General Manager
3 days ago
Poplar
Beringers - All-Day Brasserie, Piano Bar and Events Venue, London City Island, E14 The story behind the name In 1895, a journalist called Guy Beringer wrote an essay for Hunter's Weekly complaining about Sunday lunch. He had a point. Victorian Sundays meant rising early for a heavy, joyless meal, usually while regretting the night before. Beringer proposed something better: push the whole thing back to midday, combine breakfast and lunch, and let people linger over it. He called it brunch. His argument was never really about the food. Breakfast, he wrote, suits solitude - it is consoling, but it does not stimulate conversation. Brunch by contrast is cheerful, sociable and talk-compelling. It sweeps away the worries and cobwebs of the week. He closed with a postscript we have taken rather seriously: beer and whiskey are admitted as substitutes for tea and coffee. We named the venue after him. Beringers is our attempt to build brunch the way he actually meant it - not a queue and a ninety-minute table turn, but a long, unhurried, sociable affair that begins with coffee and has no particular obligation to end. Where we are now Beringers opened on London City Island at the start of this year, and it has gone better than we hoped. It has found its people. Residents in every week. Tables that book at midday and are still there at six, having moved from brunch to a bottle of wine, and then out to the terrace for a spritz. Late evenings at the bar where nobody is watching the clock. Our regulars know the team by name and, increasingly, know each other. It is a genuine home from home on the island. Our opening team has built something special from a standing start, and we are proud of them. We are now looking for a General Manager to lead the next phase. About The Bull Group The Bull Group is an independent, owner-led hospitality group operating across Canary Wharf, London City Island and Wandsworth. Alongside Beringers, we run The Observatory (London's highest piano lounge, on the 53rd floor of Wardian), Lockdown (bar, restaurant and events venue, with a third site opening in Wandsworth this December), The Eleventh Hour (specialty coffee) and Supershakes (superfood juice bars). We are a growing group with a short decision chain. Our General Managers report directly to senior leadership, and good ideas get implemented rather than escalated into silence. For the right person there is a genuine route into multi-site and operations work as we expand. The venue All-day brasserie. Doors open at 7am for specialty coffee, pastries and our Pantry retail range, through brunch and lunch and into a full evening menu. Signature dishes include Duck and Egg Waffles, the wild mushroom omelette and Nduja Toast. Piano bar. A baby grand sits at the heart of the venue, with live performances several times a week from our resident musicians, alongside a full cocktail list and our own Beringers IPA. Our signature Piano Plates are tapas-style sharing dishes designed to be picked at slowly with a drink in the other hand. Terrace. Where a long lunch quietly becomes an evening. Events venue. Concert Nights, Piano Brunches, wine tastings, tribute evenings, festival collaborations, private hires and our 1895 Club membership programme. There is a growing calendar and an events team behind it. Full table service throughout. This is a restaurant, run properly, and we need someone who has run one. The weekly pattern runs from a daytime coffee and pantry offer earlier in the week through to full brunch service and live music across the weekend, with late piano sessions and vinyl DJ nights building out the evenings. Part of this role is continuing to develop that shape. The role You will take full operational and commercial ownership of Beringers, reporting directly to senior management. Key responsibilities Leading service Lead from the front across all dayparts, from morning coffee to late service Maintain standards of food, drink, service and presentation throughout Be present and visible, known to regulars and hands-on when it counts Leading the team Recruit, train, develop and retain a strong front of house team Manage rotas, scheduling and labour cost against budget Build a culture people want to stay in, and develop your own successors Run team briefings, set clear standards and hold people to them fairly Commercial management Full P&L accountability: revenue, gross profit, labour cost and overheads Stock control, ordering, wastage, par levels and supplier negotiation Weekly and monthly reporting against budget and forecast Identify and act on opportunities to grow covers, spend per head and margin Growing the business Build the reservations book and drive covers across quieter dayparts Grow the events calendar and private hire enquiries alongside our events team Develop the 1895 Club membership programme Build relationships with residents, local businesses and the wider London City Island community Atmosphere and music Programme the live music schedule alongside our events team and resident musicians Take ownership of the playlist, lighting and pace across the day Music sets a venue, and we take it seriously here. The right playlist at 8am is not the right playlist at 8pm, and Sunday afternoon is not Friday night. Knowing when to lift the energy, when to let things settle, and when to turn it up because the bar has found its second wind is a real skill. If you have ever changed a playlist mid-service because the atmosphere needed something else, you will know exactly what we mean. Food and drink development Work in partnership with our Head Chef on menu development, execution and consistency Contribute to the cocktail and wine offer, and take part in supplier tastings Compliance and operations Food safety, health and safety, licensing and all statutory compliance Cash handling, EPOS management, security and opening and closing procedures Online reputation and review management What we are looking for Essential Proven experience as a General Manager, or as a strong Assistant General Manager or Restaurant Manager ready to step up A genuine restaurant background: full table service, food-led and quality-driven Commercial confidence with a P&L, including GP, labour percentage and stock control Demonstrable experience recruiting, developing and retaining a team A natural host who understands that regulars are built one conversation at a time Strong organisational skills and the ability to run a site independently Right to work in the UK Desirable Personal Licence holder, or willingness to obtain one Experience in all-day trading venues, or sites with distinct daytime and evening offers Experience with live music, entertainment programming or events-led venues Bar and cocktail knowledge Level 3 Food Safety Experience opening or relaunching a site We would rather hear about a team you developed than a team you managed. You do not need a piano bar on your CV. You need to care about venues that feel good and guests who come back. Hours and working pattern Beringers trades from 7am, and until midnight from Wednesday to Saturday. Mondays close at 5pm, which in an all-day restaurant is rarer than it sounds. This is a full-time, hands-on role that will include early starts, evenings and weekends. We are being upfront about that. Equally, we have no interest in burning out the person we have spent months looking for, and we expect our managers to take their time off properly. Salary and benefits Salary depending on experience Tips and service charge on top Genuine autonomy: this is your site to run, not a script to follow Career progression within a growing group, including a route towards multi-site and operations for the right person Direct access to senior leadership and real influence over the direction of the venue Food and drinks on shift, plus discounts across every venue in the group Involvement in menu development, supplier tastings and events programming Immediate start available Why this role? Most General Manager positions in London are about maintaining something that already exists. This one is a few months old, in an independent group that is actively growing, with a story worth telling, a community already protective of the venue, and enough still to build that your fingerprints will be all over it a year from now. If that is the job you have been waiting for, we would like to hear from you. How to apply Apply through The Caterer with your CV and a short covering note. If you want to tell us about the best venue you have ever worked in and what made it work, we will read it with interest. We respond to every application. The process: an introductory call, then a visit to Beringers to meet the team, see the venue and have a proper conversation about where it goes next. We will also ask you to spend some time with us on site before either of us commits. Beringers, 45 Hope Street, Leamouth Peninsula, London E14 0QG. Part of The Bull Group. The Bull Group is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all backgrounds. TPBN1_UKCT