally, working in an exciting, innovative and expanding company with real career progression.