Job description

Café Operations Manager

Overall responsibilities:

Our client is a charity dedicated solely to protecting wildlife and wild spaces. The Trust has three cafes with event spaces in each of their sites as part of their core mission and to raise funds to support the work of the Trust.

The café is the heart of their visitor centre. All set in stunning natural landscapes, they offer the dual purpose of raising much needed financial income for the charity and being the first touch point for the Trust to communicate their key mission to the wider public. Reporting to the Head of Cafes and Events, the Café Operations Manager will play a crucial part in leading the cafe team, overseeing daily operations across multiple locations to ensure each meets the Trust's standards for quality, service, and cleanliness.

The day-to-day role of the Café Operations Manager involves overseeing the operations of all the café (currently 3 sites, with future plans to expand the portfolio), looking after recruitment, training and development of the café team. Setting sales targets and implementing growth strategies, and actively participating in budget control (wages, expenditure and waste).

The Café Operations Manager will lead on all café operations as well as looking after equipment maintenance, suppler relations and customer service standards. The Café Operations Manager will be required to provide operational support to the Events team, acting as a key point of contact for the Events Planners and Events Operations Team.

Main Responsibilities:

• Responsible for rota creation all cafes; ensuring that all sites are staffed to the level of expected trade and ensure holiday allowance is allocated evenly across the year

• Ensuring that the team has relevant training allocated and completed, line and performance management is in place for the café team
• Work onsite with café teams - this may change depending on season and schedule Wetlands. Regular weekend working is expected in this role.
• Be friendly and approachable, building a strong rapport with Site Teams
• Liaise with suppliers, researching best value items and new products
• Oversee regular monthly stock taking, controlling levels, rotation and ordering
• To take a direct role in café service and delivery as required to ensure a smooth operation and a high level of customer service (including weekend work), cover Event Operations Manager A/L if needed.
• Ensure café operating standards are in line with the latest EHO requirements, all documentation is relevant and up to date and staff are well prepared for unplanned visits.
• Ensure the equipment maintenance schedule is up to date and all equipment is in good working order
• Work closely with the Finance Team to ensure takings are put onto the finance software (Xledger), Purchase Orders and invoices are raised and credit notes requested from the supplier.
• To have full control of the budget for cafes; tracking wage costs, expenditure and waste, implementing profitability improvement strategies.
• Inspire and incentivise the café teams to deliver excellent customer service, creating memorable visitor experiences and communicating the key mission of the charity to encourage membership recruitment and retention.
• Take a proactive lead on developing additional kiosk offers at the different venues (e.g. ice cream bikes, pop up coffee stations) to maximise commercial trading opportunities.
• Benchmark the cafes with other high performing eateries to ensure a competitive offer and implementing new trends and sustainability initiatives when appropriate.
• Support with the development of and lead on management of new cafés as the Trust portfolio expands.
• To ensure that social media content is produced on a regular basis and contributing to the formal reporting processes at each site.
• To undertake any other relevant activities which fall under the general scope of this role as directed by the Head of Cafes and Events

For more info please contact Michelle at mluck@allen-york.com

About us: Allen & York have been matching purposeful people with purpose-led organisations for 30 years. We partner with our clients and candidates on roles that build an understanding of climate change, promote sustainability and create inclusive and responsible organisations, working towards a sustainable world for us all. Committed to inclusiveness in the workplace, we aim to increase diversity across all areas and therefore welcome applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of their ethnicity, race, gender, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, age, or whether or not they have a disability. Let's help build a better world, together.