Cafe Manager
Job description
Original text imported from Reed
About the role
We have a great opportunity for a Café Manager with a passion for customer service and proven people management skills to take responsibility for one of our comfy, welcoming cafés. With your background in hospitality, you’ll oversee daily operations as well as the selection, training and development of a friendly team. You’ll make every day a little better for the team, so they can do the same for our customers.
As a Café Manager, you’ll share our commitment to excellent customer service. After all, no one tries harder for customers than we do. You’ll manage helpful, eager colleagues in a café that’s clean, tidy and organised. And, you’ll identify opportunities to improve our ways of working, while maximising sales and ensuring processes, routines and standards are adhered to. In short, you’ll be making sure everything is safe, legal and that the café delivers a service to the high standard we aim for.
At Tesco we believe in providing opportunities for everyone to be at their best. With your experience working at supervisory level or above, you’ll act as a role model to your team – spotting talent, providing feedback and support, and adapting your leadership style to different people and situations. At the same time, you’ll develop your own career as you discover plenty of ways to add to your skills and experience. Tesco Cafés really are a place to get on.
Please note that you need to be 18 or over to apply for this role.
What is in it for you
Alongside a fantastic work life balance, we offer excellent benefits that help make The Cafe a great place to work. These include but aren’t limited to::
- Get 10% off and 15% at pay day weekends; save up to £2,000 a year with your Colleague Clubcard with an additional card to share with family outside your home.
- Request flexible working from day one
- Retirement savings plan
- Life Assurance
- Access to free wellbeing services with a range of resources to support your mind, body, and life
- An exclusive deals and discounts website saving you money on everyday purchases, treats for the family, eating out and utility bills for the home
- Uniform provided and policies to support you for all of life’s moments, big and small
- Holiday starting at 28 days (Including Bank Holidays)
- Access to our colleague networks providing a space for colleagues to come together from a range of backgrounds. For more information about our colleague networks please click here.
You will be responsible for
Whilst specific responsibilities will be dependent upon the changing needs of Tesco as a business, the following provides an overview of the role’s key responsibilities and measures:
- Overseeing the overall running of the café, including routines, processes, sales standards and changes, where necessary.
- Holding full profit and loss accountability for the café.
- Maximising sales, impact and presentation in the café, and ensuring everything is safe and legal for customers and colleagues.
- Leading your team and inspiring them to hit sales targets.
- Understanding the key drivers of our service plan and delivering to the standard required.
- Selecting, training, and developing team members to enable them to feel proud of the work they do.
- Acting as a café menu expert who can share knowledge with the team.
- Ensuring customers are served quickly and that they receive high quality food and drinks in a clean, tidy environment.
You will need
- A background in hospitality, at supervisory level and above.
- A commitment to excellent customer service.
- People management skills that allow you to lead by example and coach in an inclusive manner.
Personal
- Good planning and organisation skills.
- Confidence using your initiative to identify opportunities to improve our ways of working or adapt to different situations.
- Excellent communication skills to motivate and support a growing team.
About us
With 329 cafés across the country and counting, our teams work closely to make sure that the customer experience is to the best standard and service; no two days are ever the same! Tesco Cafés are a great place to work, with a genuine family feel - truly a place to get on.
We are proud to have an inclusive culture at Tesco Café where everyone is welcome and truly feels able to be themselves. In our cafés, we not only celebrate diversity, but we strive to create a workforce that reflects our customers not only here in the UK, but worldwide. Our aim is to attract and welcome a diverse range of applicants from all walks of life, offering many varying working patterns across our business and we would love to hear from you.
We know life looks a little different for each of us. That’s why at Tesco, we always welcome chats about flexible working. Some people are at the start of their careers, some want the freedom to do the things they love. Others are going through life-changing moments like becoming a carer, nearing retirement, adapting to parenthood, or something else. So, talk to us throughout your application about how we can support.
We’re proud to have been accredited as a Disability Confident Leader and we’re committed to providing a fully inclusive and accessible recruitment process. For further information on the accessibility support we can offer, please click here.
On occasions where we have high volumes of applicants, some roles may close earlier than the advertised end date in order for us to manage all of the applicants appropriately. We will only be able to offer individual feedback to those candidates who attend an interview.
Key skills
AI-extracted from the job advert
Application advice
5 AI-generated recommendations to maximise your chances.
⭐ Open your CV with a Personal Statement that explicitly references café or hospitality management at supervisory level or above, as the advert lists this as a core requirement.
📊 Quantify your team leadership experience: e.g. 'Managed a team of 12 front-of-house staff, reducing staff turnover by 20% over 12 months'.
🎯 Highlight any direct profit and loss accountability in a dedicated bullet under each relevant role — Tesco explicitly requires full P&L ownership for this position.
🌐 Mention food safety qualifications (e.g. Level 2 or Level 3 Food Hygiene certificate) prominently in your Skills or Education section, as legal compliance is a stated responsibility.
🤝 Include a specific example of adapting your leadership style to different team members, as the advert calls this out directly when describing the role-model expectation.
Suggested CV bullets
3 bullets our AI drafted for this specific advert, mirroring its ATS keywords.
Add these 3 bullets under your most recent experience:
- •Managed full profit and loss for a 60-cover café operation, achieving a 12% year-on-year increase in net revenue through upselling initiatives and waste reduction.
- •Led and developed a team of 14 catering colleagues, reducing staff turnover by 25% over 18 months through structured onboarding, regular 1-to-1 feedback and tailored coaching plans.
- •Implemented daily food safety compliance checklists across all service areas, achieving a 5-star Food Hygiene Rating at annual inspection with zero non-conformances recorded.
Free to copy — tailoring requires a 30-sec CV upload.
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We've drafted a cover letter for Tesco. Preview the opening, then unlock the full personalised version.
Letter preview — tailored to Tesco
Dear Hiring Manager,
Tesco's reputation for putting customers first is exactly the environment in which I thrive — which is why the Café Manager role at your Hexham store stands out. With a background in hospitality management and direct experience of profit and loss accountability, I am confident I can uphold the operational standards and customer service levels Tesco's cafés are known for.
My background in café and hospitality management includes leading teams of up to 15 colleagues, overseeing daily routines, food safety compliance, and driving sales performance. I have consistently identified talent within my teams, provided structured coaching and feedback, and adapted my leadership approach to bring out the best in individuals at different stages of their development.
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Interview questions
10 questions generated from this advert.
Technical
- ›How do you manage a café's profit and loss, and what levers do you use to improve margin?
- ›What processes do you put in place to ensure food safety and legal compliance on a daily basis?
- ›How do you approach scheduling and rota management to balance labour costs with service levels?
- ›Describe how you would implement a new operational routine or standard across your team.
- ›What sales-driving techniques have you used in a café or hospitality environment to maximise revenue?
Behavioural
- ›Tell me about a time you identified and developed a high-potential team member — what did you do and what was the outcome?
- ›Describe a situation where café standards slipped. How did you identify the issue and what steps did you take to resolve it?
- ›Give an example of when you had to adapt your leadership style to manage a difficult or underperforming colleague.
- ›Tell me about a time you improved a process or way of working in a hospitality or retail environment.
- ›Describe a situation where you had to balance customer satisfaction with operational or cost constraints.
STAR answer examples
Model answers using the Situation-Task-Action-Result framework. Adapt to your own experience.
Tell me about a time you identified and developed a high-potential team member — what did you do and what was the outcome?
Describe a situation where café standards slipped. How did you identify the issue and what steps did you take to resolve it?