Assistant General Manager – Bar, Restaurant & Entertainment Venue
The Parry Lamp – Livingston, West Lothian
Salary: £28,000–£31,200 per annum, depending on experience and contracted hoursHours: 37–40 hours per weekContract: Permanent, Full-TimeSchedule: Monday–Sunday, including evenings, weekends and late nightsTypical operating shift range: Approximately 11:00am–1:30am
About The Parry Lamp
The Parry Lamp is a large independent bar, restaurant, sports and live-entertainment venue situated within Livingston Shopping Centre.
Our venue combines a traditional bar and restaurant operation with live entertainment, sporting events, quizzes, karaoke, bands and other events throughout the week.
We are now looking for an experienced Assistant General Manager to work closely with our General Manager and help take responsibility for the day-to-day operation, performance and continued development of the venue.
This is an important senior position within the business.
We are not looking simply for somebody who can supervise a bar shift.
We are looking for an experienced hospitality manager who understands the commercial and operational side of running a busy licensed venue and who is equally comfortable managing people, serving customers, controlling costs, working with figures, dealing with problems and getting practically involved wherever required.
The successful candidate will become a key member of the management team and will be expected to confidently take control of the entire venue in the General Manager’s absence.
The Role
Working alongside the General Manager, you will help oversee the complete operation of The Parry Lamp.
Your responsibilities will cover:
- Bar operations
- Restaurant operations
- Kitchen operations
- Cellar management
- Staff and supervisor management
- Customer service
- Stock and purchasing
- Wage and cost control
- Weekly management reporting
- Entertainment and events
- Cleaning and venue standards
- Licensing and compliance
- Health and safety
- Opening and closing procedures
- Overall commercial performance
This is a hands-on management position.
Our managers are expected to lead from the front.
There will be occasions when you are behind the bar, helping on the floor, checking the kitchen, changing a keg, receiving a delivery, dealing with a difficult customer, checking toilets, moving stock, investigating a till discrepancy or helping the team through a particularly busy service.
If something needs done, our management team gets involved and gets it done.
Leadership & Team Management
You will support the General Manager in leading the venue’s bar, restaurant and kitchen teams.
This will include:
- Managing and supporting supervisors and other senior team members.
- Providing clear direction to employees during shifts.
- Allocating duties and ensuring responsibilities are completed.
- Maintaining high standards of attendance, timekeeping, presentation and conduct.
- Supporting recruitment and interviewing.
- Inducting and training new employees.
- Identifying training and development requirements.
- Supporting performance management where standards are not being met.
- Helping create a positive, professional and accountable working environment.
- Ensuring employees understand what is expected of them.
- Supporting preparation and management of staff rotas.
- Ensuring appropriate staffing levels while controlling wage expenditure.
- Helping manage holidays, absence and shift cover.
- Conducting effective shift handovers.
You must be comfortable making decisions and addressing problems rather than allowing poor standards to continue.
Bar & Restaurant Management
You will help ensure the bar and restaurant operate efficiently, safely and profitably.
Responsibilities will include:
- Managing busy bar and restaurant services.
- Ensuring excellent customer service.
- Monitoring speed and quality of service.
- Ensuring correct till procedures are followed.
- Managing opening and closing procedures.
- Cashing up and investigating discrepancies.
- Maintaining appropriate staffing levels.
- Ensuring correct pricing and product availability.
- Monitoring waste, spillages and complimentary products.
- Dealing professionally with customer complaints.
- Managing challenging or intoxicated customers appropriately.
- Maintaining high standards of presentation throughout the venue.
- Ensuring management visibility during busy periods.
Kitchen Management
Although this is not a chef position, the Assistant General Manager will share management responsibility for the kitchen operation.
You will work with the kitchen team to ensure:
- Food service operates effectively.
- Food safety procedures are followed.
- Cleaning standards are maintained.
- Appropriate stock levels are maintained.
- Food waste is controlled.
- Kitchen equipment and maintenance issues are identified.
- Kitchen staffing is appropriate for expected trade.
- Communication between front-of-house and kitchen teams is effective.
- Customer complaints involving food are investigated and resolved.
- Opening, closing and cleaning procedures are completed correctly.
You therefore need to be comfortable managing both front-of-house and back-of-house operations.
Cellar & Stock Management
Cellar management is an important practical part of this position.
Duties will include:
- Maintaining an organised, clean and safe cellar.
- Receiving and checking deliveries.
- Rotating stock correctly.
- Monitoring stock levels.
- Changing kegs and cellar products.
- Supporting beer-quality procedures.
- Ensuring line-cleaning procedures are completed correctly.
- Identifying stock shortages or discrepancies.
- Supporting regular stocktakes.
- Helping investigate unusual stock variances.
- Controlling wastage and spillages.
- Placing or assisting with supplier orders.
- Ensuring deliveries and invoices are checked appropriately.
Entertainment & Events
Entertainment is a major part of The Parry Lamp’s business.
The Assistant General Manager will work with the General Manager to help plan and manage our entertainment programme.
This can include live bands, singers, DJs, karaoke, quizzes, sporting events and special occasions.
Responsibilities may include:
- Helping plan the entertainment calendar.
- Liaising with entertainers and suppliers.
- Supporting negotiations and bookings.
- Managing entertainment budgets.
- Ensuring events are appropriately staffed.
- Coordinating the venue on event nights.
- Reviewing attendance and commercial performance.
- Helping determine which events should be repeated or changed.
- Supporting the promotion of events with our marketing/social-media team.
- Identifying new ideas capable of increasing footfall and revenue.
We want someone who understands that successful entertainment must create a great atmosphere and make commercial sense for the business.
Budgets, Reporting & Commercial Management
This is an important part of the position.
