General Manager

Equator Coffees; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 70,000 - 95,000; Full time

Job summary

Equator Coffees is seeking a Café General Manager to lead the cafe team and drive an outstanding customer experience. You will model hospitality, coach staff, and ensure smooth daily operations in a high-standard coffee environment.

Reporting to the District Manager, you will oversee hiring, training, schedules, payroll, and cost controls while seeking ways to boost sales and guest satisfaction across California cafes.

Qualifications

• Must demonstrate a passion for coffee and the ability to inspire others.
• Management experience in specialty coffee, retail, hospitality, or customer service is required.
• Experience recruiting, hiring, and managing staff is essential.

Responsibilities

• Lead the cafe team to deliver an exceptional coffee experience.
• Hire, train, develop, and retain staff.
• Create timely, accurate schedules and payroll submission.

Skills

Passion for coffee

People leadership

Staff development

Team collaboration

Customer service

Business acumen

Education

SERVSafe Manager Certificate

Job description

• Direct Reports: Shift Leads, Baristas, and Food Prep Positions

About Equator

In 1995, Equator Founders Helen Russell and Brooke McDonnell began their values-driven path, roasting coffee in a Marin County, CA garage. Possessing an obsessive commitment to green coffee sourcing and unparalleled roasting expertise, Helen and Brooke have committed over 30 years to sustainable and fair trade coffee practices all in the name of creating a remarkable coffee experience for consumers. Today, Equator Coffees is a retail and wholesale coffee roaster and coffee farm owner with twelve retail cafes throughout California—from Marin County to San Francisco to Oakland to Los Angeles and beyond. Throughout the years, Equator Coffees has spearheaded industry-leading sourcing and roasting practices, and has forged progressive partnerships with Michelin-starred chefs, specialty grocers, tech campuses, and more. Women-owned, LGBTQ-founded, and an early adopter of Fair Trade certification, Equator Coffees is the first California coffee roaster to achieve B Corp Certification.

POSITION: Café General Manager

CLASSIFICATION: Exempt

REPORTING RELATIONSHIPS

• Reports to the District Manager
• Direct Reports: Shift Leads, Baristas, and Food Prep Positions

About Equator

In 1995, Equator Founders Helen Russell and Brooke McDonnell began their values-driven path, roasting coffee in a Marin County, CA garage. Possessing an obsessive commitment to green coffee sourcing and unparalleled roasting expertise, Helen and Brooke have committed over 30 years to sustainable and fair trade coffee practices all in the name of creating a remarkable coffee experience for consumers. Today, Equator Coffees is a retail and wholesale coffee roaster and coffee farm owner with twelve retail cafes throughout California—from Marin County to San Francisco to Oakland to Los Angeles and beyond. Throughout the years, Equator Coffees has spearheaded industry-leading sourcing and roasting practices, and has forged progressive partnerships with Michelin-starred chefs, specialty grocers, tech campuses, and more. Women-owned, LGBTQ-founded, and an early adopter of Fair Trade certification, Equator Coffees is the first California coffee roaster to achieve B Corp Certification.

Position Summary

The Café General Manager is responsible for leading the entire cafe team to provide an exceptional coffee experience for the customer. To be successful in this position, you must have a passion for the mission and values of Equator Coffees and want to share that passion with your team and the greater community by being a leader within the café.

Key Responsibilities

• Sets a standard of conscientiously hiring, training, developing, and retaining employees
• Continuously develop self and team
• Inspires and creates a positive environment
• Communicates regularly with team, provides positive and constructive feedback, and holds quarterly team meetings
• Create timely and complete schedules, taking the business and employees needs into consideration
• Completes payroll accurately and submits it within the proper time frame
• Models hospitality and is in service to the customer
• Acts to resolve customer concerns and is always looking for ways to make the experience better
• Monitors, coaches, and encourages team members to exceed the customer’s expectations through the team’s execution of the operations, processes, recipes, and knowledge
• Know all products, including ingredients, quality consistency positioning, and signage with the ability to answer questions that might come up from staff or customers
• Completes required inventories and accurate ordering in the proper time frame
• Manage the store’s financial performance and costs to include accurate cash controls and product ordering
• Completes the weekly financial corporate requirements accurately and in a timely manner
• Is relentless in finding ways to drive sales and create new customers
• Monitors Key Performance Indicators and is always looking for areas to improve

Qualifications and Requirements

• Demonstrates a passion for coffee and inspires it in others
• Management experience in specialty coffee, retail, hospitality, and/or customer service is required
• Experience managing a profitable & operationally sound single café/restaurant preferred
• Must maintain current state-issued SERVSafe Manager Certificate
• Experience recruiting, hiring, and managing staff
• Strong leadership skills with professional maturity
• Proven ability to understand and execute an organization’s goals and objectives
• Enjoys working on a team and collaborating as a team player