Cafe Manager – Marks & Spencer

Job description / Role

Cafe Manager – Marks & Spencer – Landmark Mall – Qatar

Marks & Spencer, part of Al Futtaim Retail, is a globally recognised retail brand offering stylish, high quality, great value clothing and home products as well as outstanding foods.

With 25 stores currently located across the GCC including locations in the UAE, Oman, Egypt, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar there is further growth planned with an additional four stores to open in 2013 to further strengthen this exciting brand within the Middle East market.

The Cafe Manager must ensure the seamless running of the M&S Cafe in the most efficient and effective manner to create  a memorable experience  by engaging with customers and driving team to connect with the customer to sell. The Cafe Manager pro-actively drives sales whilst maintaining and or improving profitability and driving operational excellence through Food operating principles.

Requirements

Key Accountabilities

Sales & Cafe Operations:

* Regulary reviews & analyses sales figures including daily, weekly and monthly reports to identify opportunities to develop sales performance , minimize cost and waste
* Regularly observes operations, customer behaviour and evaluates product offer and quality
* Drives sales through accurate implementation of deals&offers, events, changes
* Create, deliver and measure promotional activities, including staff incentives
* Maintain and further enhance relationships within the immediate locality, namely residents, retail and office tenants
* Probes daily diagnostic and takes action to ensure gap scanning/simple counts/stock alerts delivered to required standard every day
* everyday as well as planning for successful events and peak activity
* To provide a clear handover during shift changes and ensure each shift is reviewed and handovers/briefings are carried out
* Ensure Bi-weekly meetings take place with key personnel both in the Cafe and the store to ensure the team are fully briefed and action points are recorded and achieved.
* ls aware and notifies the team of any menu changes, special requirements (including menu items and dishes), outstanding orders or work tasks required prior to the commencement of service
* Supervise the daily meetings with all staff to brief on the day's activities, menus and events
* Exploits/develops  food stock management system to maximize stock accuracy and availability by utilizing stock reports and a dashboard
* Probes Food Diagnostic to ensure stock accuracy is maintained and risks are resolved through stock counting Manage monthly stock-takes and review results and variances with relevant departments
* Ensure that in house control systems/audit requirements are adhered to

Customer Service

* Connect with the customer by being friendly , helpful, knowledgeable and connected to sell
* Delivers great service for our customers and role models our 4 key service behaviour at all times
* Ensure customer requests and feedback, both verbal and written are responded to promptly and efficiently
* Uses Mystery Shopper and CSI results to develop the service levels and recognizes success by utilizing available awards
* Utilizes service observation forms to ensure regular service observation and feedback to individuals
* Ensure personal appearance of self and teams is consistently high everyday
* Ensures stock availability in line with historic reports for

People

* Develop a positive and direct relationship with all colleagues
* Within the department, support a culture of pride, ownership and desire to exceed expectation
* Foster a culture of flexibility
* Responds quickly and positively to changing requirements whether within the department or outside in order to meet business demands
* Ensure all staff are well briefed on their responsibilities and are given constant supervision and motivation on all aspects of their work
* Provides regular feedback to team members and recognizes individuals who perform well in their role
* Recognizes team and individuals to celebrate success and utilizes awards
* Delivers PDR  process withing group time frames and drives delivery of consistent standards of performance and behavior
* Implements Group HR policies fairly and consistently
* Takes active role in supporting and developing team members
* Develop a calendar of all key training with the Training Manager, identifying training needs and capability gaps within the team
* Manage all disciplinary and grievance issues within the department in consultation with the Human Resources team, giving particular focus to the kitchen / Cafe relationship
* Supports the region when required

Standards

* Works with Visual team to deliver excellent standards across all aspects of Visual Merchandising and ensures delivery of the Marketing Principle for all eye and buy level decor.
* Ensures clean as you go rhythm and routine
* Ensures Food is compliant and all compliance documentation is reviewed and signed off on a timely basis
* Has a detailed understanding of legal compliance requirements and keeps up to date with any changes made by local /international authorities, inform the management  on required action
* Ensures all staff are trained in line with local/company requirements and certifications are up to date and available for any control
* Ensures all required health checks are periodically done and certificates are up date and available for controls
* Is aware of the implications Health &Safety  issues have on insurance premium
* Understand relevant Health &Safety legislation and the implications on the business, taking action as required
* Ensure all departmental staff work hygienically and productively
* Ensure a safe workplace by identifying and reporting hazards and taking corrective action
* Review and communicate health and safety audit reports and initiate required action with relevant departments
* Action and respond to alleged food hygiene issues, deploying all necessary resources to protect reputation and brand integrity
* Be fully aware of fire evacuation procedures for the  department
* Ensure Basic Food Hygiene Certification.
* Understand the usage of Chemicals and this is cascaded to the team.
* Ensure First Aiders are available to meet government requirements.
* Ensures all equipment is compliant with Health and Safety regulations , cleaned and maintained regularly
* Drives a food safety culture by embedding correct processes across the department

Costs

* Drives a profit protection mentality across department , raising awareness of potential risks and delivers shrinkage/waste plan  including stocktake preparation and execution.
* Maintain/develop specific departmental control systems in order to meet or exceed food and beverage margins
* Control costs without compromising standards and customer experience
* Ensure that all staff are trained on POS system and all issues related to the tills are resolved. Maintain the Cafe Asset register related to inventory of all Cafe items.
* Regularly reviews staffing and rota  to reflect store activity and deliver an effective FTE deployment
* Drives team to deliver individual productivity by setting targets,comparing actuals and taking action for improvement whenever required.
A cafe manager may be exposed to senior management of the AF Group due to location of the cafe as well as government officials .This exposure will require diplomacy and be able to manage sensitive situations on the floor immediately. Due to health related nature of the business Cafe Manager needs to be extra cautious and detail oriented within the responsibility area,

About the Company

Established in the 1930's, the Al-Futtaim Group initially operated as a trading enterprise. Rapid development throughout the 1940's and 50's saw it establish itself regionally as an integrated commercial, industrial and services organisation, positioning itself one of the leading business houses in the lower Gulf region. Today, it operates collectively over 40 companies bearing the Al-Futtaim name, dominates many market segments in the UAE, and has expanded its sphere of operation to include Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Egypt.

The Group comprises a diverse range of strategically positioned operating subsidiaries and associate companies, structured to give the Al-Futtaim Group the flexibility and versatility to keep ahead of local competition while keeping pace with the ever-evolving global business scenario. The Groups continued investment in world-class systems technology is clear evidence of its commitment to maintain leading edge performance and service delivery.

The success of the Al-Futtaim Group can be attributed to a business approach that combines the ability to change with the traditional values of integrity, service and social responsibility that define its core business philosophy. This, linked with the Groups belief in decentralisation, gives the heads of the operating companies a high degree of functional autonomy and authority, providing the Group with essential flexibility, and individual employees a clearly defined work culture and sense of responsibility.