Opening Front of House ManagerCountry Cajun Restaurant
St. Gabriel, Louisiana
Position Overview
Country Cajun is seeking an experienced, hands-on Opening Front of House Manager to build, lead, and take full responsibility for the front-of-house operation of our new quick-service restaurant in St. Gabriel, Louisiana.
This is a permanent salaried management position. The Front of House Manager will report to the General Manager and will have complete day-to-day responsibility for all front-of-house operations, employees, scheduling, training, customer service, cash controls, cleanliness, shift execution, and department performance.
During the opening period, the Front of House Manager will recruit and train the opening front-of-house team, establish service systems, develop operating procedures, and prepare the department for a successful launch. Once the restaurant is established, this person will continue leading the front of house and will be held accountable for maintaining Country Cajun’s service, staffing, cleanliness, and operating standards.
This is not a desk-management position. The Front of House Manager will be expected to lead from the floor, work alongside the team, enforce standards, solve problems in real time, and take ownership of the customer experience from the time an order is placed until the customer leaves the restaurant.
Front of House Responsibility
The Front of House Manager will have direct responsibility for:
- Front-counter operations
- Drive-through operations
- Dining-room service
- Takeout and pickup orders
- Cashiers, runners, dining-room attendants, and front-of-house shift leaders
- Front-of-house hiring, onboarding, training, coaching, and accountability
- Front-of-house scheduling and shift coverage
- Customer service and complaint resolution
- Order accuracy and ticket flow
- Cash drawers, deposits, refunds, voids, discounts, and safe controls
- Front-of-house labor deployment
- Dining-room, restroom, beverage, condiment, counter, and entry-area cleanliness
- Front-of-house supplies, packaging, paper products, and beverages
- Opening, closing, stocking, cleaning, and shift-change procedures
- Communication between the front and back of house
- Front-of-house food-safety and sanitation compliance
- Development of front-of-house shift leaders and future managers
Opening Responsibilities
- Build and organize the opening front-of-house department.
- Recruit, interview, and recommend front-of-house employees for hire.
- Train the opening team before the restaurant begins service.
- Establish procedures for the front counter, drive-through, dining room, takeout, runners, expo, and customer handoff.
- Develop and implement opening, closing, stocking, cleaning, cash-control, and shift-change checklists.
- Train employees on menu knowledge, order entry, suggestive selling, customer service, food handling, and restaurant standards.
- Establish proper staffing levels and position assignments for each operating period.
- Prepare the front of house for inspections, training days, soft opening, and grand opening.
- Work extended hours during the opening and stabilization period as necessary to establish systems and develop the team.
Daily Operations
- Direct all front-of-house operations during restaurant service.
- Maintain a visible management presence throughout each shift.
- Ensure fast, friendly, accurate, and professional service.
- Monitor customer wait times, ticket times, drive-through speed, and order accuracy.
- Assign employees to positions based on projected sales, business volume, and operating needs.
- Ensure all front-of-house stations remain properly staffed, stocked, clean, and organized.
- Verify that all opening, shift-change, and closing duties are completed correctly.
- Maintain effective communication with the kitchen and management team.
- Address service, staffing, equipment, cash, and operating problems immediately.
- Report significant concerns, repeated failures, or major incidents to the General Manager.
- Implement corrective action when front-of-house standards are not being met.
Employee Leadership
- Directly supervise all front-of-house employees.
- Prepare and manage front-of-house employee schedules.
- Approve routine shift changes and coordinate coverage for call-outs.
- Train and cross-train employees in all front-of-house positions.
- Conduct pre-shift meetings and communicate daily priorities.
- Coach employees on service, speed, order accuracy, cleanliness, teamwork, and conduct.
- Monitor attendance, punctuality, uniforms, grooming, and job performance.
- Document coaching, attendance, performance, and disciplinary issues.
- Recommend hiring, promotion, discipline, and termination actions to the General Manager.
- Develop dependable shift leaders who can maintain standards when the Front of House Manager is not present.
- Maintain a professional department based on respect, urgency, teamwork, cleanliness, and accountability.
Customer Experience
- Take ownership of the overall front-of-house customer experience.
- Establish and maintain Country Cajun’s standard of fast, friendly Southern hospitality.
- Ensure customers are greeted and served professionally.
- Resolve customer complaints and service failures promptly.
- Authorize reasonable guest-recovery actions within company guidelines.
- Identify recurring customer-service problems and implement corrective action.
- Monitor customer feedback, reviews, and service trends.
- Ensure all orders are accurate, complete, properly packaged, and presented correctly.
- Train employees to communicate professionally and handle customer concerns appropriately.
Cash and Financial Controls
- Maintain accountability for all front-of-house cash-handling procedures.
- Verify cash drawers at opening, shift changes, and closing.
- Maintain control of the safe, deposits, refunds, voids, discounts, and promotional transactions.
