Company description

For the last 17 years, Chef Spike Gjerde has been operating Woodberry Kitchen and a restaurant group built around an approach that asks: “What is the best way to feed ourselves?” One part of the answer is to use the purchasing power of restaurants to support regenerative agriculture on small farms in the Mid-Atlantic, crucially diverting dollars from an industrialized commodity agriculture industry that causes environmental harm.

Spike has developed relationships with farmers and watermen throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed, and each restaurant writes menus driven by the bounty available from farms in season. The approach won Spike and Woodberry Kitchen a James Beard award for Best Chef, Mid-Atlantic, still the only restaurant in Baltimore to hold that award. The team at Woodberry Kitchen opened a large-scale canning operation, a diner, a neighborhood bar, a whole-animal butchery, and three coffee shops, along with a DC-based hotel restaurant and banquet operation– all animated by a desire to maximize purchasing from local farms and meaningfully impact our local food system. While the Covid-19 Pandemic closed many of those operations, Woodberry Kitchen and Artifact Coffee continue to operate in the Hampden-Woodberry neighborhood of Baltimore. Our company is growing again, close to purchasing $1MM in food from growers annually.

Job description

As we grow, we are looking for one exceptional individual to join our executive team as a Service Director or Director of Operations. This role is a unique multi-unit opportunity to run F&B
businesses in Baltimore working to high standards of hospitality with the best ingredients grown in the region. After several years of getting the house in order at our two flagship restaurants, 2025 will be a year of growth for us and this role will be the be an essential executive level addition for us to reach for that growth as a company.

The right candidate has been working in independent restaurants as a manager/director for at least 5 years, is highly organized, an excellent communicator, great with teams, seasoned in hiring and training, skilled in coaching and developing team members at every level including location managers, has deep business acumen, and maintains an ability to seek continuous improvement for every aspect of the guest experience in our restaurants. The role will work closely with Chef/Owner Spike Gjerde, COO Aazam Yaqoob, & Culinary Director Steven Kenny.

Responsibilities:

60% Front of House Team Management
-Hire, train, and provide ongoing coaching/development for team members in every position in the Front of House at Artifact Coffee, Woodberry Kitchen, and future projects to be determined. Focus on getting the exact right person in the exact right role, then provide the clear and inspiring leadership that gets the best performance out of each individual.

-Coach, train, and provide ongoing development for Front of House managers across the company. Work to hold managers accountable for the expectations of each role, provide direction around teams, facilities, and systems. Coaching happens in-service on the floor, in menu meetings, and in team trainings.

-Drive staff education including extensive knowledge of our menus, sourcing practices, the local food system, food and beverage, service mechanics, and more. Run effective team trainings and menu meetings, provide written training materials where appropriate, and challenge team members to continue to expand their knowledge.

-Work with Spike to understand his vision for service in each restaurant along with our success metrics for managers. Learn to translate Spike's approach to the restaurant teams. Independently build systems and training manuals that reinforce his vision, measure and track team performance. Model empathetic service and The Soil for team members and managers.

-Perform corrective and disciplinary action as needed in compliance with company HR policies. Provide clear timelines for improvement for team members who are falling short of established standards, and follow up on improvements. Terminate team members when appropriate. Advocate for the business in employment issues and ensure compliance with employment laws.

-Maintain Woodberry Kitchen and other restaurants in the group as professional level work places that facilitate high quality employment.

20% Systems & Facilities
-Maintain our restaurants as well-functioning, clean, and organized places to work and dine.

-Define organizational systems for each Front of House area in the restaurant, communicate them to teams, and enforce them. This includes physical storage spaces, refrigeration, service stations, beverage inventory, paper products/packaging, and more.

-Manage equipment maintenance and repairs on appropriate dining room facilities, including working with service providers to address the repairs, managing costs, and maintaining facilities
for uninterrupted services at each location.

-Manage digital systems including menu printing, online menus, online ordering, Toast menus, reservation platforms, tripleseat/BEO management, and others. Keep employee information up to date with Business Manager/HR and in HRIS.

20% Business Improvement & Growth
-Affect positive change on our top-line sales through the development of well-trained teams and service mechanics, exceptional offerings that satisfy our demand and reflect our sourcing, and identifying and capturing opportunities for sales.

-Use an understanding of business metrics including Sales, COGS, Labor Cost, and Expenses to drive profitability at each location. Work with the Director of Business Operations to manage
the financial success of each location.

-As the company grows, the role will evolve but the focus will continue to be on ecstatically happy guests, profitability, and working to high standards.

The future. Work tenaciously to imagine and create radically better food and beverage experiences in Baltimore that demonstrate a more thoughtful way to feed ourselves in our food
system that is replicable, scalable, and profitable in today’s economy.

Required Experience:
-5+ years in management/director positions
-Strong written and verbal communication skills
-Experience managing diverse teams including junior managers
-Understanding of financial metrics in F&B businesses 

-Bartending & cocktail development experience preferred

-Strong food & beverage knowledge

-Understanding & alignment with our mission to support regenerative agriculture
-Bachelor’s degree preferred
-Multi-unit experience preferred
Must be based in Baltimore.

Compensation commensurate with experience.

Full benefits package including health, dental, vision, life, and HSA.

Compensation

this position is: salaried, 75k-100k

Application instructions

Deadline

February 28, 2025