General Manager

Position Summary

The General Manager is the operational leader for Liu’s Café, responsible for overseeing all kitchen and front-of-house execution, ensuring food and service standards are always on point. This includes checking food quality, managing labor and staffing, along with daily store performance. This role works with shift leads across each area (kitchen and front-of-house) to ensure consistency in prep, line execution, safety, as well as service flow through strong leadership, planning, and ownership of labor and costs.

The General Manager is ultimately accountable for food quality, labor efficiency, waste control, guest satisfaction, and team training.

Key Responsibilities

1. Leadership & Daily Operations

• Lead the store with a hands-on, systematic approach; set the tone for quality and pace.

• Conduct daily walkthroughs and check-ins with both BOH and FOH leads.

• Ensure prep, pastry, and production are completed to standard before service opens.

• Oversee service pacing, expo flow, and ticket times during peak hours.

• Resolve guest issues professionally and use them as training opportunities.

• Ensure Kitchen Leads are upholding recipe standards, specs, prep standards, and food safety procedures.

• Verify quality control on all pastries, sauces, teas, bases, and composed dishes.

• Ensure AM and PM prep, pastry production, and line stations meet proper yields and par levels.

• Conduct daily taste checks and quality assessments with leads.

• Maintain accurate inventory; analyze weekly variance.

• Work with BOH and FOH leads to check par levels

• Execute BOH and FOH ordering

• Track waste and production efficiency; adjust pars accordingly.

• Maintain cost discipline to hit target average COGS (Below 20%)

• Create weekly BOH and FOH schedules based on forecasts and labor goals.

• Manage clock-ins/outs, overtime prevention, and labor % targets.

• Ensure proper staffing for AM prep, pastry, line, expo, and FOH service.

• Train leads on labor oversight to improve coverage and flexibility.

• Onboard and train all new BOH and FOH staff on standards and procedures.

• Develop Kitchen Leads and Service Leads into high-performing leaders.

• Conduct coaching conversations, evaluations, and corrective actions.

• Ensure compliance with all LA County health standards.

• Oversee cleanliness checks, safe food handling, labeling, and rotation.

• Maintain equipment logs and coordinate repairs with vendors.

• Complete daily and weekly operational reports for ownership.

• Review sales, labor, waste, and guest feedback to drive improvements.

• Communicate effectively with leadership on issues, wins, and operational needs.

• 2–4 years of BOH management experience required (fast casual, café, bakery, or brunch preferred).

• Strong understanding of prep workflows, pastry operations, and production scheduling.

• Proven ability to manage labor, inventory, and cost controls.

• Comfortable leading both BOH and FOH teams.

• Exceptional communication, organization, and delegation skills.

• Food Manager Certification required; RBS Certification preferred.

• Ability to work peak weekends and early mornings when needed.

• Food quality and consistency across all departments

• Labor % target achievement

• COGS target achievement

• Ticket times and service pacing

• Cleanliness and health inspection performance

• Staff retention, morale, and training level

• Waste reduction and yield improvements

• Guest satisfaction and review patterns