Cafe General Manager

Socket.dev; Philadelphia (Philadelphia County); On-site; USD 55,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

Socket.dev in Philadelphia is seeking a dynamic General Manager to lead our cafe, driving sales, guest experience, and profitability with a high-performing team and exceptional hospitality. The GM will oversee front-of-house and back-of-house operations, ensuring smooth daily activities, cost control, and staff development to deliver the Steps of Service and a memorable local experience.

This role requires strong leadership, financial acumen, and a passion for building community through

Qualifications

• Minimum 2 years of managerial experience in quick-service or full-service restaurant.
• Proven ability to meet sales targets and manage labor costs.
• Strong leadership and people skills with coaching mindset.

Responsibilities

• Meet sales revenue and average check targets while controlling labor costs.
• Lead and develop a high-performing team with coaching and accountability.
• Ensure accurate and timely scheduling and payroll.
• Drive café sales and maintain a high level of hospitality and operations.

Skills

Leadership

Hospitality

Team Development

Communication

Sales & Service Excellence

Tools

POS System

Job description

Description

Summary/Objective

The General Manager Sets tone in 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 & 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 meets sales targets & average customer spend, reduce waste and achieves 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 & sales achieved. The GM floats from front of house to back of house to ensure direction and support across the business.

Essential Functions/Responsibilities:

Ownership:

• Financial Targets: meets the sales revenue and average check targets regularly. Manages labor costs and optimizes productivity of teams by having aces in places
• Employee Development with high performance standards: holds high performance team standards and helps them to achieve by creating a coaching environment with a focus on improving every day, every moment Connection through effective communication; keeps the team connected and engaged by consistently communicating expectations and holds teams accountable
• Leads by example – sets high standards for yourself and your team
• Ensures orders are placed timely and accurately. Manages COGs to ensure minimized waste Leads by example and reflects the company’s competencies & behaviors at all time
• Communicates clearly and consistently, shares successes, needs and opportunities to Operations Manager & BLHQ as needed
• Ensures accuracy and timeliness of schedules & 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 & reach goals Provides regular feedback to team on performance and standards
• Onboards and develops new team members. Has clear understanding of what good looks like in café Ensures teammates are always performing to expectations, works with line manager and People Operations to create action plans to address performance needs

Human Connection:

• First point of contact for locals and displays 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 throughout interactions
• Builds strong connection with locals. Learns names and creates a personal connection with them to build repeat business and create a daily escape
• Understands locals’ community. Awareness of trends and competition in the area – builds relationships with community and are involved with local events & activities
• Participates in projects to increase guest count, daily sales, and operational profitability and develop a loyal local base
• Set tone in café – displays optimism and brings energy in everything they do

Premium Broad Product:

• Ensures ordering of appropriate stock levels
• Escalates any issues with suppliers to Supply Chain in a timely manner
• Ensures proper measures are in place to achieve the correct handling of food and beverage product to retain its freshness and quality
• Follows implemented systems, to avoid wastage of food and beverage product
• Leader of accurate product knowledge and ensures all team members follow specifications especially adhering to portion control in line with appropriate costing for a dish or beverage

Beautiful Spaces:

• Ensures environment is to standard (physical set up, music volume, cleanliness, etc.) so that a beautiful environment is experienced by our locals
• Maintains Department of Health (DOH) standards at all times and perform timely reviews, follow ups and establish action plans as needed for: sanitation, shop scores and DOH inspections
• Drive cleaning schedules on a daily, weekly and monthly basis and 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 expectations are met in all areas of the store regarding safety, cleaning, storage, ordering and sanitation for the store, escalating issues as required to Facilities

Measures of Success:

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

Skills, Knowledge & Experience:

• You have a minimum 2 years’ experience as a manager in a quick service or full-service restaurant or a 2 years’ experience as a Team Captain
• You have worked in various roles in hospitality, have a passion for service and understand what is needed to provide a high level of hospitality
• You have a passion for working with and developing teams
• You have proven achievement of key performance indicators and can articulate which key actions you implemented to drive performance.
• You have the ability to work in high-pressure environments; and can lead and keep teams calm and focused You are well-organized and detail-oriented
• You have experience in, and an ability to use a Point of Sale (POS) system
• You demonstrate the 5cs of leadership: Competency, Commitments, Courage, Candour & Consistency You have 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.