NPO Manager, Café
About The Position
The NPO Manager, Café is a member of a four-person New Park Opening team that opens each new Lava Island park. The Manager arrives on site 1-2 weeks before opening with the NPO GM, the NPO Manager, Party, and the NPO Manager, Park & IT, and stays through the grand opening and the first 2-3 weeks of stabilized operation. This role brings deep café operational fluency to every opening. The Manager is responsible for café readiness, café team hiring input, training, execution through the opening, and the standard of the food operation through stabilization. The Manager must be able to run the Lava Island café to standard from day one and develop a capable café team at the new park before handoff. The role functions in a manager-on-duty capacity during deployments, supervising the team and making operational decisions in real time. Over time, the long-term aim is for NPO Managers to develop dual-fluency across their partner areas; on entry the role specializes in café.
Requirements
- Prior experience at Lava Island as an AM with café depth, or as a Crew Member with strong café experience and demonstrated readiness for a salaried leadership role.
- Strong operational fluency in café operations: prep, line execution, food safety, station discipline, and team leadership in the café.
- Demonstrated ability to lead through high-intensity shifts with calm and clarity, and to coach a brand-new team to performance quickly.
- Willingness to travel continuously, with no home park base, in 4-6 week deployment cycles. Comfort working in unfamiliar environments and bringing the Lava Island standard to a brand-new park, brand-new team, and brand-new community.
- 18 or older.
- ServSafe Manager Certification current, or completion within 30 days of hire.
- Comfort with email, spreadsheets, scheduling tools, and digital documentation. Lava Island operates in a Microsoft 365 and Outlook environment.
Nice To Haves
- Experience with new restaurant or new café openings; familiarity with Lava Island café systems, prep methods, and menu.
Responsibilities
- Confirm the café is ready to operate to Lava Island standards.
- Complete setup work in the café outside the scope of MCS, including equipment calibration, stocking, station setup, and prep system readiness.
- Confirm food safety and ServSafe standards are in place; surface anything that needs HQ or vendor support to the NPO GM early.
- Interview café candidates alongside the NPO GM; provide input on hiring decisions (NPO GM has final say). Build a café team with the right shape and depth for opening volume.
- Lead on-site training across all café stations: prep, line, expedite, and food safety.
- Teach Lava Island café standards: recipes, portions, ticket times, station discipline, cleanliness, and guest experience expectations from the café.
- Build cross-training so café team members can run multiple stations confidently. Surface team members who need additional support or may not be ready for opening.
- Lead the café team through grand opening week as the on-shift leader. Make real-time decisions on prep, par levels, station coverage, and guest issue resolution. Hold the line on food safety, quality, and pace under high volume.
- Serve as Manager on Duty on assigned shifts during the deployment. Hold team members accountable to performance expectations and Lava Island standards during shifts.
- Remain on site 2-3 weeks post-open. Continue to coach the team, address performance and attendance issues in real time, and refine café operations.
- Walk the incoming café leadership (typically the OM or AM responsible for café) through the team, current state of operations, and any open items before departing.
- Adapt to the unexpected. Find the café solution on the ground when the standard approach does not fit; push issues that require HQ support to the NPO GM and the right HQ team quickly and clearly.
- Coordinate closely with the NPO Manager, Party on party food timing and cross-area handoffs, and with the NPO Manager, Park & IT on dining and overall flow.
- Coordinate with the local marketing team on food and beverage tie-ins to opening events.
- Model the Lava Island standard at all times in front of the team, the incoming leadership team, and any external partners on site.
Stand Out From the Crowd
Upload your resume and get instant feedback on how well it matches this job.
What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Manager
Education Level
No Education Listed
