Area Manager

Craven Cottage CC; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 420,000 - 540,000; Full time

Job summary

Craven Cottage CC seeks an experienced restaurant manager to oversee day-to-day operations across its Cape Town outlets. You will ensure consistent service standards, drive profitability, and maintain safety and health compliance.

The role requires strong leadership, excellent communication, and a hands-on approach to coaching managers, managing schedules, and optimizing costs while delivering memorable guest experiences.

Qualifications

• Grade 12 completed; hospitality qualification is advantageous.
• Significant prior management (3–8+ years) in sit-down restaurants.
• Experience with POS systems, inventory software and basic financial reporting.
• Strong communication, organization, problem-solving, detail-oriented, calm under pressure, entrepreneurial mindset.

Responsibilities

• Oversee the smooth day-to-day running of the restaurants in your assigned area.
• Ensure execution of correct operational procedures at all restaurants.
• Stay tuned in with emerging trends that will affect the business.
• Demonstrate ownership and accountability by consistently improving restaurant operating standards and taking corrective action.
• Monitor poor performing restaurants and implement corrective action plans to improve profitability.

Skills

Communication

Organization

Problem solving

Attention to detail

Calm under pressure

Entrepreneurial mindset

Education

Grade 12

Hospitality qualification (advantage)

Tools

POS systems

Inventory software

Financial reporting tools

Job description

Duties

Operational

• Oversee the smooth day to day running of the restaurants in your assigned area
• Ensure execution of correct operational procedures at all restaurants
• Stay tuned in with emerging trends that will affect the business
• Demonstrate ownership and accountability by consistently improving restaurant operating standards and taking the necessary corrective action
• Monitor poor performing restaurants. Implement and execute corrective action plans to improve poor operating or low profitability restaurants

Standards & Regulation Compliance

• Perform routine inspections of the restaurants in order to measure compliance with operation standards.
• Liaise regularly with the internal audit teams, to ensure restaurants are consistently achieving good audit scores, and take corrective action when audit results decline.
• Ensure strict compliance with all occupational health and safety regulations and any other applicable local legislation at the restaurant level

Reporting

• Identify and communicate operational and financial risks and create corrective action plans
• Monitor and ensure adherence of the restaurants to stated financial policies, processes and budgets, which can vary from time to time
• Monitor and improve restaurant profitability
• Monitoring of the restaurant P&L’s and provide guidance and actively support GM’s in achieving budgeted results.

Leadership

• Submit daily, weekly and monthly & other required reports on a timely basis
• Provide leadership, coaching & strategic direction to restaurant management teams
• Manage, monitor & assist employee relations in line with company policies & procedures
• Ensure store labour is managed efficiently to meet service standards & cost
• Ensure Restaurant employees and management are engaged & that morale is high
• Ensure training & retraining of applicable employees in line with succession management & planning guidelines

Monthly Tasks

• Safe Audit (including Petty cash)
• Maintenance walk through
• Waste analysis
• Variance analysis
• Manage the P&L projections and expenditure according to the company’s financial

Conduct a weekly GM meeting, to discuss results, opportunities and challenges and unpack results.

Store Visits

• Required to work any shift that meets the need of the restaurant, should the restaurant trade be busier at night you will be required to spend time in that restaurant at night.
• You will need to visit each of your restaurants each month, preferably planning your visits to cover different trading times.
• Performs additional responsibilities, as per operational needs and Management request.

Requirements

• Grade 12
• A formal hospitality qualification will be an advantage
• Significant prior management (3-8+ years) in sit-down restaurants
• POS systems, inventory software, basic financial reporting.
• Strong communication, organization, problem-solving, detail-oriented, calm under pressure, entrepreneurial mindset.