General Manager

Life Alive Café; Boston (MA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Life Alive Café is seeking a passionate General Manager to lead one of its Boston-area cafes. The GM will drive a vibrant, mission-driven team to deliver high-quality, whole-food menus while balancing costs and operations.

You’ll mentor staff, oversee scheduling, and ensure guest satisfaction in a fast-paced setting. The role emphasizes servant leadership, clear communication, and hands-on involvement in prep, production, and guest experience to maintain Life Alive’s standards and growth

Qualifications

• 3 years of General Management experience, leading large teams.
• Experience using scheduling software and labor templates.
• Experience managing labor and food costs to plan.
• Guest service experience 3+ years.
• History of growth in position.
• Experience in QSR or white tablecloth concepts.

Responsibilities

• Maintain a well-trained, motivated, and missioned-aligned team.
• Develop emerging leaders and grow engagement in the business.
• Hold regular check-ins with team members and store leadership with clear goals for behavior, operations, and cost balancing.
• Oversee prep and production to ensure Life Alive quality and tasting standards.
• Manage cleaning, space upkeep, and audits to maintain inviting spaces.
• Anchor sales with forecasting, purchasing, and labor management to protect margins.
• Be accountable for delivering on plan and P&L results for cafe level expenses.

Skills

General Management

Team Leadership

Budgeting

P&L management

Labor cost control

Purchasing

Customer service

Scheduling software

Tools

Scheduling software

Job description

General Managers at Life Alive must be passion-driven leaders at heart. We celebrate individual perspectives and want each cafe to have a unique individual leading their team to success. We define success as growing a vibrant community of satisfied guests and team members, maintaining the highest food quality and physical space, and mastering the entrepreneurial spirit of running a business and cost balancing.

Building a community with engaged, mission-driven team members is essential to Life Alive. With an eye for developing talent and uplifting diverse people, our ideal management candidate has experience driving large teams. Kind, honest, and direct communication, engagement with feedback, and a spirit of servant leadership are the foundation for General Managers.

• Maintaining a well-trained, motivated, and missioned-aligned team to cover the business demands
• Sizing up and developing emerging leaders to continue growing engagement in the business
• Holding regular checking ins with team members and store leadership with clear and concise goals for behavior, operations, and cost balancing

Everyday Life Alive produces an expansive menu from scratch. General Managers learn the full scope of prep and production to know what quality looks like - they are fully engaged in touching, tasting, and course correcting to ensure each meal we serve reflects Life Alive’s celebration of whole food and vitality.

• Using temp and taste logs every shift to assure quality, freshness, and Life Alive standards
• Full grasp of prep operations and use of Fabrication model
• Maintaining a fully stocked kitchen and menu to protect guest experience

Life Alive’s dining rooms are designed to evoke a beautiful guest experience, and it’s open production lines are designed to execute exceptional volume with speed and integrity. Maintaining these spaces for our team, guests, and food safety is a core GM responsibility. Experience maintaining large dining rooms, prep and production kitchens, and storage areas is important.

• Keen eye for detailed cleaning and adherence to cleaning rituals
• Upkeep of store deep cleans and improvement on process to ensure results
• Regular Cleanliness audits and training to keep spaces inviting, warm, and tidy

It is essential that our General Managers master cost balancing to keep our business sustainable and thriving. We see profits as a byproduct of making the right choices proactively and consistently. Adherence to established systems and a mindset of ownership are keys to success.

• Use of sales forecasting (sales ledger), and purchasing (declining budget) tools to align costs with sales appropriately
• Intra day purchasing and labor management to maintain appropriate margins
• Responsible for delivery on plan and PNL results for cafe level controllable expenses
• Building sales using PPC model

If you have the will to learn and participate, the skills required of a GM, and the passion for community, food, and service our leader’s require, we hope you will apply to Life Alive.

Requisite Experience

• 3 years of General Management experience
• Experience leading a large team (>30 people)
• Experience using scheduling software & labor templates
• Experience managing labor and food costs to plan
• Experience with daily purchasing and declining budget
• Guest service experience 3+ years
• History of growth in position
• Experience in QSR or white tablecloth concepts

Skills And Knowledge

• Independently motivated
• Entrepreneurial spirit
• Ability to manage through ambiguity
• Growth mindset orientated
• Ability to read and manage P&L
• Ability to work 9+ hours on your feet multiple days a week
• Ability to lift up to 50lbs
• Capable of running operations without supervision
• Cool and Calm Demeanor under pressure
• Solves problems and follows through until solved
• Demonstrated experience at building community relationships
• Ability to communicate clearly and concisely, both orally and in writing
• Interpersonal & team building skills
• Knowledge of customer service techniques
• Organization and planning skills
• Strong leadership skills, with the ability to coach and mentor others
• Ability to plan and prioritize workload
• Ability to handle confidential and sensitive information

Equal Opportunity Employer

This employer is required to notify all applicants of their rights pursuant to federal employment laws. For further information, please review the Know Your Rights notice from the Department of Labor.