Welcome to Goldies! Goldies Cafe + Eatery is a locally loved cafe and eatery in Ajax, Ontario, known for great food, exceptional hospitality, and a welcoming neighbourhood atmosphere. We’re looking for an experienced, hands-on General Manager to lead our team and oversee the day-to-day operation of the business.
This is an exciting opportunity for a motivated hospitality leader who wants to make a meaningful impact on our people, our guests, and the continued growth of Goldies.
About the Role
As General Manager, you will take ownership of daily operations while working closely with the ownership team to achieve operational, financial, staffing, and guest-experience goals.
You’ll be a visible, hands-on leader who can balance people, operations, profitability, and hospitality. The ideal candidate is someone who leads by example, develops strong teams, understands restaurant financials, solves problems proactively, and is always looking for ways to improve the business.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead, motivate, coach, and develop the Goldies team and management staff.
- Oversee daily café and restaurant operations, including opening, service, and closing.
- Maintain high standards for food quality, service, cleanliness, consistency, and guest experience.
- Recruit, onboard, train, schedule, and performance-manage team members.
- Build a positive culture focused on teamwork, accountability, communication, and hospitality.
- Manage labour, food, beverage, and operating costs while maintaining appropriate service levels.
- Monitor sales, labour costs, food costs, and other key performance indicators.
- Assist with budgeting, forecasting, scheduling, and financial planning.
- Identify opportunities to increase sales, improve profitability, reduce waste, and improve efficiency.
- Work in a functional, hands-on capacity when needed, including Barista, Host, or Cook responsibilities.
- Oversee inventory, purchasing, receiving, storage, product rotation, and supplier relationships.
- Ensure compliance with health and safety requirements, company policies, and applicable regulations.
- Handle guest concerns professionally and ensure a consistently exceptional guest experience.
- Support and grow catering, events, group bookings, promotions, and other revenue opportunities.
- Work with ownership on sales, marketing, community, and promotional initiatives.
- Maintain strong communication between front-of-house, kitchen, management, and ownership.
- Use restaurant technology and reporting tools to monitor and improve performance.
- Continuously identify opportunities to improve systems, processes, and overall business performance.
What We're Looking For
- Experience in a senior management role such as General Manager, Assistant General Manager, Restaurant Manager, or equivalent.
- Proven ability to lead, coach, and develop a high-performing team.
- Strong understanding of restaurant operations, labour management, cost control, and financial performance.
- Experience with scheduling, inventory, purchasing, and supplier management.
- Strong communication, organization, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
- Ability to remain calm and effective in a fast-paced environment.
- Experience with catering, events, or additional revenue streams is an asset.
- Comfortable working with restaurant technology and software; experience with TouchBistro, QuickBooks, and Google Workspace is an asset.
- A genuine passion for hospitality, food, coffee, and creating memorable guest experiences.
- A hands-on leadership style and willingness to work alongside the team.
- Strong attention to detail and commitment to consistency.
- Entrepreneurial mindset with a desire to help grow and improve a local business.
The Ideal Candidate
You don't simply manage a restaurant—you lead people, build culture, understand the numbers, solve problems, improve systems, and make the business better every day.
You’re comfortable being visible on the floor and jumping in wherever needed, while also being able to step back and think strategically about the bigger picture.
If you’re an energetic and personable hospitality leader who enjoys developing people and wants the opportunity to help lead and grow an established local business, we’d love to hear from you.
Pay: From $60,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Flexible schedule
- On-site parking
- Store discount
Work Location: In person
