Restaurant Manager

Dobbies Garden Centres Ltd; Woodbridge; On-site; GBP 35,000 - 45,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual leave

Staff discount across stores

Stream access for financial wellbeing

Retail Trust support services

Dobbies Academy development

Thriving team culture

Job summary

Dobbies Garden Centres Ltd is seeking a Restaurant Manager to oversee restaurant operations across kitchens and front of house. You will lead a motivated team, drive exceptional customer experiences, and ensure top health and safety compliance within a fast-paced garden centre environment.

We value strong commercial awareness, stock control, and the ability to train and coach staff through seasonal changes while maintaining a positive, collaborative culture.

Qualifications

• Restaurant management experience in hospitality.
• Strong commercial awareness and budgeting skills.
• Proven ability to manage stock and health & safety.
• Able to coach and train teams across shifts.
• Positive leader who adapts to changing priorities.

Responsibilities

• Oversee fast-paced restaurant operation including kitchen and FOH.
• Lead a team focused on delivering a great customer experience.
• Ensure strict health and safety compliance at all times.
• Manage stock to minimise wastage and meet needs.
• Support delivery of in-store events and seasonal highlights.
• Collaborate with central support teams for smooth operations.

Skills

Hospitality experience

Restaurant management

Team leadership

Budget awareness

Health & safety compliance

Training & coaching

Adaptability

Customer focus

Job description

Our Restaurant Managers play an essential role in delivering an exceptional customer experience across our Restaurants - delivering tasty food, maintaining high operational standards and smashing commercial targets.

Responsibilities

• Oversee the fast-paced restaurant operation, taking responsibility for both the kitchen and front of house operation
• Lead an engaged team, focused on delivering a great customer experience and making it work for our customer
• Ensure strict compliance with health and safety regulations at all times
• Effective stock management controls, to ensure wastage is minimised and the kitchen has everything it needs to deliver to our customers
• Support the delivery of in store events, including seasonal highlights such as Breakfast with Santa, and regular fixtures such as Afternoon Teas
• Communicate effectively with our central support teams to maintain smooth operations and feedback to improve our business
• Work as part of the overall Garden Centre Management team to deliver a safe working enviroment, commercially successful store and a great place to work for our colleagues

Who we are looking for

• You’ll bring a passion for hospitality with proven experience of restaurant management
• Commercial awareness and understanding of budgets, profitability from driving sales and improved ways of working
• A proven ability to manage stock controls and strict adherance to health & safety regulations
• Ability to identify training needs. You'll be effectively coaching and training all levels ensuring our teams are delivering a first-class customer experience and safe centre environment
• Adaptability. You'll act quickly and enthusiastically to changing priorities, workload and new regulations or requirements
• Positivity managing change, you'll lead the team through each season with care and motivation to deliver the best
• Can demonstrate our values at all times – we’re one team, getting better everyday. We bring a smile. We live and breathe gardens. We make it work for our customers

What we offer

• Generous annual leave entitlement. Use your holidays when you want with limited statutory days off required
• Treat yourself with generous uncapped discount across our stores with 50% off in our Restaurants, 25% off in the Garden Centre and 10% off in our food halls
• Access to Stream – support your financial wellbeing, with ability to access earnings ahead of pay day, save for the future and financial advice
• Access to Retail Trust – seek confidential support, access to a virtual GP, free counselling service and discounted retail rewards with our employee wellbeing platform
• Access to Dobbies Academy – continue your development with our eLearning platform and development programmes
• Thriving culture; the Dobbies team are passionate, diverse and committed to making it work for our customers

About us

At Dobbies, we’re proud to have a history dating back to 1865. We were founded by James Dobbie and are the only garden centre retailer to have stores in every nation across the UK.

Our passion and joy for gardens and plants is what makes us special. In our stores, we showcase this through own brand and branded products,concession partners and services. We champion garden living all-year-round.

Many of our stores feature a restaurant or coffee shop, where customers can enjoy refreshments or meals in a relaxed and welcoming environment.

We offer a calendar of events and experiences that bring people and communities together, and we have a national charity partner that both our colleagues and customers raise money for.

We’re committed to being a great place to work. We’re one team and we encourage our colleagues to be the best version of themselves, every day; to share their wins and celebrate success. Together, we make it work for our customers.