You do not need to be an accountant, but you must be comfortable working with numbers and understanding how the decisions made during a shift affect the profitability of the venue.
Working with the General Manager, you will help monitor:
- Daily and weekly sales.
- Sales against target.
- Labour hours.
- Wage costs.
- Stock expenditure.
- Stock variance.
- Food and drink wastage.
- Entertainment expenditure.
- Operational costs.
- Customer numbers and trading patterns.
You will assist with the preparation of weekly management reports and will be expected to identify areas where performance needs to improve.
We want a manager who asks questions such as:
Why were sales down? Why were wages high? Why has stock usage increased? Did that entertainment generate enough additional business? Why was more staff cover required? What can we change next week?
You will work alongside the General Manager to help turn those answers into practical action.
Cleaning & Venue Standards
Maintaining high standards of cleanliness is everybody’s responsibility, including management.
You will be responsible for inspecting standards throughout areas including:
- Bar
- Restaurant
- Kitchen
- Cellar
- Toilets
- Storage areas
- Staff areas
- Office and management areas
- Entrances and customer-facing areas
You will ensure cleaning schedules are completed and that problems are addressed rather than simply passed to the next shift.
Licensing, Safety & Compliance
As part of the management team, you will help ensure the venue complies with all relevant operational and licensing requirements.
This will include areas such as:
- Scottish alcohol licensing requirements.
- Challenge 25.
- Responsible alcohol service.
- Food safety.
- Health and safety.
- Fire safety.
- Accident and incident reporting.
- Manual handling.
- Security procedures.
- Opening and closing checks.
- Company policies and procedures.
Holding a Scottish Personal Licence would be highly advantageous.
Applicants who do not currently hold one must be prepared to undertake appropriate training if required.
The Person We’re Looking For
We are particularly interested in candidates who have previous management experience within a:
- Busy pub
- Bar
- Restaurant
- Hotel
- Nightclub
- Entertainment venue
- Similar high-volume hospitality operation
Previous experience as an Assistant General Manager, Deputy Manager, Assistant Manager, Bar Manager, Restaurant Manager or experienced Duty Manager would be particularly relevant.
Essential qualities
You should be:
- Experienced in hospitality management.
- Confident managing employees and supervisors.
- Commercially aware.
- Comfortable working with figures and reports.
- Highly organised.
- Reliable and punctual.
- Decisive.
- Calm under pressure.
- Confident dealing with difficult situations.
- Comfortable challenging poor standards appropriately.
- Able to prioritise several things at once.
- Customer focused.
- Able to communicate effectively with employees, customers, suppliers and entertainers.
- Prepared to lead by example.
- Genuinely hands-on.
Most importantly, you need to have ownership mentality.
If you walk past a problem, we expect you to deal with it.
Physical Requirements
This is a physically active hospitality management role.
The venue operates across different levels and access to our cellar involves approximately 40–50 stairs.
During a normal shift there can be frequent movement between the cellar, bar, restaurant, kitchen and other areas of the premises.
The role can also involve receiving deliveries, moving stock and cellar items, prolonged periods of standing and walking and working at pace during busy services.
Applicants must therefore be able to safely carry out the essential duties of the position.
Reasonable adjustments will be considered where appropriate.
Working Hours
The Parry Lamp operates seven days per week.
This position is contracted for approximately 37–40 hours per week, depending on the successful candidate and agreed contract.
This is not a Monday-to-Friday management position.
Applicants must be available to work a flexible rota which will include:
- Days
- Evenings
- Weekends
- Late nights
- Public holidays
- Major sporting events
- Entertainment nights
Depending on the shift, working hours can fall anywhere between approximately 11:00am and 1:30am.
Regular Friday and Saturday evening availability will be particularly important.
Appropriate rest periods and working-time requirements will be observed when rotas are prepared.
Salary & Benefits
£28,000–£31,200 per annum
Final salary will depend upon experience, qualifications and agreed contracted hours.
The position will also offer the opportunity to earn a performance-related bonus of up to £2,000 per annum, linked to agreed management and venue-performance objectives.
Benefits include:
- Permanent full-time employment.
- Workplace pension.
- Statutory holiday entitlement.
- Performance-related bonus opportunity.
- Management training and development.
- Opportunity for further progression as the business develops.
- Significant involvement in shaping the future direction of the venue.
Why Join The Parry Lamp?
This is an opportunity for somebody who wants considerably more responsibility than simply running individual shifts.
The successful candidate will have genuine involvement in how the venue operates and develops.
You will work directly alongside the General Manager and business leadership and have input into staffing, entertainment, budgets, sales, costs, customer experience and operational improvements.
For the right person, this provides an opportunity to develop broader general-management experience and establish themselves as a key member of the senior team.
Application Requirements
Relevant hospitality management experience is essential.
When applying through Indeed, please provide an up-to-date CV showing your relevant management experience.
Applicants should also be prepared to answer several short screening questions relating to their experience and availability.
We are particularly interested in understanding:
- The largest hospitality venue/team you have helped manage.
- Your experience managing busy bar or restaurant shifts.
- Your experience managing or working with kitchen teams.
- Your experience with cellar and stock management.
- Your experience preparing rotas and managing wage costs.
- Your experience with stocktakes and stock variance.
- Your experience working with budgets, sales targets and management reports.
- Whether you hold a current Scottish Personal Licence.
- Your availability for evenings, weekends and late-night working.
Please only apply if you have genuine hospitality management experience and are comfortable with the practical, hands-on nature of this position.
The Parry Lamp is an equal opportunities employer. Recruitment decisions are based on the requirements of the role and the applicant’s skills, experience and suitability.
Pay: £28,000.00-£33,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Discounted or free food
- Employee discount
- Free parking
- On-site parking
Work Location: In person
