Store Manager - Ghost Kitchen

Job description

**WHY WORK AT JOE & THE JUICE** JOE & THE JUICE is a people-centric food and beverage company built around culture, not just juice, sandwiches, coffee, and much more. When joining us, you step into a high-energy community where the music is loud, the bar is your stage, and your personality matters as much as your skills. We believe in four simple virtues that shape everything we do: - Positive Attitude - Inclusion - Social Ties - Growth For us, this means that when you choose a cup-half-full mindset, welcome people from every background, build real friendships across the bar by creating great guest experiences, and use every shift as a chance to learn something new — you become more than just a Juicer; like us, you continue to search and find purpose and meaning in what you do. From your first day, you’ll be part of an international network of Juicers who support each other, celebrate wins together, and push each other to grow. You will learn by doing, move through a clear Moneyball career path, and be part of a company where most leaders have earned their stripes behind the bar (fun fact: over 75% of our employees started as Juicers!). If you love fast-paced service, music, people, and the idea of turning a job into a lifestyle, JOE can become a place to build skills, friendships, and a career that can take you across cities, countries, and roles. **JOB SUMMARY** **Position title:** Store Manager - Ghost Kitchen **Reports to:** District Manager **Location:** West Adams As a Store Manager, you are responsible for the daily operation of your ghost kitchen, ensuring the highest performance possible in all areas within the operation. You will adhere to market-specific legal requirements, company policies, risk, and compliance structures. You are expected to have a full overview of your ghost kitchen and lead your team members ensuring efficient workflows, great guest experiences, and high-quality products. Your overall success in this position depends on the degree to which you are able to lead, develop, and retain a highly engaged kitchen team, where all operational and fulfillment standards are consistently met in order to deliver best-in-class order accuracy and quality across both delivery and catering. As the business leader of your location, you will take ownership of operational performance, team development, fulfillment, inventory, labor, and financial results. Ultimately, you are accountable for meeting the cost budget, reaching the store's sales targets, and optimizing EBITDA through existing and new company initiatives, while continuously identifying opportunities to improve efficiency, throughput, order accuracy, and the overall guest experience. **KEY RESPONSIBILITIES** **Virtue Based Leadership:** - Lead, inspire, and develop team members in alignment with company virtues and operational principles - Act as a role model of company values and foster a positive, high-performance culture - Ensure clear communication of expectations and accountability across the team - Create an environment of ownership, collaboration, and continuous improvement where team members understand how their performance contributes to overall store results - Lead effectively through changing business needs, new initiatives, menu introductions, technology implementations, and evolving operational priorities **Employee Engagement & Development:** - Develop and motivate team members through structured development plans and continuous feedback - Facilitate in-store training sessions and regular team meetings - Monitor and drive employee engagement initiatives to meet or exceed benchmark engagement scores - Recruit, onboard, coach, and retain a high-performing team capable of consistently executing operational standards - Identify and develop future leaders through ongoing coaching, performance management, and succession planning - Address performance or behavioral concerns promptly and consistently while maintaining a positive and supportive team culture **Order Accuracy & Delivery Performance:** - Champion an accuracy-first mindset across all kitchen operations, delivery, and catering orders - Oversee the end-to-end execution of catering orders, ensuring accuracy, presentation, and on-time fulfillment for every event and corporate request - Monitor third-party delivery platform performance (DoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub) including ratings, fulfillment times, order accuracy scores, cancellations, and guest feedback - Drive guest satisfaction through consistent execution and fast, reliable order fulfillment across both delivery and catering channels - Identify and resolve issues impacting delivery ratings, catering execution, or overall customer experience - Manage the flow of digital orders from production through staging and courier/customer handoff to ensure speed, accuracy, product quality, and efficient throughput - Identify operational bottlenecks and implement solutions that improve production flow, ticket times, order accuracy, and overall kitchen capacity - Review guest feedback, refunds, order issues, and delivery-platform performance to identify trends and implement corrective action **Operational Excellence & Compliance:** - Maintain a safe, secure, and healthy working environment by enforcing hygiene, health, food safety, and workplace safety standards - Ensure compliance with brand standards and all applicable local regulatory requirements - Uphold the highest operational ratings and performance standards - Maintain consistent execution of company recipes, production procedures, quality standards, portioning, packaging, and fulfillment processes - Ensure equipment, technology, and kitchen facilities remain operational and promptly escalate maintenance or facility issues when necessary - Successfully execute new operational initiatives, products, menu changes, systems, and processes while ensuring team readiness and compliance **Shift Planning & Workforce Management:** - Build and manage schedules based on forecasted sales, order volume, catering demand, and operational needs while meeting