Assistant General Manager

Life Alive Café • Cambridge, MA

21d

About The Position

Life Alive Organic Cafe is a quick-service cafe serving scratch-prepared food made with organic ingredients. The Assistant General Manager supports the General Manager in driving café success, leading and developing the team, and fostering a collaborative environment. The role partners with the General Manager on overall café performance across people, product, and profit, while helping build a vibrant community and uphold the company’s culture and standards.

The Assistant General Manager oversees food quality and preparation, operational readiness, cleaning systems, and cost management. The role directly supervises and develops a team of more than 20 team members, makes staffing, scheduling, and labor decisions based on business needs, and contributes to hiring, performance management, and terminations. It requires someone able to run shifts without supervision, make independent decisions, and resolve operational and team challenges.

Requirements

• At least 2 years of Assistant General Manager experience.
• Experience working on a large team of more than 30 people.
• Experience learning labor budgets and using scheduling software.
• At least 2 years of guest service experience.
• A history of growth in position.
• Ability to work 9 or more hours on your feet multiple days a week, including nights and weekends.
• Ability to lift up to 50 pounds.
• Ability to communicate clearly and concisely, orally and in writing.
• Knowledge of customer service techniques.
• Team-building skills and strong leadership skills, including the ability to coach and mentor others.
• Ability to plan and prioritize workload, learn systems, take ownership, and complete tasks sometimes unsupervised.
• Ability to manage ambiguity, stay calm under pressure, and solve problems in the moment.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in quick-service restaurant (QSR) or white-tablecloth concepts.

Responsibilities

• Support the General Manager in achieving café success and lead the team with passion and enthusiasm.
• Build a vibrant community by hiring and onboarding mission-driven team members and embodying Life Alive’s culture and standards.
• Oversee ordering, storing, preparing, and producing the scratch-made menu using organic ingredients.
• Enforce cleaning systems, delegate tasks, and ensure the dining environment is clean, prepared, and ready for guests.
• Maintain the speed and integrity of the open production lines.
• Partner with General Managers on inventory management, labor management, and food costing to support consistent profitability.
• Own overall café performance in partnership with the General Manager across people, product, and profit.
• Directly supervise and develop a team of more than 20 team members.
• Make staffing, scheduling, and labor decisions based on business needs.
• Participate in hiring, performance management, and terminations.
• Use independent judgment to resolve operational and team challenges.
• Run shifts without supervision and troubleshoot problems as they arise.

Benefits

• Food discounts and yoga perks.
• Flexible work schedule, with the ability to split time between working from home and in cafés.
• 401(k) and IRA; Life Alive matches 401(k) contributions at 100%, up to 3%.
• Medical, dental, and vision coverage.
• Life insurance, MetLaw, TeleDoc, short-term and long-term disability, and mental health support via My Strength.
• Parking and transportation reimbursement.
• 10 to 15 days of paid vacation, depending on tenure.
• 56 hours of paid sick leave.
• 8 hours of community service pay.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed