Job Title: Café and Front of House Manager

Location: Working in the Devonport Creative Cluster

Hours: Full-time, 35 hours per week to be worked flexibly including evenings & weekends to suit the needs of the business/team

Salary: £32,000 - £41,000 depending on experience

Real Ideas Organisational Purpose
Real Ideas Group works to solve problems and create opportunities that regenerate communities and support individuals to progress and flourish. We do this through four teams, each with a distinct focus. Pathways, delivering employability support; Liskeard Library, a library and cultural hub; Nature and Neighbourhoods, our consultancy service; and the Devonport Creative Cluster, growing the createch sector, creative careers, businesses and opportunities.

Job Purpose
The Café & Front of House Manager leads strategic café management, visitor hospitality, and front-of-house standards that create exceptional visitor experience and generate café revenue. You will develop the café as a welcoming community hub, coordinate event catering, and ensure hospitality excellence supports the cluster's creative mission.

You will work closely with Dome & Events Manager (event catering), Business & Commercial Manager (corporate catering), and Cleaning Supervisor (café hygiene standards) in a matrix structure.

Main duties and responsibilities
• Lead café strategy, positioning and customer offer, developing menus and pricing strategy including special dietary requirements, and managing financial performance to meet agreed annual targets.

• Manage supplier relationships and contract negotiation, coordinate café marketing and promotions with Marketing Manager, and monitor quality standards and customer satisfaction (target: 85%+ satisfaction).

• Line manage Café Supervisor (day-to-day operations lead) and support them with team management of 2-3 café staff, including recruitment, onboarding, training, rota planning, performance management and staff development.

• Lead visitor hospitality and welcome across the cluster (beyond just café), integrating café with visitor experience and cluster programmes, and coordinating with Dome & Events Manager on overall visitor journey.

• Support Operations & Admin Assistant with reception standards, ensure excellent first impressions and customer service culture cluster-wide, and ensure accessibility and inclusion in hospitality including dietary needs, mobility and sensory requirements.

• Develop event catering strategy and delivery including dining in dome, corporate events and private hires, working with Dome & Events Manager and Business & Commercial Manager to generate additional revenue from catering to meet agreed annual targets.

• Plan special event menus and pricing, coordinate corporate hospitality and VIP catering, and manage event staffing coordination.

• Ensure food safety, hygiene and allergen management compliance (EHO compliance, 5-star rating target), health & safety for café operations, equipment maintenance coordination, stock control, and cash handling procedures.

Real Ideas wide responsibilities
• To represent Real Ideas well, understanding and talking coherently about Real Ideas products and programmes to provide more value for customers and members.

• To adhere to and uphold Real Ideas' social purpose, strategic aims, and policies.

• To contribute to a culture of inclusion and equality and demonstrate a commitment to removing all forms of discrimination.

• To act with integrity and always maintain the highest professional standards.

• To strive to meet individual and collective targets.

• To maintain the level of qualifications/personal and professional development and competence required to carry out this role and notify the company immediately of any circumstance that affects this.

• To proactively and effectively use all Real Ideas reporting and other systems.

• A flexible approach is required for the role. Additional, reasonable duties commensurate with the role and as agreed in advance from time to time.

This job description is not necessarily an exhaustive list of duties and is intended to reflect a range of duties the post-holder will perform. The job description will be reviewed regularly and may be changed in the light of experience and in consultation with the post-holder.

Our values: How we behave
Working at Real Ideas is exhilarating, but it can also be challenging; we're not a typical organisation and by design we don't fit into traditional business structures or strict 9 to 5 working hours.

There's nothing typical about the people who work at Real Ideas. With experience in many different industries and cultures the one thing we all have in common is a passion to make a positive difference in the world.

Principally we're looking for people who embrace our vision and values, and who want to join us on this journey. Whilst your technical skills and abilities are important, being on board with our vision is crucial.

You'll need to be dedicated, tenacious and enjoy the challenges of working as part of multi-disciplined team. At Real Ideas collaboration is key, so you'll need to be a great team player, up for working with a wide range of people from colleagues and partners to members and suppliers.

We're interested in finding people who are proactive, hungry for opportunities to be responsible and accountable, and who can ride the waves of change with the wind in their hair and a smile on their face.

And because we always strive to be the best we can be, you'll be happy to challenge and be challenged.

If this sounds like you, then read on…

We use the following criteria to assess your suitability for the role. Please note that requirements at the application stage represent the minimum requirements for shortlisting purposes.

Behaviours

Adaptability: Looking at your ability to adapt to change (Interview)

Culture: Fit Do you share our beliefs/values and bring about diversity within Real Ideas? (Interview)

Collaboration: Can you collaborate effectively and work well with others? (Interview)

Customer Focus: Do you demonstrate a commitment to excellent customer service and hospitality? (Interview)

Prioritisation: Are you able to decide which task needs to be tackled immediately and which ones can wait – someone who can manage their time and prioritise effectively. (Interview)

Digital Technology Do you have a commitment to adopting and using digital technology effectively to help solve problems and add value to the work of Real Ideas? (Interview)

Experience: Significant experience in café management, hospitality management, front of house and food service operations. Experience managing café or hospitality budgets and achieving revenue targets. Experience developing menus, pricing strategies, and managing supplier relationships. Experience managing and developing café or hospitality teams. Experience with event catering or corporate hospitality. (Application/ interview)

Knowledge: Knowledge of food safety, hygiene standards, and allergen management (Level 3 Food Safety qualification desirable). Understanding of café operations, stock control, and inventory management. Knowledge of front of house and customer service excellence and hospitality standards. Understanding of menu development, dietary requirements, and catering trends. Knowledge of financial management including cost control and revenue tracking. (Application/ interview)

Skills: Strong customer service and hospitality skills with ability to create welcoming environments. Excellent communication and interpersonal skills. Budget management and financial planning skills. Team leadership and people management. Problem-solving and decision-making in fast-paced environments. Ability to work collaboratively in a matrix structure with multiple stakeholders. (Application/ interview)

Other: Willingness to work flexibly including evenings and weekends as required by the role. Strong commitment to diversity, equity & inclusion with a good knowledge and understanding of how discrimination works and wants to work in an environment that challenges this. Alignment with Real Ideas social purpose and values. (Application/ interview)