We are seeking a highly capable, hands-on Specialty Coffee Shop Operations Manager to lead the daily performance, service standards, and overall guest experience of our café. This role is responsible for ensuring operational excellence across staffing, workflow, coffee quality, inventory, compliance, and hospitality.
The ideal candidate brings strong specialty coffee knowledge, sharp business judgment, and a genuine instinct for hospitality. They are equally comfortable calibrating espresso, coaching baristas, improving labor efficiency, resolving guest issues, and shaping an atmosphere that feels intentional, memorable, and true to brand.
This is not a standard café management role. We are looking for someone who can operationalize both craft and atmosphere — someone who understands that in specialty coffee, consistency is not only about taste, but also about rhythm, warmth, presentation, and the emotional experience of the space.
Key Duties & Responsibilities
Operations Management
- Oversee all day-to-day café operations to ensure smooth, efficient, and high-quality service.
- Lead both front-of-house and back-of-house coordination during opening, service, transition, and closing periods.
- Ensure all shifts are properly staffed, organized, and equipped to meet service expectations.
- Maintain consistent execution of operational systems, opening and closing procedures, cash handling, and shift readiness.
- Monitor daily business performance and adjust operations as needed to support service flow, labor targets, and guest satisfaction.
Specialty Coffee Quality Control
- Maintain excellent specialty coffee standards across espresso, filter coffee, milk steaming, recipe adherence, drink build, and presentation.
- Oversee dial-ins, calibration, brew parameters, and bar setup to ensure consistency across shifts.
- Train staff in coffee knowledge, tasting standards, brewing techniques, and quality-focused service.
- Work closely with coffee suppliers or roasters to maintain product integrity and support seasonal offerings or menu changes.
Team Leadership & Staff Development
- Recruit, hire, onboard, and train baristas, shift leads, and support staff.
- Provide ongoing coaching, performance feedback, and skills development for all team members.
- Foster a culture of accountability, teamwork, calm urgency, hospitality, and pride in craft.
- Set clear expectations for performance, professionalism, punctuality, appearance, and guest interaction.
- Support succession planning by identifying and developing high-potential team members.
Guest Experience & Hospitality
- Lead by example in delivering warm, attentive, and thoughtful hospitality.
- Ensure guest interactions reflect the brand’s tone, values, and service philosophy.
- Resolve customer concerns promptly and professionally, using sound judgment and empathy.
- Maintain an elevated, welcoming environment through attention to cleanliness, ambiance, visual standards, and service flow.
- Continuously refine the guest journey, from queue experience to drink handoff, retail interaction, and overall sense of place.
Inventory, Ordering & Cost Control
- Manage inventory for coffee, milk, food, retail goods, packaging, cleaning materials, and operational supplies.
- Forecast ordering needs based on sales trends, seasonality, and event activity.
- Minimize waste, prevent stockouts, and monitor usage patterns to improve efficiency.
- Track cost of goods, labor performance, and operational expenses.
- Build and maintain strong vendor and supplier relationships.
Equipment, Maintenance & Compliance
- Ensure all café equipment is functioning properly, including espresso machines, grinders, brewers, refrigeration, filtration, and smallwares.
- Coordinate preventive maintenance and service repairs as needed.
- Maintain high standards of food safety, sanitation, health compliance, and workplace safety.
- Ensure the team consistently follows all operational, security, and safety procedures.
Business Performance & Continuous Improvement
- Monitor key performance indicators such as sales, labor percentage, average transaction value, waste, customer feedback, and product mix.
- Prepare regular reports for ownership or senior leadership on operational performance and opportunities for improvement.
- Identify workflow inefficiencies and implement systems that improve speed, quality, and profitability without compromising experience.
- Support menu launches, seasonal initiatives, merchandising, events, and other brand-building activities.
Bespoke / Distinctive Responsibility
- Build and maintain a sensory operations system that aligns coffee quality, service rhythm, hospitality tone, music, scent, lighting, visual order, and bar choreography into a cohesive and repeatable guest experience.
Qualifications & Requirements
Required Qualifications
- 5+ years of café, hospitality, or food and beverage management experience, preferably in specialty coffee.
- Strong operational leadership experience in a high-volume, quality-driven environment.
- Solid specialty coffee knowledge, including espresso extraction, milk steaming, brew methods, recipe consistency, and coffee tasting standards.
- Demonstrated experience hiring, training, coaching, and managing service teams.
- Strong understanding of scheduling, labor management, inventory control, and cost management.
- Expert level knowledge with different systems including Square POS, Marketman, Xero and Push Operations, daily reporting, cash reconciliation, and in depth business metrics.
- Knowledge of food safety, sanitation standards, and workplace health and safety requirements.
- Proven ability to remain composed, decisive, and guest-focused in a fast-paced environment.
- Proven ability to maintain, troubleshoot, and repair both Mahlkonig and La Marzocco equipment, including Modbar AV systems as well as GBW espresso grinders.
- Must be able to create quality coffee brewing parameters for multiple bean offerings across brewing platforms (espresso, V60, aeropress).
- Must be able to exhibit knowledge of coffee bean origins and varietals, including trends in coffee growing innovations and challenges.
- Must have experience opening a new café location and supervising an Opening Team.
Preferred Qualifications
- Formal specialty coffee training, SCA certification, or equivalent practical experience.
- Experience working with premium hospitality, design-led retail, or brand-driven café concepts.
- Familiarity with retail merchandising, café events, and community-based customer engagement.
- Strong appreciation for design, atmosphere, and hospitality as part of brand expression.
- Coffee brewing competition experience.
- Experience in roasting operations, including Q-grading/sourcing and roast profile development.
Core Competencies
- Operational excellence
- Specialty coffee expertise
- Team leadership and coaching
- Hospitality and guest care
- Quality control
- Inventory and cost management
- Problem-solving and decision-making
- Calm execution under pressure
- Attention to sensory and environmental detail
- Brand stewardship
Physical & Schedule Requirements
- Ability to stand and walk for extended periods.
- Ability to lift and carry up to 25–50 lbs.
- Availability to work mornings, evenings, weekends, and holidays as required by the business.
- Willingness to work on the floor in a fully hands-on leadership capacity.
Equal Opportunity Statement
Slo Coffee is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to creating an inclusive, respectful, and welcoming workplace for all employees and guests.
