The Role
Manages operations across assigned cafes, supporting team development, guest experience, financial performance, inventory, staffing, standards, partner relationships, and cafe openings. Coaches Student Cafe Executive Officers, oversees direct reports, approves schedules and budgets, supports recruiting and marketing initiatives, and maintains operational compliance. The role requires strong hospitality leadership, foodservice management experience, communication skills, a valid driver’s license, and travel up to 80%.
Summary Generated by Built In
Job Summary: The Area Operations Manager (AOM) plays a pivotal role in ensuring the success of their assigned cafes in each of the Three Pillars (team development, community leadership, and financial management). A significant portion of this success relies on annually supporting, coaching, and developing up to eight (8) Student Cafe Executive Officers (SCEOs) through their entire term, kicking off the relationship at their time of hire. This multifaceted position calls for a proactive individual with a whatever it takes attitude, ready to take on the varied day-to-day opportunities and challenges.
What You Will Own
- Talent Pipeline: Ensure the team is fully staffed to meet operational demands and identify and develop exceptional talent for leadership roles.
- Guest Experience: Conduct regular quality assurance checks, audit performance to look for and correct inconsistencies in execution, and maintain a culture of hospitality within the cafe.
- Cafe Standards: Remain up-to-date on all cafe operations in order to train and coach on all cafe roles. Make SOPs easily accessible to the team and maintain operational integrity by ensuring team members are following all listed steps. Ensure SCEOs are following progressive discipline policies and issuing Coaching & Counseling forms when necessary, as well as advise and assist with involuntary terminations. Hold SCEOs accountable to consistent communication channels with their team.
- Financial Management: Review, provide feedback, and approve weekly schedules to ensure labor hours are both aligned with demands and stay within budgeted expenses, coach SCEOs on how to read and act upon Profit & Loss statements, and present and defend P&L during reviews for assigned cafes. Produce and assign Labor Models to assigned cafes.
- PARS & Inventory: Ensure accuracy in inventory counts and review and approve Orders & PARS Inventory Worksheet for all assigned cafes.
- Partner Management: Represent Saxbys as the main point of contact for landlords, facilities, maintenance, aux service, etc. to ensure day to day operations run smoothly and maintain Campus Resource Guide with up-to-date information.
- Cafe Openings: Manage café setup and initial grand openings as the Operations lead, working closely with all departments to ensure a successful start.
- Local and Competitive Marketplace: Stay current with industry trends, local competitors, and community updates that may have an impact on the business in order to take a proactive approach when it comes to managing cafe operations.
Who You Will Support
- Marketing: Provide intel on opportunities on campus through research and communication with partners. Support SCEO through the refinement of the Campus Marketing Plan to focus efforts on highest potential ROI and ensure execution of key dates and deliverables.
- Head of Area Operations: Assist with academic partners, requested reports, and special projects.
- Recruiting: Nominate, vet, and assist internal candidates in the SCEO pipeline, complete final interviews for candidates, and effectively communicate hiring needs to Campus Recruiters. Participate and collaborate on initiatives to increase the candidate pool.
Who You Will Supervise
This position oversees between 1-4 direct reports.
What Success Looks Like
- All assigned cafes operate at or above budgeted revenue
- All assigned cafes operate at or above budgeted NOI
- 30%+ of the cafe staff are Team Leads
- 100% of SCEOs are hired by March 31 for the fall semester or October 31 for the spring semester.
Where You Excel
- Master of prioritization
- Holds others accountable
- Adaptable to change
- Patient but firm
- Builds rapport across diverse audiences
- Developer of individual contributors
What Else is Expected
- Support, exhibit, and promote Saxbys Mission and Core Values in all daily activities.
- Either 2+ years of foodservice management experience OR a minimum of 6 months as a Saxbys CEO or SCEO or Certified level team member
- Multi-unit management experience a huge plus
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Outstanding passion for hospitality and servant leadership
- Experience managing teams and processes effectively
- Ability to travel up to 80% of the time
- Valid drivers license
- Physical requirements:
- Able to stand and walk for extended periods of time
- Able to stoop and kneel
- Push, pull, lift or carry up to 35 lbs
- Ascend or descend ladders, stairs, ramps
Skills Required
- 2+ years of foodservice management experience, or at least 6 months as a Saxbys CEO, SCEO, or Certified level team member
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Passion for hospitality and servant leadership
- Experience managing teams and processes effectively
- Ability to travel up to 80% of the time
- Valid driver's license
- Ability to stand and walk for extended periods
- Ability to stoop and kneel
- Ability to push, pull, lift, or carry up to 35 pounds
- Ability to ascend or descend ladders, stairs, and ramps
- Multi-unit management experience
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The Company
What We Do
Driven by social impact and fueled by great coffee, Saxbys is a hospitality company with a mission: Make Life Better. Brewing real change in the communities it serves, Saxbys champions education and opportunity to empower the next generation of changemakers