- Investigate and report cash shortages, overages, and transaction irregularities.
- Ensure deposits and cash reports are completed accurately and on time.
- Protect company cash, equipment, supplies, and other assets.
- Monitor front-of-house waste, excessive supply usage, and unexplained variances.
- Complete required shift, cash, labor, and operating reports accurately.
- Maintain complete and organized front-of-house records.
Scheduling and Labor Management
- Prepare the front-of-house schedule based on projected sales and restaurant needs.
- Maintain proper coverage for opening, breakfast, lunch, evening, closing, weekends, and holidays.
- Adjust employee deployment based on sales volume and customer demand.
- Control front-of-house labor while maintaining service, cleanliness, and order accuracy.
- Monitor overtime and prevent unnecessary labor expense.
- Maintain backup coverage plans for call-outs and unexpected staffing shortages.
- Ensure schedules are completed and posted according to company requirements.
- Communicate staffing problems and labor concerns to the General Manager.
Cleanliness and Food Safety
- Maintain the cleanliness and presentation of all customer-facing areas.
- Ensure the front counter, drive-through, dining room, beverage area, condiment area, restrooms, entry, and exterior customer areas remain clean and stocked.
- Assign and verify cleaning duties throughout each shift.
- Enforce proper handwashing, glove use, illness reporting, allergen awareness, and food-handling procedures.
- Ensure required cleaning logs, checklists, and food-safety records are completed.
- Keep the front of house prepared for inspection at all times.
- Report maintenance, equipment, safety, or sanitation concerns immediately.
- Take immediate action to correct unsafe or unsanitary conditions.
Restaurant Support
- Maintain a working understanding of the restaurant’s complete order and production flow.
- Coordinate front-of-house staffing and service with kitchen production levels.
- Assist with expo, order verification, packaging, stocking, receiving, and other operating needs.
- Support other areas of the restaurant during rush periods, call-outs, and emergencies.
- Ensure front-of-house employees understand menu items, ingredients, portions, and order flow.
- Work closely with the management team to maintain consistent restaurant-wide standards.
Work Schedule and Availability
Country Cajun’s planned operating hours are:
6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., seven days per week
The Front of House Manager’s schedule will be established based on restaurant needs.
The position requires:
- Weekend availability.
- Early-morning, evening, holiday, and closing availability as needed.
- Availability to work different shifts rather than a fixed Monday-through-Friday schedule.
- Flexibility to work extended hours during the opening and stabilization period. 50 hours per week thereafter.
- Availability to cover management shifts when necessary.
- Reasonable availability outside scheduled hours for urgent front-of-house staffing or operating matters.
- Reliable transportation and dependable attendance.
Required Qualifications
- Minimum of 3 years of restaurant management experience.
- Strong front-of-house leadership experience.
- Experience managing a complete restaurant shift or front-of-house department.
- Experience supervising cashiers, drive-through employees, runners, dining-room attendants, and shift leaders.
- Experience preparing schedules and managing labor deployment.
- Experience hiring, training, coaching, and holding employees accountable.
- Experience with cash drawers, deposits, safe controls, refunds, voids, discounts, and transaction reporting.
- Strong customer-service and complaint-resolution skills.
- Ability to establish procedures and enforce standards consistently.
- Ability to work effectively with the General Manager and back-of-house leadership.
- Strong communication, organization, leadership, and problem-solving skills.
- Ability to remain calm and make sound decisions during high-volume service.
- Working knowledge of restaurant food-safety and sanitation requirements.
- Ability to work weekends, early mornings, evenings, holidays, and extended opening-period hours.
- ServSafe certification or the ability to obtain certification as required.
- Reliable transportation and consistent attendance.
Preferred Qualifications
- Previous experience opening a new restaurant.
- Quick-service, fast-casual, drive-through, cafeteria, plate-lunch, or prepared-food experience.
- Experience with breakfast and high-volume lunch service.
- Experience improving drive-through speed, order accuracy, service, cleanliness, or customer satisfaction.
- Experience using restaurant point-of-sale, scheduling, cash-management, and labor-reporting systems.
- Experience developing shift leaders and junior managers.
About Country Cajun
Country Cajun is a locally owned Louisiana restaurant serving bold Country and Cajun flavors through fast, friendly service.
Our menu will include breakfast, plate lunches, po’boys, burgers, fried seafood, boudin, sausage, hot-box items, grab-and-go products, and other Louisiana favorites.
Our mission is:
We serve up bold Country and Cajun flavors with fast, friendly service, rooted in faith, family, and Southern tradition.
We are looking for an Opening Front of House Manager who will take ownership of the department, build a dependable team, protect the customer experience, and maintain high standards every shift.
Country Cajun is an equal-opportunity employer.
Pay: $47,000.00 - $57,000.00 per year
Benefits:
Work Location: In person
