General Manager – Whiteways Café
Location: Whiteways Café, South Downs
Reporting to: Directors / Fauna Group
Role: Full-time General Manager
Salary: Competitive, dependent on experience
Opening: Winter 2026
About Whiteways
Whiteways is a new all-day café at one of the busiest gateways to the South Downs, just outside Arundel.
We’re creating a relaxed, high-volume café serving great coffee, breakfast, burgers, sandwiches, cakes and ice cream. The site will welcome walkers, cyclists, families, motorcyclists and people simply stopping for something good to eat and drink.
Alongside the café, Whiteways will also offer e-bike hire, making it a starting point for people exploring the South Downs.
We are looking for an experienced General Manager to take ownership of the site and make Whiteways a brilliant, well-run and profitable business.
The Role
This is a hands-on GM position with responsibility for the day-to-day running of Whiteways.
You will lead the team, maintain high standards, manage costs and make sure the operation runs smoothly through both busy summer weekends and quieter winter periods.
Whiteways will be a highly seasonal business, so a major part of the role will be building an operation that can scale up and down effectively without compromising the customer experience.
You’ll have genuine ownership of the site rather than simply running shifts.
Key Responsibilities
People & Leadership
- Recruit, train and develop a strong kitchen and front-of-house team.
- Build a positive, friendly and hard-working culture.
- Produce efficient weekly rotas based on expected trade.
- Manage holidays, availability and seasonal staffing.
- Lead from the floor during busy services.
- Set clear expectations and deal with performance issues when required.
- Develop supervisors and senior team members who can run the site in your absence.
Commercial Performance
The GM will be responsible for the commercial performance of Whiteways.
This includes:
- Working towards agreed sales and profit targets.
- Managing labour carefully against turnover.
- Maintaining food and drink gross margins.
- Monitoring wastage and portion control.
- Managing purchasing and supplier costs.
- Reviewing weekly sales and performance.
- Understanding what is selling and adjusting the operation accordingly.
- Finding opportunities to increase average spend and revenue.
The expectation is that you understand the numbers behind the business — not just the service.
Day-to-Day Operations
- Take overall responsibility for opening and closing procedures.
- Ensure the café is clean, organised and ready for service every day.
- Maintain fast service during peak periods.
- Manage stock levels and ordering.
- Oversee deliveries and supplier relationships.
- Ensure equipment is properly maintained.
- Manage cash, till and card procedures.
- Maintain excellent standards across the café, kitchen, outside areas and customer facilities.
Customer Experience
Whiteways should feel welcoming, relaxed and straightforward.
The GM will be expected to:
- Maintain consistently friendly service.
- Ensure queues and waiting times are managed effectively.
- Deal confidently with customer feedback and complaints.
- Build relationships with regular customers.
- Create an environment that appeals to walkers, cyclists, families, motorcyclists and the local community.
Food & Drink
Working with the directors and kitchen team, you will:
- Maintain consistency across the menu.
- Ensure food is served quickly and to specification.
- Maintain excellent coffee standards.
- Monitor menu performance.
- Help develop seasonal specials and new products.
- Ensure portion control and food margins are maintained.
- Keep wastage to a minimum.
E-Bike Hire
Whiteways will operate a fleet of rental e-bikes alongside the café.
The GM will oversee the smooth running of the hire operation, including:
- Customer bookings and collections.
- Bike availability and presentation.
- Basic operational checks.
- Ensuring maintenance issues are identified quickly.
- Managing the customer experience from booking through to return.
You do not need to be a bike expert — we are looking for a hospitality operator first.
Compliance & Safety
You will be responsible for maintaining high standards across:
- Food hygiene and HACCP.
- Health & safety.
- Licensing requirements.
- Allergen procedures.
- Cleaning schedules.
- Staff training records.
- Risk assessments.
- Accident and incident reporting.
Who We’re Looking For
We are looking for someone who is:
- An experienced hospitality manager.
- Comfortable running a busy café, restaurant, pub or similar operation.
- Commercially minded and confident working with a P&L.
- Strong at managing labour and rotas.
- Organised and calm when things get busy.
- Comfortable leading a sizeable seasonal team.
- Friendly and approachable with customers.
- Happy to be hands-on rather than managing from an office.
- Able to spot problems and fix them without constantly needing direction.
- Excited about helping build a new business.
Experience running a high-volume daytime café, bakery, farm shop, visitor attraction or similar seasonal operation would be particularly useful.
What Success Looks Like
A successful GM will have:
- A happy, well-trained and reliable team.
- Consistently strong customer feedback.
- Fast service even on very busy days.
- Labour and cost of goods within agreed targets.
- Low wastage.
- Excellent food hygiene and operational standards.
- Strong sales and profitability.
- A site that can operate effectively without the directors needing to manage it day-to-day.
Working Pattern
Whiteways is a seven-day operation.
The role will require flexibility, particularly during weekends, bank holidays and the busy spring and summer months.
We don’t expect the GM to work every weekend indefinitely, but we do expect them to be present when the business needs them, particularly during the opening period and the busiest trading days.
The Opportunity
This is an opportunity to take ownership of a completely new hospitality business from launch.
Whiteways is part of a growing independent hospitality group around Arundel, and there will be opportunities for the right person to grow with the business as we develop additional sites.
Pay: £36,000.00-£42,000.00 per year
Work Location: In person
