General Manager

Taste Buds Kitchen is a recreational cooking school located in Bannockburn, IL. We are the premier culinary entertainment experience for kids, families and adults, offering unique classes and events in our bright and spacious kitchen studio. Kids ages 2 to teen love our hands-on cooking classes, camps, birthday parties, and field trips. Adults love our BYOB date night cooking classes, birthday parties, bachelorettes, showers, and corporate events. Our innovative programs are as entertaining as they are educational! We always strive to engage and delight our guests.
Benefits/Perks:

• Competitive pay
• Medical benefits
• Flexible schedule
• Paid time off

Job Description:
We are looking for a General Manager to play a critical role in the success of Taste Buds Kitchen! You are a natural leader with the skills and experience to drive sales; manage day-to-day operations; hire, train, develop, and schedule our culinary crew; maintain our event ready kitchen studio; and ensure exceptional client experiences. This is the perfect opportunity to interact with clients and a rock-star team on a daily basis to create a supportive and meaningful community around a shared love of good times created through food.
Responsibilities:

• Operations - Ensure all company policies, systems, and laws are followed and ensure that all classes, staff, and facilities are meeting Taste Buds Kitchen standards. Improve and streamline systems for efficiency. Ensure all clients have a great experience. Evaluate procedures, policies and team member performance for ways to improve operations and/or the guest experience.
• Event Instruction - Host events in the kitchen, instructing cooking classes, camps and parties for ages 2-99. Deliver an engaging experience with excellent and consistent client service following provided recipes and event guides while engaging and teaching clients about food and various culinary skills, tips and tricks. Interact with all guests to ensure customer satisfaction. Be the perfect example and role model of what is expected of a Culinary Instructor. As part of your training, you will learn all aspects of event operations.
• Human Resources - Recruit, hire, train, manage, schedule, and develop our team of part-time instructors and assistants. Source, interview and hire candidates to maintain proper team levels based on current and anticipated future business volume. Thorough onboarding of new hires and proactive training touchpoints to ensure efficient operating procedures and customer service standards are consistently met during every event. Build morale and ensure an awesome work environment. Curate a culture based on accountability, teamwork, collaboration and empathy. Act as an emergency substitute if an employee cannot attend their shift.
• Admin/Sales - Assist in responding to sales inquiries from clients and bookings to find the "right fit" for our clients and meet sales goals.
• Finance - Track and meet monthly sales goals. Monitor work flow, labor efficiency, employee hours, scheduling, food and event supply costs, kitchen and classroom waste to promote the financial health of the company.
• Facility - Ensure a well-stocked, event-ready, organized and clean kitchen. Manage shopping/ordering to ensure the best price and reduced waste. Ensure proper food safety and food handling practices are in place.

Qualifications:

• Great leader capable of recruiting and training staff as well as managing and maintaining a motivated team
• Comfortable with a range of cooking techniques. Formal culinary education or equivalent experience a plus.
• Experience working with people of all ages
• Experience working in an events business
• 1-3 years experience in a management position
• Strong customer service skills. A business or management degree is a plus.
• Must enjoy the atmosphere of a small business
• Open availability is required, including limited nights and weekends.

Compensation: $60,000.00 - $65,000.00 per year
About Us
Taste Buds Kitchen has taken the country by storm with a refreshingly simple concept. We provide culinary entertainment to kids, families and adults in a fun, beautiful and state-of-the art Kitchen Studio. Kids ages 2 to teen love our hands-on cooking classes, camps, birthday parties and field trips. Adults love our byob date night cooking classes, birthday parties, bachelorettes, showers and corporate events. Our innovative programs are as entertaining as they are educational. We always strive to engage and delight our guests.
Job Opportunities
We have incredible career opportunities in each of our growing Kitchen Studios nationwide, as well as our corporate office. Get involved in an exciting and growing company. We are always looking for dynamic talent to join our fun-loving and hard-working team! Perfect for culinary professionals, passionate foodies, teachers, managers, administrators, marketers and college and high school students alike.