Front of House Manager

Job Description

The front-of-house (FOH) manager at Akademia oversees all Brewpub operations in the restaurant (except for the kitchen). The FOH manager is responsible for shaping the customer’s experience by maintaining the dining room’s appearance, hiring and training quality staff, and ensuring good customer service. FOH manager should be a people person with strong interpersonal, organizational, and leadership skills. A talent for conflict resolution is also important for addressing customer complaints and handling staff challenges. This is a salary full-time position and often demands long hours with night, weekend, and holiday shifts.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Operations – The FOH manager is responsible for overseeing Akademia’s dining room, event space, and outdoor seating to ensure a remarkable customer experience. FOH managers at Akademia are challenged to ensure operations are managed according to labor, food, and beverage cost specifications. 
• Shift Planning – FOH manager must also confirm that all opening and closing duties are completed on time, and conduct pre-shift meetings to convey new beers, specials, and relevant information to the team. Ensuring each shift is properly staffed is essential to running a successful restaurant. FOH managers use scheduling systems to assign waitstaff based on anticipated demand. They also direct staff to handle unexpected situations and customer concerns throughout a shift as needed.
• Supervise Upkeep of Guest Areas – The FOH manager is also responsible for supervising the cleaning and maintenance of guest areas both inside and outside of the facility. Directing staff to attend to messes or accidents and assisting in cleanup are both critical responsibilities in maintaining the customer experience.
• Interview and Hire Staff – Responsible for a hiring restaurant’s bar and waitstaff. Hiring the right people for these roles is critical to a restaurant’s success and reputation. 
• Staff Training – Oversees and customizes training period to meet candidates experience level. Even experienced servers, bartenders, hosts, and food runners might need training to meet the specific needs at Akademia, so FOH managers schedule and direct training sessions. Training is even more critical for inexperienced staff, so they also arrange additional training to help set new employees up for success.

Skills and Qualifications:

Must have a mind for customer experience and service, as well as great people and leadership skills. bachelor’s degree and at least three years of restaurant management experience preferred. Will receive on-the-job training on Akademia’s policies, processes, and equipment. Well-qualified candidates have the following skills:

• Point of sale system experience – FOH managers are responsible for credit and cash transactions, including refunding customers, providing discounts, and comping items, which requires proficiency with the restaurant’s POS system.
• Organizational skills – FOH managers often juggle many responsibilities at a time, so top-notch organizational skills and prioritization skills are critical for running successful shifts.
• Training – as the FOH manager leads staff onboarding, experience teaching, or training new staff is preferable.
• Leadership skills – it’s the job of a FOH manager to keep staff on task, motivated, and focused. They also resolve staff conflicts and customers’ concerns.
• Management – hiring, firing, training, and disciplining staff is the FOH manager’s responsibility, so they must have strong managerial skills.
• Customer service – dedication to providing excellent customer service and improving the customer experience are important qualities.

Competitive salary based on experience, and opportunity of advancement with a fast-growing brewpub in Athens Georgia.

Email resumes and availability to Brewpub@akademiabc.com