itsu is the healthy eating, Asian inspired food brand with over 70 stores in the UK where our ambitious, hard-working teams help serve our wonderful customers each day.  Renowned for its delicious food made fresh in every shop, every day, itsu has huge global ambitions with a commitment to continue to open many more stores. With its best-is-class food, latest technology, innovation, and talented workforce, itsu is the future of fast food.

We are the Heart with Smart Group (HwS) and we are one of the leading franchisee partners operating 168 Restaurants and we have launched a new franchise partnership with itsu, We were excited to take itsu to Scotland for the first time in Edinburgh and also have a new opening in Aberdeen coming soon so it is safe to say we are expanding fast.

We now have a General Managers position in one of our flagship shops in Reading Gate! We are looking for the right candidate to start in May 2022 to inspire and lead our team. Why join us? We are a diverse and brilliant team of over 4000 operating world-class brands. We are one of the largest employers in the hospitality industry and we offer award-winning development opportunities and exciting long term careers all within a supportive and fun culture.

scope of the role

People: Team work, Development & Employment Relations

• Building a capable, confident management team and develop them to manage a great shop
• Ensuring the whole team is working in a friendly and lively atmosphere
• Building a robust shop family tree through proactive succession planning, development and recruitment, ensuring consistency for key roles
• Ensuring every member of the shop team have individual development plans; ensuring these plans are documented and followed through (either personally or via the Kitchen/Service  Manager)
• Having a communications plan in place for the shop including well-run and planned management meetings, 121s, feedback appraisals, team briefs and shop team meetings
• Completing  regular performance reviews with the management team on their key responsibilities
• Being the first point of contact for any ER issue, dealing with them according to the company’s policies
• Ensuring that all the ER issue are promptly reported to the OPS Manager and to the HR department

Quality: Food, Service, H&S & Standards

• Ensuring the management team is continually focused on fulfilling the itsu food requirements as identified in their job description
• Motivating the management team to be passionate and knowledgeable about the quality and freshness of our food
• Holding regular Front of House and kitchen reviews to establish current performance and facilitate improvements as and when necessary
• Ensuring the management team is continually focused on fulfilling the itsu service requirements as identified in their job description
• Constantly observing the shop from a customer perspective, challenging the management team to do the same
• Working with the team to achieve perfect mystery shopper scores every week
• Ensuring the management team is continually focused on all requirements as identified in their job description
• Ownership of the shop’s maintenance programme; ensuring all calls are logged, tracked and reviewed and proactively follow-up outstanding or unsatisfactory issues personally with the maintenance team
• Ensuring that all Health & Safety and Food Safety practices adhere to the current legislation and itsu standards

Money: Planning, Procedures, Sales

• Planning holidays and effectively manage the rota to maximise business potential
• Continually monitoring and reviewing shop performance and facilitate improvements
• Forwarding plan for peak trading periods, events and seasonal changes
• Benchmarking against similar, high-performing shops in order to build a network with other GMs and share best practice
• Keeping abreast of competitors’ initiatives and trading performance, developing plans to counter their impact
• Ensuring the management team is continually focused on fulfilling the Shop Profitability requirements as identified in their job description
• Having a strategic sales growth plan in place (utilising marketing initiatives where appropriate) to drive business
• Fully understanding of your annual sales profile; plan and forecast to maximise sales opportunities
• Forecasting labour management intelligently to drive sales

the ideal candidate

Our itsu General Managers are accountable for the performance of their shop, and responsible for building and leading a proud and professional team. The General Managers support their team to deliver a wonderful customer experience, creating a relaxed, comfortable environment for our dine-in customers and providing a fast and efficient service for those wanting to take out. They balance daily operational demands with strategic planning, with their performance measured against the KPIs.

As a General Manager, you will constantly challenge the management team you directly look after. Your goal is to motivate and coach them to fulfil their potential, and know when to step back and allow the team to flourish.

You put people at the heart of everything you do by displaying the 4 itsu qualities:

• I take pride [in what I do]
• I genuinely care [for people
• I want to grow [myself & others]
• I build trust [around me]

Things we like 

Listeners, empathisers, commercial thinkers, challenging minds, critical friends, team players, creatives, those who have people at the forefront of their mind, those who think shop first, those who are themselves. 

perks and benefits

Competitive salary, 28 days holiday, bonus scheme, pension + enhanced company contributions, income protection, life insurance, sick pay, free meal on every shift, employee discount