defined labor targets - Forecast staffing needs and adjust team deployment in real time based on business volume and changing operational priorities - Ensure appropriate staffing levels and skill deployment across production, fulfillment, catering, and other operational areas - Monitor labor productivity and identify opportunities to improve efficiency without compromising food quality, order accuracy, safety, or the guest experience - Maintain appropriate staffing and leadership coverage while proactively addressing attendance, scheduling, and workforce needs - Use operational and workforce data to identify trends and make informed staffing and deployment decisions **Stock & Inventory Management:** - Take full ownership of inventory management, including stock counting, ordering, receiving, storage, and inventory accuracy - Optimize inventory levels to minimize waste and meet defined monthly waste targets - Maintain appropriate inventory levels based on sales forecasts, catering volume, menu mix, and business needs - Monitor food cost, product usage, waste, shelf life, and inventory variances and implement corrective actions when targets are not achieved - Ensure proper receiving, rotation, storage, labeling, and handling procedures are consistently followed - Partner with suppliers and internal support teams to proactively resolve availability, quality, or supply-chain issues **Performance & Financial Management:** - Drive sales growth and overall store performance - Optimize store EBITDA and achieve defined KPI targets - Monitor financial performance and implement corrective actions where necessary - Take ownership of controllable operating expenses, including labor, food cost, waste, supplies, and other store-level costs - Analyze sales, labor, fulfillment, delivery-platform, inventory, and operational KPIs to identify trends and opportunities for improvement - Translate performance data into clear action plans and hold the team accountable for execution  Identify opportunities to increase sales and order capacity across delivery and catering channels while maintaining operational excellence - Partner cross-functionally with Operations, Culinary, People, Finance, Facilities, Supply Chain, and other support teams to improve store performance and successfully execute company initiatives **KEY QUALIFICATIONS** - Minimum 5 years of leadership experience in a comparable high-volume restaurant, food production, retail, hospitality, fulfillment, logistics, e-commerce, or other service-driven environment, with a proven track record of delivering operational and financial results - Demonstrated experience leading and developing teams, with the ability to drive performance, accountability, and engagement - Strong interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to build trust, resolve conflicts, and foster a collaborative team culture - Passion for people leadership, with a genuine commitment to coaching, mentoring, and developing team members to reach their full potential - Demonstrated ability to manage a fast-paced, high-volume operation while balancing competing operational priorities - Strong business acumen with experience managing labor, inventory, food cost, waste, sales, budgets, and/or P&L performance - Ability to analyze operational and financial KPIs, identify performance trends, and translate data into actionable business decisions - Experience with digital ordering, delivery, fulfillment, or third-party delivery platforms is strongly preferred - Comfortable learning and utilizing POS, kitchen display systems (KDS), workforce management, inventory management, reporting, and third-party delivery technology - Strong organizational, planning, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to remain effective and make sound decisions in a rapidly changing environment - Ability to successfully lead operational change, including new products, technology, processes, and company initiatives - Knowledge of food safety, sanitation, workplace safety, and applicable regulatory requirements - Food Manager certification or ability to obtain required certification within the company-defined timeframe - Ability to work a flexible schedule based on business needs, including early mornings, evenings, weekends, and holidays as required **WHY WORK WITH US** - Experience our brand firsthand with exclusive discounts and special offers available only to employees - Access competitive medical, dental, and vision insurance plans designed to support your overall well-being - Invest in your future with our 401(k) program - Recharge and reset with paid vacation, sick leave, and holidays so you can bring your best self to work - Grow your career with structured leadership training, educational support, and development programs designed to help you reach your full potential Joe & the Juice is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We’re committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. We welcome all qualified applicants — no matter your race, gender, age, religion, sexual orientation, or background. **[NOTICE OF NON-DISCRIMINATION POLICY](https://tinyurl.com/joejuicenotice)** **ABOUT JOE & THE JUICE** JOE & THE JUICE is a healthy fast-casual concept founded in Copenhagen in 2002; since then, we have grown to more than 500 locations across 20 countries and now employ more than 4,500 people worldwide. From day one, our ambition has been to prove that there should be no trade-off between taste and health. We serve high-quality, freshly prepared juices, shakes, coffee, and sandwiches in relaxed, contemporary concept cafés that combine convenience with distinct urban atmospheres. JOE & THE JUICE goes beyond products toward the full experience around the bar, creating a consistent universe for guests and Juicers in all our locations. We invest heavily in internal development through our Moneyball career system and a culture where most leaders, including C-suite, VPs, and directors, have started behind the bar. We continue to evolve our people-centric and sustainability agenda that is part of our Nordic heritage and our commitment to a better future.