Cafe Growth & Operations Manager

JOB TITLE

Café Growth & Operations Manager

BUSINESS

Daily Drip Café

LOCATION

First Lane 2, Habibullah Road, T. Nagar, Chennai, Tamil Nadu

JOB TYPE

Full-time

MONTHLY SALARY

₹40,000–₹50,000 fixed salary, depending on experience

PERFORMANCE INCENTIVE

Up to ₹15,000 additional incentive per month based on sales growth, cost control, reporting accuracy, customer reviews and operational performance.

TOTAL EARNING POTENTIAL

Up to ₹65,000 per month

EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

Minimum 5 years of experience managing a busy café, restaurant, bakery, QSR or hospitality outlet.

ABOUT DAILY DRIP CAFÉ

Daily Drip Café is a modern café located in a prime area of T. Nagar, Chennai. We serve coffee, beverages, breakfast items, burgers, wraps, toasties, snacks, desserts and other café-style food.

The café has approximately 26 indoor seats, an outdoor seating/smoking area, takeaway service and online delivery through platforms such as Zomato.

We are looking for an energetic, commercially driven and highly accountable Café Growth & Operations Manager who can take ownership of the café and significantly increase its sales, customer footfall, takeaway orders and online-delivery business.

This is not only an administrative or supervisory position. The successful candidate must be outgoing, curious, creative and personally involved in bringing more customers into the café.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Sales and Business Growth

• Take ownership of increasing daily and monthly café sales

• Develop and execute practical plans to increase customer footfall

• Increase dine-in, takeaway, Zomato and direct-delivery orders

• Build relationships with nearby offices, businesses, hospitals, colleges, gyms, apartments, hotels and local organisations

• Generate corporate orders, office catering, party orders and repeat business

• Introduce promotions, meal combinations, loyalty programs and local partnerships

• Organise café events, community activities, meetups and suitable promotional campaigns

• Encourage satisfied customers to leave genuine Google and Zomato reviews

• Monitor competitors, customer preferences and local market trends

• Identify underperforming menu items and recommend new products or promotions

• Improve average customer spending and the number of daily transactions

• Work with the owner on social-media promotions and marketing campaigns

Daily Operations

• Take complete responsibility for the smooth daily operation of the café

• Supervise front-of-house, kitchen, barista and support employees

• Prepare staff rosters and ensure punctuality and adequate shift coverage

• Conduct daily staff briefings and allocate responsibilities

• Maintain excellent food quality, presentation, service and customer experience

• Ensure opening and closing procedures are completed correctly

• Monitor cleanliness, hygiene, maintenance and food-safety compliance

• Resolve customer complaints professionally and immediately

• Train, coach and motivate employees

• Maintain a welcoming, energetic and customer-focused environment

• Ensure staff follow company policies and operating procedures

Financial Control and Reporting

The manager must provide the owner with a complete and accurate daily report without being reminded.

The daily report must include:

• Total daily sales

• Dine-in sales

• Takeaway sales

• Zomato and online-delivery sales

• Cash, card, UPI and online payment reconciliation

• Number of customer bills

• Average bill value

• Daily customer count

• Purchases and operating expenses

• Petty-cash transactions

• Food and beverage usage

• Wastage, complimentary items, discounts and cancellations

• Opening and closing stock information

• Staff attendance

• Customer feedback and complaints

• Google and Zomato reviews received

• Marketing and sales activities completed

• Maintenance or operational issues

• Action plan for the following day

The manager will also be responsible for:

• Preparing weekly and monthly sales reports

• Monitoring revenue, expenses and profitability

• Controlling food cost, beverage cost and wastage

• Checking supplier invoices and delivery quantities

• Conducting regular physical stock counts

• Preventing stock leakage, unauthorised discounts and cash discrepancies

• Ensuring all purchases and expenses are properly recorded

• Maintaining accurate documentation that can be reviewed by the owner or accountant

REQUIRED EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

• Minimum 3 years of café, restaurant, bakery, QSR or hospitality-management experience

• Proven experience increasing outlet sales or customer footfall

• Strong understanding of food costs, stock control, wastage and profitability

• Experience preparing accurate daily sales and expense reports

• Experience managing Zomato, Swiggy or similar online-delivery platforms

• Comfortable using POS systems, Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, WhatsApp and email

• Excellent customer-service and complaint-handling skills

• Strong leadership and staff-management ability

• Good spoken and written English

• Fluency in Tamil

• Hindi or another language would be an advantage

• Good knowledge of Chennai’s café and restaurant market

• Strong communication, networking and local-marketing skills

THE IDEAL CANDIDATE

We are looking for someone who is:

• Honest and trustworthy

• Accurate with money, stock and reports

• Commercially minded and focused on increasing revenue

• Curious and constantly looking for new opportunities

• Outgoing and comfortable approaching customers and businesses

• Creative with promotions and local marketing

• Energetic and willing to work on the café floor

• Accountable and able to work independently

• Proactive rather than waiting to be instructed

• Confident managing employees and enforcing standards

• Calm and professional when resolving problems

• Available during busy periods, weekends and public holidays when required

WORKING ARRANGEMENT

• Full-time position

• Six working days per week

• One weekly day off, based on the café roster

• Flexible availability will be required because this is a hospitality-management position

• The manager must be present during important peak trading periods

• Three-month probation and performance-review period

SALARY AND INCENTIVE STRUCTURE

Fixed salary: ₹40,000–₹50,000 per month, based on the successful candidate’s experience and demonstrated ability.

Monthly performance incentive: Up to ₹15,000, based on:

• Achievement of agreed sales-growth targets

• Food-cost and wastage control

• Accuracy and punctuality of daily reports

• Growth in footfall, takeaway and delivery orders

• Customer satisfaction and review performance

• Stock, cash and expense control

• Staff performance, hygiene and operational standards

SELECTION PROCESS

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to visit Daily Drip Café and complete a practical assessment.

Candidates may be asked to prepare a short 30-day action plan explaining:

• How they would increase café footfall

• How they would improve takeaway and Zomato sales

• How they would build corporate and local business orders

• How they would control costs and wastage

• How they would manage and motivate the team

• What information they would include in the owner’s daily report

References from previous employers will be checked before final appointment.

HOW TO APPLY

Please apply through APNA with your updated CV and answer the following questions:

1. How many years of café or restaurant-management experience do you have?
2. Which cafés, restaurants or hospitality outlets have you previously managed?
3. What were the average daily or monthly sales at your previous outlet?
4. Have you personally increased sales or customer footfall? Please provide an example with figures.
5. Do you have experience with food-cost control, stock-taking and daily financial reporting?
6. Have you managed Zomato, Swiggy or another online-delivery platform?
7. Are you comfortable approaching nearby businesses and organisations to generate orders?
8. Which languages do you speak?
9. What is your present salary and expected salary?
10. What is your notice period, and when can you start?

Please do not apply if you are looking only for a supervisory or desk-based role. This position requires a hands-on manager who can lead the team, interact with customers, build local business and take full responsibility for growing Daily Drip Café.