General Manager/Bar Manager

Merchant, located at 121 S. Pinckney St. in Madison, WI, is seeking a GM / Bar Manager to join our team.

Merchant opened its doors in late 2010 as a café, a shop, and a late night craft cocktail bar specializing in no-nonsense, modestly priced, seasonal fare that reflects the ingredients and burgeoning culture of Madison, Wisconsin. Here we celebrate our neighborhood, the First Settlement District, steeped in history, quality, authenticity, style, and entertainment. The idea has flourished as Merchant has become a Madison institution and a stage for showcasing some of the best bartending and culinary talent in the city with a distinctive menu steeped in the classic American repertoire. Now, in 2022, we are rebuilding and reimagining Merchant for the new decade, taking with us our passion for cooking, service, and community and overlaying a state-of-the-art renovation featuring aviation-style windows, new finishes and wraparound seating. This will be an opportunity to rebuild not only with new decor and menu, but a culture that celebrates our hospitality group's mission to create spaces for treating each other and ourselves well. You will be working with a chef team led by some of the Madison's top talent, including RNO Beverage Director, Caitlyn Nicholson and RNO Culinary Director Jon Nodler, a James Beard Foundation nominated semi-finalist and Executive chef of Food & Wine Magazine’s “#1 Best New Restaurant” in 2019.

The General Manager will, under the direction of Rule No. One Hospitality, our Madison-based hospitality group, create and maintain a culture championing knowledge, excellence, fun, service and approachability (internal and external).

Orientation to our mission and our customer at all times is key.

This position is highly operational, focused largely on organizational and HR demands. You will be responsible for the day-to-day site specific operations of Merchant with Rule No. One Hospitality, our Madison-based hospitality group, and play a supporting role in marketing, programming and strategic operations. Creatively and operationally, the position partners with the RNO Beverage Director to effectively deliver bar programming. Direct reports include the FOH Manager, FOH and bar leads, and all hourly staff. The ability to work independently and creatively within this corporate structure is paramount to the success of this role.

Benefits:

• Competitive wages
• A flexible and predictable schedule that is posted two weeks in advance
• Free and healthy GF Vegetarian or Regular staff meals
• 50% dining discount for your friends and family
• Access to Merchant's online classroom with training materials, recipes, and checklists. After full orientation, we offer weekly paid training opportunities to taste wine, spirits and food with industry experts

• Our mission is centered around treating each other and ourselves well through our love of food, drink, and community.
• Sustainability must be possible and attainable in our industry!
• All employees are offered health, dental and vision insurance
• Paid time off
• 401k contribution coming soon
• Free telehealth mental health therapy sessions with licensed, trained, experienced, and accredited psychologists, marriage and family therapists, clinical social workers, or licensed professional counselors. (https://www.betterhelp.com/rno/)
• The chance to work in a brand new clean facility with state of the art new equipment
• The chance to contribute to one of the most dynamic restaurant groups in the region

Our ideal GM / Bar Manager has:

• 3-5 years of management experience with at least 2 years experience in General Management in a fine dining, corporate, and craft cocktail setting.
• Craft bartending experience is a must.
• A passion for casual fine food and beverage, thrives in a fast-paced, urban, high volume setting
• Enjoys creating profound guest and staff experiences
• Superior administrative and organizational skills POS experience - OpenTable and Toast preferred
• High level of communication skills across a multi-tiered organization.
• Corporate experience is highly preferred with professional use of email communications as well as proficiency in Google Enterprise (Google Suites, Google Classroom, Google Docs etc.)
• Proven history as a leader, a trainer and a coach
• A love of culture, music, exceptional food, modern drink, and have exquisite style
• A connection to Madison with experience living and working in a Downtown setting and preferably larger metropolitan cities.
• People orientation. Working with people, guests, and understanding the human element is core to what we do.
• Problem-solving. Track record with working with staff and guests to quickly problem solve and meet people where they are at with the resources available
• Managing people, building to people’s strengths and meeting them where they’re at. This is especially important given our diverse staff
• Committed to organization and cleanliness
• A keen eye for creating and maintaining ambiance in the restaurant.
• Understand and celebrate the spirit of our mission, which is very much wrapped in terms of who we are and why we do what we do. As an organization we celebrate diversity, inclusion, individualism, craft, culture, community, neighborhood, organizational growth, quality, beauty and pleasure.
• Bachelor’s Degree, Culinary Degree preferred​

While so much of what we do is centered around the craft of cooking, drinking and serving, the humanity of how we do this is paramount. We are committed to a culture that champions humility, collaboration, respect, inclusivity, and equity in pay across departments.

Our Values:

• Inclusivity. We will establish a culturally diverse and inclusive environment, one that specifically supports minorities, all genders, and those historically underrepresented in our industry.
• Humility. We are modest about capabilities, admit mistakes, and create the space for others to contribute.
• Effective Collaboration. We are a team centered around positivity, that stands for one message which involves empowering others, empathizing with each other, and uplifting others as a collective.
• Respect and Justice / Health and Well-Being. All team members need to be treated respectfully and fairly. This pertains to equity in pay, and specific attention to physical/mental health, well-being and safety.
• Positivity and Love of Food and Community. Cooking and serving others is a powerful act of caring and love for one another. Let us work together to bring our community together through the power of food and drink

Pay Rate:

$75-85k annual salary, depending on leadership experience

Merchant is an equal opportunity employer, with a mission to support women, Black, LGBTQ applicants. As an organization, we support a minimum wage of $15/hour.

RNO is a mission-driven lifestyle company dedicated to creating spaces for celebrating and treating each other and ourselves well. We seek to provide warm, fun and an endlessly interesting mix of inspired programming that challenges, invigorates and delights our guests by celebrating our craft, who we are, what we do and what we believe. As a community-driven hospitality management organization, we are active in social causes supporting women, Black, LGBTQ , and Indigenous communities everywhere. Cook It Forward is a non-profit advocacy arm of Rule No One Hospitality, Inc. with a mission to address ongoing inequities in our food systems. We are all working collectively on social entrepreneurship, social equity, and social justice-- one meal at a time.

Job Types: Full-time, Contract

Pay: $75,000.00 - $85,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• Employee discount
• Health insurance
• Paid time off
• Paid training

Schedule:

• 10 hour shift
• 8 hour shift
• Day shift
• Holidays
• Monday to Friday
• Night shift
• Weekend availability

Work Location: One location