Cafe Manager

We are Porter, a progressive venture from the One Workplace family headquartered in Seattle, Washington. We're here to create thoughtful human-centered spaces that foster meaningful relationships through collaborative design so that employees can work their best. We've worked with leading global and local companies to transform and design spaces to promote productivity and creativity. We are driven by radical hospitality, the act of going beyond what is required to add sincerity and integrity to all our work.

Porter is committed to the development of empathetic leaders, diversification of talent and increased representation at every level of our business. We believe in cultivating a culture of inclusion and are dedicated to building and retaining teams through removing unnecessary barriers to employment and providing opportunities for career growth. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or veteran status.

Position Overview

The Cafe Manager will serve as the on-site operational leader for Demo, Porter Hospitality’s Los Angeles coffee shop. This role is responsible for leading daily cafe operations, upholding Porter service and brand standards, and creating a warm, polished guest experience rooted in radical hospitality.

The Cafe Manager oversees coffee and beverage execution, light food service, team leadership, ordering, inventory, labor, cleanliness, cash handling, and daily financial performance. This person is hands-on, visible on the floor, and accountable for building a prepared, engaged team while ensuring consistent execution and approachable, high-quality experiences.

Essential Functions

To perform this job successfully, the Café Manager must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily.  Reasonable Accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Serve as a daily point of contact for cafe operational needs, escalating facility, organizational, or business concerns to leadership as needed.
• Support and supervise team members during daily service, assisting with training, coaching, and adherence to Porter standards.
• Assist across floor, barista, light food service, and retail needs while monitoring guest experience, team performance, and health and safety standards.
• Work the floor across scheduled positions and shifts, supporting front-of-house operations and general back-of-house needs as required.
• Work alongside the team to support consistent execution of Coffee, Food, Beverage, and Retail programs.
• Support ordering, inventory, storage organization, and product rotation to maintain par levels and reduce waste.
• Complete and validate opening and closing procedures, including cleaning, cash handling, delegation, and daily operational checklists.
• Promote a culture of positivity, accountability, teamwork, and radical hospitality with the cafe team and Porter Hospitality as a whole.
• Support excellent hospitality by helping deliver high-quality products and maintaining a safe, clean, and welcoming environment.
• Ensure products, service, and daily execution meet Porter’s Radical Hospitality Standards and location expectations.
• Uphold company policies and procedures while learning and supporting required workplace, co-working, POS, and technology platforms.
• Support scheduling, labor awareness, inventory accuracy, and daily sales reporting, while partnering with leadership on forecasting, payroll, COGS, and financial performance.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Excellent oral and written communication and organizational skills.
• Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to work as a team with internal departments, external vendors, suppliers, and customers.
• Professional demeanor and appearance with ability to handle confidential issues with discretion.
• Self-motivated and able to make decisions and exercise prudent judgement with minimal guidance.
• Knowledge of coffee, NA beverages.
• Experience in ordering, inventory management.
• Excellent interpersonal communication skills, problem solving skills and organizational ability.
• Passion for creating and personalizing guest experiences via radical hospitality.
• Flexible schedule.
• Desire for growth in multi-faceted, ever-evolving design and retail company.
• Ability to work under pressure and to prioritize workload, adapt to changing priorities, and meet aggressive deadlines.
• Knowledge of Microsoft Office programs with ability to learn in house programs.

Education/Experience

• Minimum of 3 years’ experience in food service/catering or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Previous experience as a Manager, preferred.

Personal Competencies

Self-Development: Actively seeks new ways to grow and be challenged using both formal and informal development channels. 

Relationship management and Teamwork: The ability to leverage interpersonal skills to establish rapport and develop relationships as part of a multifunctional team in a fast-paced, collaborative and deadline driven environment. 

Time Management: Ability to multi-task to meet goals, good time management skills and ability to take ownership for project deliverables. 

Communications & Problem Solving: Ability to remain optimistic and enthusiastic while creatively solving problems.  Convey information to all key stakeholders in both written and verbal formats.  Determine and utilize the appropriate communication channels. 

Empathy, Involvement & Support: Listen and respond with empathy.  Ability to understand issues and different perspectives of others.  Ability to ask for help and encourage others. 

Physical Demands & Work Environment

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the functions. While performing the duties of this position, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear. The employee frequently is required to use hands or fingers, handle or feel objects, tools, or controls. The employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; sit; and reach with hands and arms. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 15 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this position include close vision, color perception, distance vision, and the ability to adjust focus. The noise level in the work environment is usually low to moderate. Regularly works with others face to face, over the phone and email in an office environment with moderate noise.  Nature of work may require time spent out of the office; reliable transportation required.  Periodically works outside and may work around moving objects, dust, and dirt.