Director of Cafe Operations and Community Engagement
hace 1 día
Chicago
Job Description \n \n Position: Director of Café Operations and Community Engagement \n Reports to: Chief Operating Officer \n Status: Exempt (Salaried) \n Hours: Full-Time \n Hours of Operations: Mon-Fri Standard Hours \n \n Organizational Description. North Lawndale Employment Network is a comprehensive workforce development agency on Chicago’s West Side dedicated to advancing the economic outcomes of the community’s residents through innovative employment initiatives, including our social enterprises. In August 2021, North Lawndale Employment Network transitioned to a new campus which features a premier community café for residents and stakeholders. \n \n Our Mission. To improve the earning potential of the North Lawndale community through innovative employment initiatives that lead to economic advancement and an improved quality of life for residents. \n \n About NLEN \n North Lawndale Employment Network (NLEN) is a nationally recognized nonprofit organization committed to creating pathways to employment, economic opportunity, and long-term stability for individuals and families. \n \n Through our social enterprises, including our café and Sweet Beginnings honey businesses, we create opportunities for employment, workforce development, entrepreneurship, and community connection. \n \n We are seeking an experienced and entrepreneurial Director of Café Operations and Community Engagement to lead the day-to-day operations and continued growth of our café while helping shape the vision, strategy, and launch of future café locations. \n \n This is an opportunity for an experienced hospitality leader who is equally comfortable running the day to day operations of a busy café, developing a team, analyzing a P&L, building community relationships, and opening a new location from the ground up. \n \n Position Summary \n The Director of Café Operations and Community Engagement is the senior operational leader for NLEN's café business. \n \n This individual will have accountability for the café's daily operations, financial performance, team leadership, guest experience, food and beverage execution, inventory, staffing, vendor relationships, and compliance. \n \n In addition, this leader will serve as a strategic partner to NLEN leadership in growing the café enterprise, developing community partnerships, increasing revenue, creating new programming and events, and preparing for the opening of future café locations. \n \n The ideal candidate is a hands-on hospitality operator and strategic business builder — someone who can jump behind the counter during a busy morning, coach a manager through a performance issue, review labor and COGS, develop a community partnership, and then help create the operating plan for the organization's next location. \n \n Core Responsibilities \n 1. Café Operations, Team Leadership & Hospitality \n\n • Own the day-to-day operation of the café and ensure consistent, efficient, high-quality execution.\n, • Establish and maintain standards for hospitality, food and beverage quality, cleanliness, speed of service, presentation, and customer experience.\n, • Ensure opening, closing, cash handling, POS, deposits, safety, sanitation, and daily operational procedures are executed consistently.\n, • Maintain a visible leadership presence during peak operating periods.\n, • Develop and continuously improve café SOPs, checklists, workflows, and operating systems.\n, • Identify operational challenges and implement practical solutions that improve efficiency, service, quality, and profitability.\n, • Ensure compliance with all applicable health, food safety, employment, licensing, and regulatory requirements.\n, • Recruit, hire, lead, and coach the staff\n, • Build a high-performing team culture grounded in hospitality, accountability, respect, and continuous improvement.\n, • Conduct regular performance conversations and establish clear expectations and goals.\n, • Address employee performance and workplace concerns promptly and professionally\n, • Develop educational programming and certifications for program participants, as the cafe is a teaching center providing training to first-time, entry-level baristas\n\n 1. Financial & Business Management \n\n • Own café-level financial performance in partnership with NLEN leadership.\n, • Develop and manage annual operating budgets and revenue goals.\n, • Monitor sales, labor, COGS, inventory, waste, purchasing, and controllable expenses.\n, • Review financial and operating reports regularly and take corrective action when performance is below target.\n, • Develop sales forecasts and staffing plans based on anticipated customer volume.\n, • Identify opportunities to increase revenue, improve margins, reduce waste, and strengthen profitability.\n, • Establish appropriate controls for cash management, purchasing, inventory, and vendor relationships.\n, • Participate in strategic planning for the continued growth of NLEN's social enterprise portfolio.\n\n 1. New Café Development & Opening \n Serve as the operational lead and strategic partner for future café expansion. \n Responsibilities may include: \n\n • Participate in site evaluation and operational feasibility assessments.