General Manager - Ritorno Lounge - Bristol

Lounge Underwear Ltd.; Bristol; On-site; GBP 42,000 - 56,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive base salary

Bonus scheme

Overtime pay

Free shift meal

Staff discounts (50%)

Career development

No uniform policy

Loungefest party

Job summary

Ritorno Lounge, based on Bristol Harbourside, is looking for a hands-on General Manager to lead our flagship Lounge. You’ll build and coach a talented front-of-house and kitchen team, ensuring every guest leaves happy and our community connections thrive.

As part of Loungers, this full-time role offers a competitive base salary, a bonus scheme, paid overtime and clear progression opportunities. The 48-hour contract supports a sustainable, high-energy operation across England and Wales.

Qualifications

• Proven track record leading restaurant or hotel teams.
• Experience delivering guest-focused hospitality and managing KPIs.
• Ability to recruit, coach and develop front-of-house and kitchen staff.

Responsibilities

• Own and lead Ritorno Lounge shifts and teams.
• Develop and recruit a strong team with clear progression.
• Partner with Head Chef on food quality, stock, and operations.
• Manage GP, labour, stock and KPIs for continuous improvement.
• Lead weekly management meetings and align the team across shifts.
• Engage with the local community through events and partnerships.
• Plan rotas two weeks in advance and oversee shift reporting.
• Drive sales via private hires, events, and large bookings.

Skills

People leadership

Community minded

Hands-on leadership

Commercial awareness

Hospitality management

Job description

Responsibilities

• Take full ownership of Ritorno Lounge - leading a variety of shifts, making sure the right people are in the right place and standards never slip
• Build, recruit and develop a strong team, with clear development plans for your team members so people know how to grow with you
• Work shoulder-to-shoulder with your Head Chef to stay across everything from food quality and wait times to stock, NSF standards and cross-team training
• Know your numbers inside out - GP, labour, NPS, stock counts and use them to make smart decisions and drive continuous improvement
• Lead weekly HOD meetings, keeping everyone aligned, motivated and pulling in the same direction across all 14 shifts
• Put Ritorno Lounge at the heart of the local community - through an active social media presence, community events, and building genuine relationships with your regulars and neighbours
• Schedule fair rotas at least two weeks in advance and take the lead on all shift reporting, including performance, customer issues and safety
• Drive sales growth through The Caraboo Room by increasing private hire, corporate events, networking evenings and large group bookings.

What You'll Bring

• A natural people leader - you build loyal, motivated teams by understanding what makes people tick. You create a one-team culture between front of house and kitchen, where people back each other and do their best work.
• Community-minded - you see your Lounge as part of the local area and build genuine relationships with guests, neighbours and the wider community.
• Hands on Leader - you lead from the floor, coach in the moment, and spot the details that make a difference. You help people grow, with clear development and real progression.
• Commercially minded - you're confident with GP, labour, stock and KPIs, and use them to make smart decisions without losing sight of the customer. You treat your Lounge like it's your own and understand how it fits into the bigger brand.
• Experienced and adaptable - you'll have management experience in restaurants, bars, caf s or coffee shops, whether as a General Manager, Bar Manager, Assistant Manager, Deputy Manager or Restaurant Manager. You're comfortable recruiting, training and developing teams, and you're as happy running a shift as you are reviewing performance.
• Lounges are pretty special places, and what makes them so special is the brilliant people who run them.

As General Manager you'll lead Ritorno Lounge. You'll be a hands-on hospitality General Manager who loves building teams, delivering great hospitality, and running a business like it's their own. You'll be responsible for ensuring Ritorno Lounge is the heart of the local community and every customer leaves happy, It's the small things done brilliantly that make all the difference; from a perfectly made flat white to a little treat for our fluffy friends. We're a growing hospitality brand across England and Wales with over 300 sites already and quickly expanding. How far you go is really up to you.

About Ritorno Lounge

Ritorno Lounge is a venue we're really proud of. Based in a stunning location on Bristol Harbourside, and only a stone's throw from Loungers HQ, we love being part of the action in the middle of our thriving home city. If you love being in the thick of it, this is about as central as Lounge life gets. We may be big and in the middle of a city, but we're still your home-from-home, offering delicious food and drinks, all day, on your doorstep. Take a trip upstairs and you'll find The Caraboo Room, our private hire space. With its own fully fitted kitchen and bar for hosting parties of up to 200 people it's perfect for birthdays, anniversaries, meeting room hire and corporate events. Like a true local venue, we host a huge range of events from a regulars' D&D group, weekly book clubs, makers' markets, paint and sip nights, jewellery making, walking group meet-ups, charity pub quizzes, and even meetings for the city's BID team. If you like the idea of a job where no two days look the same, you'll fit right in here. Community is central to everything we do at Lounge, and at Ritorno we're always looking for ways to support local businesses. We work closely with Bristol brewers Wiper & True, stocking their fantastic beers, as well as Branch Cider, who source and press all their ciders from one ancient orchard on the outskirts of Bristol. We even run an annual partnership with Bristol BID and TAP for Bristol charity to help reduce homelessness in the city. If community matters to you as much as it does to us, you'll feel right at in Ritorno Lounge.

Let's Introduce you to your Ritorno Partners! Every great Lounge runs on great partnerships, and at Ritorno that's working closely with Texas and Bandi. They're the two you'll be working alongside day in, day out, so here's a bit about them before you meet in person. Meet Texas - Texas is our Site Operations Manager, and he loves nothing more than the hustle and bustle of a full-on day on the Harbourside, ideally followed up with a Spicy Marg! His go-to Lounge meal is the Byron Bay Brunch.

We're hiring a full-time General Manager to lead our flagship Lounge

Part of Loungers, proudly named Casual Dining Group of the Year 2026. With competitive salary, plus bonus, paid overtime, and real progression opportunities, this is a great next step for an experienced hospitality general manager, or assistant general manager to run Lounges flagship location!

Benefits

• Competitive base salary + bonus + overtime
• Permanent full-time role; 48-hour contract
• Overtime pay for every hour worked
• Achievable bonus scheme, paid twice a year
• Tips shared equally across the team, based on hours worked
• Free meal on every shift no matter the length
• Christmas and Boxing Day off
• Genuine career development with our in-house training courses and 'Future Ops' development programmes
• 50% discount on food and drinks from day one. Including alcohol across all our brands (Lounge, Cosy Club, & Brightside) from day one
• No uniform policy
• The most talked-about staff party in hospitality - Loungefest!
• Long service awards - Vouchers/Extra money
• Early access to your pay with Stream
• Emotional and practical support via the Licensed Trade Charity