Let’s work together

Job Description

Senior Managing Partner with Profit-Share Opportunity

So you eat, breathe, live coffee. You could run your own shop with your eyes closed. You have a ridiculous passion for coffee, as it’s your life’s singular dream. The only issue is you don’t know how to take the first step on the business side, financially. But if someone would only trust you, you’d grow this into something truly special. This is for you.

Get in on the ground floor of an incredible business. We are looking for a Jack/Jill of all trades with a truly insatiable desire to be a partner in a premiere Williamsburg coffee experience. Earning potential includes a 10% ongoing profit share while you’re working with opportunities to make that permanent even if you leave depending on how long you were employed. Profit share means no downside or risk for you, either. We believe in sharing the fruit of what you help build. If you put X amount of your life into this, you deserve at least X out of it — forever.

In exchange for that, we are looking for someone who truly “gets it.” Extensive management experience in a retail coffee environment is a must. You should be highly trained in all barista skills with substantiated opinions on technique, desired flavor for any drink (coffee-based or not), aesthetic, tools/gear, bookkeeping, inventory management, etc. Ownership also has strong ideas/preferences of what this “should” be. Likewise, your input is expected. This is far beyond the classroom where we ask politely for people to raise hands and participate. Intense participation should go without saying. We will have a purposefully limited menu, but with some unique surprises. You should have your own ideas/concepts for specialty drinks, event programming, social media presence, and more. We are bound to disagree. We will both have to live with the other person’s “way” from time to time. That is a core part of this collaboration that you should look forward to (we do).

You should possess great work ethic that includes a clean-as-you-go approach and, across all aspects of the business, extremely high expectations of yourself and those who work for you. That bar-setting should come out of a place of pride in the work you do and what you provide for the community and for your employees alike. Your demeanor should be approachable, but confident.

If this sounds strict, this position is likely not for you. We take pride in everything we do and work hard to continue to have that satisfying end-of-the-day feeling that we are doing good things for the industry. Above all, we are human and want to contribute positively to the human experience, and that inevitably leads to a never-ending quest for improvement. You should care for the cleanliness of the sink in the bathroom and the glass on third window from the front door as much as you do for the pour-over in the carafe served to the last customer of the night or the first customer in the morning. The better we are in any aspect, the better we do for the world. If we are cleaner or more attentive, people appreciate that. If we are more efficient and move faster without sacrificing quality, we produce more for our employees and cut down on customer wait times, providing a great experience for more people in less time. And if we do all of this right, we will earn enough to provide what we really want for every employee: a true career.

As a startup, we will not be able to provide this life-long career-level of pay or benefits immediately. But it is our goal to get to that point for everyone that works at the lab. From a business standpoint, the margins are there if ownership isn’t greedy. And we’re not. A 20% share of profits goes directly to employees in addition to industry-standard ranges of hourly wages. We’re getting into this to improve the world, not to be one more alleyway to pass through on the way to where you really want to be. The right candidate will share this goal and will treat the responsibility of getting there appropriately.

We are transparent about everything, including pay. You should be open and transparent also. Brutal honesty is different than being unbending in your opinion. But honesty in both directions will be a requirement for this endeavor. The right candidate for this position would agree we simply waste too much time waiting (especially for a business environment) waiting for people to magically improve without simply explaining what needs improvement. Your confidence should make it easy for you to provide constructive feedback. And yes, as much of a cliché as it might be, the copy of Unreasonable Hospitality on your bookshelf ideally has worn corners and plenty of annotations throughout.

If you truly want to create a thriving community space, a true career opportunity for those you work with, and excellent coffee, reach out through our application page. Let’s work together.