Venue Food and Beverage Manager
Salary: £29,000–£35,000, dependent on experience
Hours: Five days over seven. Weekend availability is essential. The café usually operates between 9:00am and 4:00pm, although flexibility will be required as the wider venue offering develops.
About the Role
We are looking for an experienced Venue Food and Beverage Manager to play an integral role in developing the overall food and beverage offering at The Mansion, Leeds.
Initially, the majority of the role will focus on leading our established daytime café/Bistro operation. You will take ownership of its day-to-day performance, improve service standards, develop the team and ensure the business operates efficiently across quieter trading periods and busy peak services.
This is a hands-on management position for someone who enjoys leading from the front, building capable teams and creating a consistently welcoming guest experience.
As the role develops, you will increasingly focus on unlocking the potential of underutilised spaces, developing new concepts and revenue streams, and supporting the wider venue operation across conferences, events and private functions.
The position offers a clear development pathway from leading our retail operation into a broader senior operational role within The Mansion.
Key Responsibilities
Café/Bistro Operations
- Take ownership of the daily operation and performance of the café and restaurant.
- Lead from the front during service, supporting the team across all areas of the operation.
- Ensure service is organised, efficient and consistently delivered to a high standard.
- Maintain excellent standards of presentation, cleanliness, food quality and customer service.
- Ensure all opening, closing, cash-handling and daily management procedures are followed.
- Work closely with the kitchen team to ensure effective communication and timely service.
- Respond professionally to guest feedback and resolve issues promptly.
- Improve operational processes, service flow and communication between departments.
People and Performance
- Lead, motivate and develop the front-of-house team.
- Produce effective rotas that reflect business requirements and agreed labour targets.
- Recruit, induct, train and develop new and existing team members.
- Set clear expectations and provide regular feedback, coaching and performance management.
- Build a positive, accountable and guest-focused team culture.
- Support succession planning and the development of future supervisors and managers.
Commercial Development
- Take ownership of agreed sales, labour and operational performance targets.
- Monitor trading performance and use operational insight to drive practical improvements.
- Identify opportunities to increase revenue, improve the guest experience and encourage repeat visits.
- Support the development of menus, promotions and seasonal food and beverage activity.
- Develop strategies and concepts for currently underutilised areas within The Mansion.
- Work with the wider management team to identify and deliver new food, beverage and hospitality opportunities.
- Support the planning, implementation and evaluation of new revenue streams.
Wider Venue Operations
As the position develops, responsibilities will expand to include:
- Helping to establish consistent service and operational standards across the wider venue.
- Supporting the planning and delivery of new food and beverage concepts.
- Supporting and overseeing food and beverage delivery for conferences, events and private functions.
- Working collaboratively with the events, kitchen, sales and senior management teams.
- Ensuring effective communication and coordination between the café and wider venue operations.
- Taking broader operational responsibility across The Mansion as part of the role’s development pathway.
Compliance
- Ensure food safety, health and safety, licensing and company procedures are consistently followed.
- Maintain accurate operational records and ensure all required checks are completed.
- Ensure team members are appropriately trained and understand their responsibilities.
- Identify operational risks and take prompt, practical action to address them.
- Maintain a safe, compliant and well-organised working environment.
About You
You will be an experienced hospitality manager with a strong background in café, restaurant or another food-led operation. We are looking for varied experience specifically.
You should be confident managing a busy service, organising a team and responding calmly and professionally to operational challenges. You will also be commercially minded, comfortable developing new ideas and motivated by the opportunity to progress into a broader venue management position.
You will have:
- Previous management experience within a café, restaurant or hospitality venue.
- Strong leadership and people-management skills.
- A good understanding of coffee culture and current food-led trends.
- Experience producing rotas and managing staffing levels against labour targets.
- A practical, visible and hands-on approach to management.
- Excellent customer-service standards.
- Strong organisational and communication skills.
- The ability to identify problems and implement practical improvements.
- Confidence managing performance and maintaining accountability.
- Commercial awareness and an understanding of how to grow revenue and control costs.
- A good understanding of food hygiene, health and safety and licensing requirements.
- The ambition and capability to progress into a wider food and beverage leadership role.
Experience supporting events, private functions, conferences or multi-outlet hospitality operations would be advantageous, although it is not essential.
What We Offer
- A key management position within an established hospitality operation.
- The opportunity to directly influence the future food and beverage offering at The Mansion.
- A clear development pathway into broader venue and operational leadership responsibilities.
- Support from the wider management and senior leadership teams.
- Training and professional development opportunities.
- The opportunity to introduce meaningful improvements and develop new commercial concepts.
- Profit share based on length of service.
Pay: £29,000.00-£35,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Company events
- Employee discount
Ability to commute/relocate:
- Leeds, West Yorkshire: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)
Experience:
- Hospitality management: 2 years (required)
- Barista: 1 year (required)
Work authorisation:
- United Kingdom (required)
Work Location: In person
