General Manager - Fine Dining

South Orange County Restaurant; San Clemente (CA); On-site; USD 80,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

South Orange County Restaurant is seeking a General Manager to oversee daily operations of the restaurant, bar, and special events, delivering guest-focused service and maintaining high standards.

You will lead staffing, safety, financial controls, and vendor coordination, while collaborating with culinary leadership to ensure menu execution and consistent experiences during peak service.

Qualifications

• Minimum 2 years of General Manager experience in hospitality.
• Ability to lead and develop restaurant teams and maintain guest-focused culture.
• Experience with POS/PMS systems and daily financial controls.

Responsibilities

• Oversee daily restaurant operations and events with clear standards and accountability.
• Lead staffing, scheduling, training, and performance management to ensure service excellence.
• Maintain safety, compliance, and cost controls while protecting guest experience and brand standards.
• Monitor guest feedback and drive improvements in service quality and guest satisfaction.
• Coordinate with culinary leadership to ensure menu execution and quality consistency.

Skills

GM Experience

Job description

The General Manager is responsible for overseeing the overall operation, service execution, financial performance, team culture, guest experience, safety, compliance, and daily management of the restaurant, bar, and event-related food and beverage operations. This role reports directly to management/ownership and is expected to provide visible, hands-on leadership during key service periods. The General Manager ensures the operation maintains high standards, consistent communication, disciplined controls, and a guest-focused culture.

Core Responsibilities

Restaurant and Daily Operational Leadership

• Lead daily restaurant operations with clear standards and consistent follow-through.
• Ensure the outlet is properly prepared for each shift, including staffing, cleanliness, reservations, guest flow, service readiness, and manager coverage.
• Maintain a strong floor presence during service.
• Set expectations for team members and department leaders, ensuring accountability for service, compliance, guest satisfaction, and professionalism.
• Conduct regular pre-shift meetings to communicate reservations, VIPs, events, menu updates, service priorities, and guest concerns.
• Ensure opening, closing, side work, cash handling, and service checklists are completed consistently and verified by management.

Communication

• Maintain timely and professional communication with management/ownership.
• Provide clear updates regarding staffing, service issues, guest complaints, event execution, maintenance needs, revenue performance, and operational risks.
• Acknowledge leadership communications promptly and provide expected completion timelines when follow-up is required.
• Escalate urgent matters early, including guest incidents, safety concerns, equipment failures, staffing gaps, payment issues, and major service failures.

Guest Experience and Service Standards

• Set and enforce elevated service standards for restaurant, VIPs, private events, and special occasions.
• Ensure all guests are greeted, served, and assisted professionally and consistently.
• Monitor guest feedback, online reviews, and other feedback channels to identify trends and improve operations.
• Handle escalated guest concerns with urgency, professionalism, and proper documentation.
• Ensure service recovery efforts are appropriate, controlled, and aligned with company standards.
• Maintain a hospitality culture focused on warmth, attentiveness, professionalism, and guest retention.

Food Quality, Menu Execution, and Culinary Coordination

• Partner with culinary leadership to ensure consistent food quality, presentation, timing, cleanliness, and menu execution.
• Ensure menu items are available, accurately described by staff, and served according to established standards.
• Monitor ticket times, guest comments, food returns, waste, and service breakdowns to identify corrective actions.
• Support effective communication between front-of-house and back-of-house teams.
• Ensure food safety, sanitation, storage, labeling, temperature logs, and health department requirements are followed and documented.

Financial Oversight, Revenue Protection, and Cost Control

• Drive financial performance through disciplined labor control, revenue protection, cost awareness, and service quality.
• Monitor daily sales, labor, covers, average check, discounts, voids, comps, gratuities, service charges, and payment activity.
• Ensure cash handling, credit card processing, gift cards, house accounts, and payment procedures are properly followed.
• Review revenue trends and collaborate with leadership on pricing, promotions, events, menu strategy, and revenue opportunities.
• Protect the business from unnecessary discounts, revenue leakage, poor documentation, and uncontrolled service recovery.
• Maintain appropriate cost controls without compromising guest experience, food quality, safety, or brand standards.

POS, PMS, Systems, and Reporting Discipline

• Ensure proper use of POS systems, payment systems, reservation systems, and reporting tools.
• Ensure guest room charges, guest checks, service charges, tips, discounts, voids, and end-of-day reports are accurate and properly documented.
• Maintain access controls and protect confidential guest, employee, and financial information.
• Ensure managers and staff are properly trained on systems relevant to theirroles.
• Review daily reports and ensure errors are corrected promptly.
• Coordinate with hotel and corporate leadership when POS, PMS, payment, or reporting issues affect operations.

Human Resources, Hiring, Training, and Team Culture

• Lead hiring, onboarding, training, coaching, scheduling, and performance management for restaurant and service team members.
• Ensure staffing decisions align with approved staffing plans, business levels, and company standards.
• Maintain a fair, respectful, and professional workplace where employees are held accountable and treated consistently.
• Ensure employees receive proper training in service standards, safety, food handling, alcohol service, cash handling, guest interaction, and company policies.
• Address performance concerns promptly through coaching, documentation, retraining, or escalation as appropriate.
• Monitor morale, turnover, workload, scheduling balance, and team communication to maintain a stable and productive work environment.

Cleanliness, Maintenance, and Inspection Readiness

• Maintain the restaurant in a clean, organized, and inspection-ready condition.
• Ensure daily walkthroughs are completed and deficiencies are assigned, corrected, and rechecked.
• Ensure health department, fire safety, alcohol service, and company inspection requirements are followed.
• Protect the physical condition, appearance, and reputation of the outlet through consistent upkeep and accountability.

Safety, Security, and Risk Management

• Ensure the outlet operates safely and follows company safety procedures, emergency procedures, and incident reporting standards.
• Ensure accidents, injuries, guest incidents, intoxication concerns, property damage, theft, and security issues are reported and documented promptly.
• Proactively identify operational risks and take corrective action before issues escalated.

Reputation, Sales Support, and Business Development

• Support the growth of the restaurant through strong guest experiences, local reputation, events, private dining, and repeat business.
• Identify opportunities to improve restaurant visibility, guest engagement, social reputation, and community presence.
• Ensure the team understands current promotions, events, offerings, and guest service expectations.

Physical and Operational Requirements

• Ability to stand, walk, and move throughout the restaurant for extended periods.
• Ability to work evenings, weekends, holidays, private events, and peak service periods based on business needs.
• Ability to lift, push, pull, or carry up to 25–50 lbs. occasionally using safe lifting practices.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities under pressure while maintaining a calm, professional, guest-focused leadership presence.
• Ability to communicate clearly with guests, employees, vendors, and ownership.

GM Experience Required: 2 years+

Source: Hospitality Online