GM- Established Chula Vista Tavern
We are an established neighborhood tavern and sports bar in Chula Vista — seven years on the same corner, a real regular crowd, a big beverage business, a scratch kitchen, and match days that fill the room. The place works. What it needs is someone who owns the floor so the owner does not have to.
This is a hands-on floor and operations role, not a desk job. You are the person the staff looks to on a Friday night, and the person who makes Tuesday run clean. If you are a strong shift lead or assistant manager ready to run a room of your own — or a manager tired of corporate checklists who wants a place with actual character.
What you will be responsible for
- Running the floor: greeting, expediting, working the pass, and jumping on a station or behind the bar when it gets loud. You lead from the floor, not the office.
- Opening and closing the building — cash handling, tills, nightly close-out, deposits, alarm and security.
- Building and publishing weekly front-of-house schedules and coordinating with the kitchen manager, hitting weekly labor-hour targets with zero unplanned overtime.
- Day-to-day staff leadership: shift assignments, coaching in the moment, holding service and cleanliness standards, running pre-shift, documenting issues and escalating what needs escalating.
- Service recovery — you handle the unhappy table before it becomes a review, and you make it right on the spot.
- Health, safety and ABC compliance: temperature logs, sanitation, ID checks, over-service prevention, and California meal and rest break compliance.
- Match-day and event execution: setup, staffing, screens and sound, and keeping turns moving in a small room on our biggest days (Liga MX, Premier League mornings, Padres, NFL).
- A short daily report to the owner: sales, labor hours, incidents, what broke, what needs ordering.
- Kitchen and/or BOH management is also huge plus.
What you bring
- 2+ years managing shifts in a full-service restaurant, bar or sports bar — assistant manager, floor manager, or a strong lead ready to step up.
- Real FULL bar experience, a large share of our business is beverage, so you need to be comfortable behind the stick, on pours, on inventory, and on cutting someone off.
- POS fluency (we run Toast) and comfort with digital scheduling, timekeeping, and reading a daily sales report.
- Steady under pressure. Full room, short a server, and a two-hour wait on wings — you get calm, not loud.
- You hold a line kindly. Standards without drama: direct with staff, warm with guests.
- Availability nights, weekends and holidays. That is when we are busy, and that is when you are here.
- California Food Handler card and RBS certification, or the ability to obtain both before your first shift. ServSafe Manager is a plus.
- Bilingual English/Spanish is a strong plus — a real advantage with both our team and our guests.
- 21 or older and able to pass a background check.
Compensation and schedule
- $65,000 – $75,000 per year, depending on experience.
- Monthly performance bonus tied to clear, measurable targets you control — labor hours, service standards and shift execution. Targets are written down and reviewed with you monthly. No moving goalposts.
- Paid time off, meal benefit, and shift-drink policy per house rules.
- Five days a week, a mix of opens and closes, with a weekend day required.
- We are a small operation. Ownership is accessible, decisions get made the same day, and good ideas get tried instead of routed through a committee.
The honest version
We are 52 seats. It is tight, and some days the dish machine picks the wrong moment to quit. In exchange you get a room with a real neighborhood following, a menu people come back for, and an owner who will back you publicly and coach you privately. If you want a room to run and someone to hand you the keys, this is that.
How to apply
Apply through Indeed with a résumé. A short note about the busiest shift you have ever run — and what you would do differently will move you to the top of the pile. We respond to every applicant we intend to interview within a week.
Pay: $5,500.00 - $6,000.00 per month
Shift:
- Day shift
- Evening shift
- Night shift
Ability to Relocate:
- Chula Vista, CA 91910: Relocate before starting work (Required)
Work Location: In person
