Wanted: Dovetail Cafe Manager

Position: Cafe Manager
Compensation: $35,000/yr (full time, exempt) to start
Work Hours: Variable, typically 40 hours per week
Benefits: Paid time off (accrual-based), discounts, flexible, and a crafty-fun work environment
Reports to: Management Team
Cafe Hours: 7am – 1:30pm, seven days per week (for now)

The Right Person

The Dovetail Cafe & Marketplace is ready to re-examine how we do business as we reopen after COVID, and you could be the person who brings a new vision of the Dovetail Cafe to fruition.

This is not a regular ‘cafe manager’ sort of job. The Dovetail Cafe & Marketplace is a community-focused organization which offers healthy and delicious food, is a unique and welcoming place for people to gather, a venue for craft and art classes, and much more. We are looking for an awesome person to fill this position, and to play a vital role in helping to build a great workplace, while helping to create a more positive world.

• Do you value fabulous, high-quality food and drink, environmental sustainability, social responsibility, hand-crafting, curiosity, learning, and a sense of fun?
• Do you value working together as a team, honoring and caring for both customers and co-workers alike?
• Do you want to be the primary motivation behind the smooth and profitable operation of a cafe whose mission is to be a force for good in our community?

If you answered YES to the above, read on!

Summary

The Dovetail Cafe & Marketplace is a vibrant and welcoming place, and a sister organization to the Duluth Folk School. The Dovetail Cafe’s mission is to serve as a community gathering place, and to serve delightful and delicious coffee and food, made from (as much as possible) regional and organic sources, at reasonable prices for our neighbors and visitors. The cafe has three main components: Cafe, Marketplace, and Community Kitchen.

The Cafe serves specialty coffee, tea, craft beer, wine, soup, sandwiches, sweets, treats, and other culinary delights! The Marketplace, adjacent to the cafe, sells locally made handcrafted goods. The Community Kitchen is used for cafe prep, as a teaching kitchen, and rented out as a commercial kitchen. 

The Dovetail Cafe & Marketplace operates within the Duluth Folk School building, and ‘dovetails’ with Duluth Folk School activities. This position will, with full support from the management team, be responsible for managing all aspects of running a happy and successful cafe.

 Qualifications

• Must have experience managing successful independent cafes or similar operations
• Must have experience in the coffee industry
• Must have a passion for food, with a broad knowledge of the food service industry
• Must have a demonstrated commitment to quality and creativity
• Must love working with people, and have a history of guiding, inspiring, and motivating staff
• Must be strongly committed to working as a team
• Must have ServSafe certification or equivalent
• Must have computer fluency

Duties

Leadership and Team Culture Development

• Lead and model an open, inclusive, and proactive culture that reflects the values, mission, and spirit of Dovetail Cafe and Duluth Folk School. 
• Help create a positive, enthusiastic, and well-trained cafe culture by providing an informed, honest, and optimistic example for the team. Model proper attendance, punctuality, customer service, and overall attitude.
• Embrace the ideals and principles of Dovetail Cafe, and ensure that our story is appropriately conveyed by staff and store environment.
• Create and implement training plans for new employees following Dovetail Cafe policies and materials. Ensure staff’s full understanding, and regularly observe and coach staff on their performance, celebrating successes as well as providing constructive feedback when improvement is needed.
• Respond appropriately to ideas, concerns, complaints, and comments from management and staff.
• Oversee annual employee performance reviews, and conduct ongoing coaching and training sessions to ensure high levels of performance.
• Maintain appropriate staffing levels. 
• Assist in hiring and promotion assessments. Conduct regular management meetings to review financial reports, issues related to personnel, upcoming promotions, events, activities, etc.
• Make independent decisions on matters of import at the operations level.

Sales, Reporting, and Financial Responsibility

• Communicate effectively with both management team and cafe staff.
• Monitor inventory and communicate with vendors to maintain business relationships and secure beneficial pricing.
• Seek to grow customer base and increase store traffic by creating and leading promotions within and outside the cafe as well as maintaining a functional, efficient, pleasant cafe environment and high-quality food and beverage offerings.
• Assist in the coordination of marketing efforts, including social media presence, completion of sampling and seasonal promotional goals and events, and interfacing with a variety of groups and organizations to continually develop customer base.
• Ensure that all financial duties and reporting are completed accurately, including all administrative tasks for submitting to payroll. 
• Monitor sales and P&L data.  Report financial performance information to the management team.
• Seek to increase sales, and work to increase bottom-line profits.

Quality of Products, Functionality, Safety, and Store Appearance

• Oversee and execute effective communication between baristas and kitchen staff to ensure that food and beverage offerings are fresh, labeled appropriately, and kept well-stocked. 
• Guide direction of seasonal food and beverage offerings, and contribute any skills and ideas for new menu items, as well as testing and roll-out procedures.
• Ensure that all cafe standards, guidelines, and procedures are communicated and followed by staff at all times. Model all rules and policies and maintain safety and security of all cafe, FOH, and BOH operations.
• Ensure cafe appearance is maintained at all times, including cafe seating area, creamer station, garbage/recycling/composting areas, front-of-house, back-of-house, sidewalks (snow and trash removal), outdoor seating, bathrooms, and common areas.
• Ensure proper equipment functionality and perform or enforce completion of regular equipment maintenance. Utilize resources and available information to troubleshoot when equipment errors occur; respond in a timely and reasonable fashion to problems.
• Oversee responsibility for setup and teardown of all events.
• Maintain, model, and coach on quality and speed of service, and work to maintain the most efficient floor plan for serving and taking care of our customers, and the cafe.

Does this sound like you?

If so, we’d love to hear from you! Please submit a resume and cover letter to info@duluthfolkschool.com.

The Dovetail Cafe & Marketplace embraces diversity,
and is an equal opportunity employer