We’re looking for a Café Manager / General Manager to join the team at our neighbourhood cafe, Ginkgo, and take responsibility for the day-to-day running of the café.
This is a long-term position, rather than a temporary maternity cover role. I will be taking maternity leave from December 2026, and looking for someone to fill my role, we’re looking for someone who can become a key part of Ginkgo for the long term and grow with the business. The role is to start from mid/end of October, to give us time to work together.
Ginkgo is an independent, seasonal café in Harrogate. We care a lot about good food, great coffee, proper hospitality and creating a place that people genuinely want to spend time in. We’re a small team, so this role is hands-on and varied — and we’re looking for someone who really cares about what they do.
The role:
As Café Manager, you’ll be responsible for making sure Ginkgo runs smoothly day to day.
You’ll be the main point of contact for the FOH team and will have real responsibility for the café when we're not there.
Your role will include:
- Managing and supporting the FOH team
- Creating rotas and managing holidays and staff availability
- Training and onboarding new team members with us
- Managing sickness, performance and day-to-day staff issues
- Maintaining our standards of service, cleanliness and presentation
- Making sure the café runs smoothly during busy services
- Opening and closing the café
- Dealing confidently with any customer queries
- Ordering stock and managing deliveries
- Monitoring stock, wastage and day-to-day costs
- Keeping on top of maintenance and operational issues (or reporting issues)
- Working closely with Tommy and the kitchen team
- Helping implement new systems and processes when necessary
- Making sensible operational decisions without needing to be micromanaged
- Helping maintain the atmosphere, personality and standards that make Ginkgo what it is
Who we’re looking for:
We’re looking for someone with solid hospitality experience, a love of what they do and ready to take a step into a role with genuine responsibility.
You’ll ideally have previous experience managing a team in a café, restaurant or similar hospitality environment, although we’re much more interested in the right personality for our team than a particular job title.
You’ll be:
- Organised and proactive
- Calm and capable under pressure
- Confident managing people
- Friendly, approachable and a good communicator
- Comfortable having difficult conversations when necessary
- Commercially aware and comfortable working with numbers
- Someone who notices the little things
- Happy to muck in wherever needed
- Able to take responsibility and make decisions
- Naturally high-standard when it comes to service and presentation
- Someone who doesn't need to be told what needs doing
- Passionate about hospitality
- Up for having a laugh and keeping staff morale high
Most importantly, we want someone who cares. This is our first small independent business, we have built up a real community in our first year of operating and we are so proud of that, we are looking for someone who is passionate about being part of that community.
We’re not looking for someone who simply wants to clock in, run a shift and clock out. We want someone who takes pride in the place, gets to know our customers and team, and is genuinely proud to work here.
The right person:
This role would suit someone who has been a Café Manager, Restaurant Manager, Assistant Manager, we would be open to someone who has worked in a supervisory role and is ready for more responsibility if it was the right fit.
You don't need to have done exactly this job before. What matters to us is that you're capable, trustworthy, organised and confident enough to take ownership of the day-to-day running of a busy independent café.
What we offer:
- £30,000–£34,000 per year, depending on experience (plus an equal share of tips)
- 40–45 hours per week - no split shifts.
- Sociable working hours - standard working day would be 8:30-4:30, 5 days a week (unless we are running additional events which may be around once a month)
- Annual leave of 28 days & Christmas holiday closure
- Pension scheme
- Free coffee & food on shift with paid breaks.
- Staff discount
- A long-term role in a growing independent business, with the opportunity to have a real influence on how Ginkgo develops.
You'll work closely with us, the owners, and have genuine autonomy over the day-to-day running of the café. As Ginkgo grows, there will also be opportunities for the right person to grow with us.
If this sounds like you, we'd love to hear from you.
Please send us your CV and a little bit about yourself, including why you think you'd be a good fit for Ginkgo, to [email protected]
Brigit & Tommy x
Pay: £30,000.00-£34,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Discounted or free food
- Employee discount
Work Location: In person