\n, • Provide input on café design, layout, equipment, workflow, customer flow, storage, staffing, and operational requirements.\n, • Develop opening budgets, staffing models, operating procedures, and launch plans.\n, • Assist with equipment selection, vendor relationships, purchasing, permitting, inspections, and operational readiness.\n, • Develop pre-opening hiring and training plans.\n, • Build the opening team and establish culture and operating standards before launch.\n, • Coordinate soft openings, training days, community previews, and grand-opening activities.\n, • Establish operating systems that can be replicated across future locations.\n, • Conduct post-opening assessments and implement improvements.\n\n 1. Community Engagement & Partnerships \n Serve as a visible ambassador for NLEN and the café within the community. \n\n • Develop relationships with neighborhood organizations, businesses, schools, workforce organizations, nonprofits, churches, community leaders, and other stakeholders.\n, • Identify opportunities for partnerships that increase café traffic, revenue, visibility, and community impact.\n, • Develop community events, pop-ups, workshops, tastings, and other café activations.\n, • Identify opportunities for catering, corporate partnerships, community events, and other earned-revenue opportunities.\n, • Represent NLEN at community meetings and events.\n, • Build relationships with local businesses and organizations that can become customers, partners, referral sources, or supporters.\n, • Develop strategies to make the café a genuine neighborhood gathering place rather than simply a place to purchase coffee.\n, • Partner with NLEN leadership and marketing resources to strengthen the café's brand and market presence.\n, • Develop local marketing and customer-engagement strategies.\n, • Identify opportunities for new products, promotions, loyalty initiatives, events, catering, and partnerships to enhance presence and service to North Lawndale\n, • Monitor customer feedback, reviews, sales trends, and market conditions.\n, • Develop strategies to increase customer frequency, average transaction size, and overall sales.\n, • Help position the café as both a successful business and a platform for NLEN's workforce and community mission.\n\n What We're Looking For- Required Qualifications \n\n • 5+ years of progressive management experience in a café, coffee shop, restaurant, fast-casual, hospitality, or comparable customer-facing food and beverage operation.\n, • Demonstrated experience independently managing day-to-day café or restaurant operations.\n, • Experience managing a team and developing supervisors or managers.\n, • Demonstrated experience with scheduling, labor management, inventory, purchasing, and vendor management.\n, • Strong understanding of P&L management, COGS, labor costs, sales forecasting, and operational metrics.\n, • Experience with POS and restaurant/café management systems.\n, • Demonstrated ability to recruit, train, coach, and retain employees.\n, • Strong knowledge of food safety and health department requirements.\n, • Exceptional customer service and hospitality skills.\n, • Strong written, verbal, organizational, and interpersonal communication skills.\n, • Ability to work a flexible schedule, including occasional evenings, weekends, and special events.\n, • Ability to be highly visible and hands-on in the café while also managing strategic responsibilities.\n\n Strongly Preferred \n\n • Experience opening a new café, restaurant, coffee shop, or hospitality location.\n, • Experience managing a high-volume café or multi-unit operation.\n, • Experience working for a recognized coffee or hospitality brand such as Starbucks, Peet's, Intelligentsia, Blue Bottle, Philz, Momentum, La Colombe, Foxtrot, Sweetgreen, or a comparable organization. Neighborhood focused cafe experience\n, • Experience developing community partnerships or local marketing initiatives.\n, • Experience with catering, events, or corporate/community partnerships.\n, • ServSafe Manager certification.\n, • Specialty coffee experience or formal barista/coffee training.\n, • Experience working in a mission-driven, nonprofit, social enterprise, or community-based organization.\n\n Leadership Profile \n The successful candidate will be: \n An Operator — You know how to run a café. You understand the rhythm of opening, peak service, staffing, inventory, closing, customer service, and everything that happens in between. \n A People Leader — You develop people rather than simply manage schedules. You know how to create accountability while building trust and engagement. \n Business-Minded — You understand that sales, labor, COGS, waste, inventory, and customer experience are interconnected and know how to use data to make decisions. \n Entrepreneurial — You see opportunities, solve problems, and aren't waiting for someone else to tell you what needs to be done. \n Community-Oriented — You understand that a successful neighborhood café is built through relationships, not just transactions and are passionate about building a valued community space \n Strategic — You can move beyond today's operational issues and help NLEN build a scalable café model for future locations.