About West House
West House is a new cafe opening in Westerville built around three things: a build-your-own chocolate fondue bar (choose your size, your chocolate, and your dippers), a specialty coffee program, and a matcha drink program. It's designed as a place to slow down with someone: a date, a friend, family.
We're not hiring someone to run a playbook that already exists; we're building the playbook together. We're looking for a General Manager who wants to be part of that from day one, and who's excited to grow with West House over the long run, not just fill a management role for a few months.
The Role
You'll lead daily operations at West House and help set the standard for a brand-new concept from the ground up, including scheduling, ordering, hiring, and the guest experience. This is a ground-floor opportunity: you'll be shaping how things run, not just following an existing playbook. Early-stage cafes take time to find their rhythm, and we're looking for someone who's in it for that whole arc, not just the opening.
What You'll Do
- Hire, train, and schedule the barista and shift lead team
- Manage day-to-day operations: opening/closing, cash handling, quality control
- Oversee the specialty coffee and matcha bar (dialing in espresso, drink quality, consistency) and the fondue program (chocolate, dippers, toppings)
- Order and manage inventory across coffee, matcha, and fondue programs
- Build vendor relationships and manage supplier orders
- Own the guest experience and handle escalated customer issues
- Track sales and labor against budget and report to ownership
- Help refine recipes, menu, and SOPs as the concept matures, and bring your own ideas for where West House could go next
What We're Looking For
- 2+ years of experience managing a cafe, restaurant, or similar food & beverage operation
- Hands-on barista experience: you've worked behind the espresso machine, know your way around dialing in a grind and steaming milk, and can talk coffee with guests and train others on it
- A builder's mindset: comfortable opening a new concept, flexible, hands-on, willing to create processes from scratch rather than execute an existing one
- Vision: you have opinions about what makes a great hospitality experience and want a real hand in shaping this one, not just running shifts
- A long-term outlook: you're looking to grow into this role and grow with the company as it matures, and you understand that takes patience, not instant results
- Experience at a small or independent cafe is a real plus. We're a small, high-craft team, not a large corporate operation, and we're looking for someone who thrives in that kind of intimate, hands-on environment
- Strong people leadership: hiring, training, scheduling
- Food handler certification (or willing to obtain before opening)
- Passion for hospitality and creating a warm, welcoming space
A note before you apply
We'd rather hear from fewer people who are genuinely excited about building something from scratch than a lot of people looking for any cafe management job. If that's you, if you read the fondue, coffee, and matcha, slow-down-with-someone idea and thought "I'd love to help build that," we want to hear from you.
Schedule
Full-time, including some weekends. Schedule flexibility is needed for a cafe with peak weekend/evening date-hangout traffic.
How to Apply
Apply through this posting with your resume, and in a couple sentences tell us: what excites you about building a new hospitality concept from day one, and where do you see yourself with West House a couple years from now? We're hiring ahead of opening, so early applicants will hear back first.
Pay: $45,000.00 - $55,000.00 per year
Work Location: In person
