General Manager, The Mindful Café

Arootah • Ramsey, NJ

2d • $0 - $61,000 • Onsite

About The Position

The Mindful Café is an independent organic café offering thoughtfully prepared food, specialty coffee and tea, smoothies, baked goods, catering and private events. We combine high-quality ingredients and personal service with the warmth of a neighborhood café. We are seeking an experienced, hands-on General Manager to lead daily operations, develop our team, strengthen our coffee and beverage program, improve operating systems and help move the café toward sustainable profitability. This is not simply a shift-management position. We are looking for an experienced operator who understands both hospitality and the business of running a successful café.

Requirements

• Approximately 5+ years of restaurant, café, fast-casual or comparable food-service experience, including at least 3 years in a meaningful management role.
• Demonstrated responsibility for employees and daily operations.
• Experience scheduling labor, managing inventory and ordering, training employees and enforcing procedures.
• Working knowledge of food costs, labor costs, waste control, margins and restaurant/café profitability.
• Strong customer-service and hospitality experience.
• Food-safety knowledge and appropriate certification, or willingness to obtain certification promptly.
• Strong communication, judgment, organization, problem-solving and conflict-resolution skills.
• Willingness to work hands-on in every front-of-house position.

Nice To Haves

• Specialty coffee or high-volume café operations.
• Organic or health-conscious food concepts.
• Well-run fast-casual, quick-service, franchise or multi-unit restaurant environments.
• Improving an underperforming operation.
• Building SOPs and repeatable operating systems.
• Catering, private events and delivery platforms.
• Menu analysis and improving restaurant or café margins.
• Strong barista skills are highly preferred. A candidate who is not already highly proficient must have the ability and commitment to become fully trained.

Responsibilities

• Monitor sales, labor costs, food and beverage costs, inventory, waste, spoilage and portion consistency.
• Understand which menu items and beverages sell well and contribute appropriately to margins.
• Identify opportunities to grow revenue, customer frequency and average transaction size.
• Improve scheduling and labor efficiency without compromising service.
• Recommend appropriate pricing, menu, portion, product or operational improvements for owner approval.
• Help grow catering, private events and other appropriate revenue opportunities.
• Track agreed operating and financial measures and regularly communicate results and action plans to the owner.
• Maintain consistent preparation of espresso drinks, coffee, matcha, chai and other hot and iced beverages.
• Ensuring proper milk steaming, drink construction, presentation and speed of service.
• Training and coaching employees on beverage preparation and bar workflow.
• Maintaining cleanliness and proper care of coffee equipment.
• Monitoring beverage inventory, waste, pricing and profitability.
• Continuously improving beverage quality and consistency.
• Staffing and scheduling within approved labor budgets.
• Opening, closing, cleaning, preparation and service procedures.
• Inventory, ordering and routine vendor management.
• POS and cash-control procedures.
• Food safety, sanitation and allergy/cross-contact protocols.
• Customer complaints and service recovery.
• Catering and private-event execution.
• Building and improving practical SOPs, checklists and training systems.
• Train, coach and develop employees.
• Set clear expectations and hold people accountable.
• Address performance problems promptly and professionally.
• Resolve employee conflicts fairly and calmly.
• Cross-train employees and develop stronger team members into future leaders.
• Build a culture of hospitality, teamwork, initiative and responsibility.

Benefits

• 14 paid days PTO
• Complimentary lunch, coffee and tea while working
• Annual bonus opportunity plus potential additional performance-based compensation for meaningful improvement in the café’s financial and operating performance

What This Job Offers

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