Cafe Manager

What would I be doing?

 

The Café forms part of a central hub, housing a daytime café for the community and an after-school Youth Café that connects vulnerable young people to positive and inspiring role-models from their community, empowering and inspiring them to become active citizens in their community. The space is used for two similar, but distinct purposes and excellent working relationships between these are essential. This role is responsible for the daytime café and related income generating activities.

 

An initiative of the Matrix Trust, our café has built an excellent reputation, with the vision to provide a space for local people to retreat to, where they will find a friendly welcome and an opportunity to give back to the community. Key elements include: quality coffee, delicious healthy food, a calm but welcoming environment, and an eco-friendly, low waste ethos.

 

The Café is open 5 days a week, 8:30am to 3pm on Tuesday to Friday and 10am to 3pm on Saturdays.

 

What would we expect from you?

 

Day-to-Day Responsibilities

● Ensure the smooth running of the café and any other Pavilion Hub enterprises.

● Ensure Health & Safety and Food Hygiene standards are met and maintained.

● Maintain high standards of excellence across all areas of the business.

● Provide and maintain a welcoming environment for customers.

● Ensure all necessary, policies processes and procedures are followed; providing a clean, safe and friendly setting for all customers and service users.

 

Team Management

● Oversee, motivate and inspire a team of paid and voluntary staff .

● Plan the staff rota, and train and manage the team to provide efficient and welcoming service.

● Oversee work experience placements, training them to a high standard and giving them holistic support to be able to achieve whilst they are with us.

● Liaising with the Head of Operations, monitor the work of all Cafe staff and carry out appraisals, recognise training needs and potential as appropriate, driving high individual performance through regular one-to-ones and coaching so that team members are performing to their highest ability.

● Ensure the highest level of service and operation occurs throughout the café and other enterprises.

● Liaise with the Youth Cafe team to establish protocols for café usage.

●Ensure the team are knowledgeable about the products on sale and confident to offer recommendations.

Building Management

● Liaise with the Head of Operations about any building maintenance issues, ensuring they are dealt with quickly.

● Liaise with the Head of Operations to ensure the building is maintained and cleaned to a high standard.

 

Café Development

● Achieve cafe goals and targets set by the CEO and Directors

● Identify areas for development that will drive the business forward

● Keep abreast of new concepts and ideas in the industry that may enhance the current offer

● Market the café within the local and wider community, working with the team to organise events and promotion that will provide additional interest and increase footfall

● Utilise and develop methods that encourage repeat business

● Develop seasonal menus and menu items to celebrate calendar events

● Promote the vision of Matrix through the café

● Be passionate about the vision and of the café

● Ensure that customers are given an efficient and enjoyable experience and that service and value expectations are consistently exceeded

● Ensure margins are maximised through minimising waste, careful ordering and creative menus

● Manage and report on the café budget

● Oversee cash management

● Ensure the team maintain a clean, visually inviting space

● Achieve / maintain an excellent food standards rating

 

Hideaway Hire and Events

● Achieve hiring goals and targets set by the CEO and Directors

● Market and promote the hireable spaces to customers and encourage purchase of items from the café, including Sunday use when the café is closed.

● Book and liaise with local creatives to provide creative activities that hire or use the space on a regular basis as income-generation for the café.

● Promote the art exhibitions and encourage artists to use the space for other activities during their season.

● Build up a series of income-generating evening events hosted by The Hideaway / Matrix or external parties.

● Work with local organisations / businesses to host events that utilise the gardens with food and drink provided by The Hideaway.

● Encourage use of the café by local groups such as creatives, book clubs, parents etc.

● Manage the booking system for the hireable spaces and ensure team set up the space as required and that the hirers are properly looked after.

 

Business Management (dependent on experience)

● Work with the CEO to set strategy and develop a business plan to grow the income and social impact of The Pavilion Hub.

● Provide reports on financial performance and social impact to the CEO and Board on a regular basis.

● Identify new business opportunities that could fit within The Pavilion Hub CIC’s portfolio that both generate revenue and provide social impact for young people and the community.

 

General and Wider Charity Involvement

● Ensure knowledge of current Matrix projects and impact is up to date

● Be a pro-active part of the wider Matrix team and a team player, getting involved in projects which benefit the mission of Matrix, e.g.: fundraising activities or team projects

 

Team Expectations

This post-holder will be employed by the social enterprise ‘The Pavilion Hub’ CIC, however, as part of the wider Matrix charity there is an expectation staff to be proactive and a fully-invested team player across both organisations, supporting others in their busier seasons and the charity as a whole across the year.

 

We expect you to:

● Fit in with our core values, to be: positive, relational, innovative, collaborative and fun

● Work from within the Christian ethos

● Be committed to and passionate about the mission to catalyse change in young people’s lives

● Be a pro-active member of the wider Matrix team and get involved in projects which benefit the mission of Matrix

● Work across agencies and Matrix teams

● Cover for team members during periods of sickness or leave, when required

 

Person Specification

Who are we looking for?

 

ESSENTIAL

● At least 2 years' experience as manager or an assistant manager.

● At least 2 years’ experience working in a café, bar or restaurant.

● Experience of working with food and coffee sales.

● Friendly and outgoing.

● Entrepreneurial and creative, able to drive growth in the cafe.

● An excellent leader, able to recruit, train, motivate and retain a great team.

● Familiar with best practices of H&S and food hygiene (HACCP).

● Have an eye for detail and high standards.

● Works in a highly organised way.

● Passionate about and experienced in creating an excellent customer experience.

● Agree with and support the Christian ethos of the Matrix Trust.

● Financially astute.

● Fluent in English.

● Barista trained.

● Experience in managing a team.

● Excellent management and communication skills.

● Impeccable levels of health & safety and hygiene.

● Good IT skills.

● Experience of successful marketing in business.

 

DESIRABLE

● Current Food Hygiene (Level 3) and First Aid Certificates.

● The ideal candidate will have experience in running a quality café where high standards and customer experience are at the forefront of their accountabilities.

● Knowledge and understanding of POS systems for use in a food environment.

● Exposure to a high revenue, high footfall business.

● Success in using social media for business.

● Experience in running a business or has business management skills (launching initiatives, marketing, budget management etc).