Cafes jobs in Durham

We’re looking for a Store Manager who is a confident leader with natural people-focussed management skills - someone passionate, curious, customer obsessed, and of course a chocolate lover!

Ideally you will have experience in food and beverage, hospitality, or a premium retailer. Are you ready to join Hotel Chocolat’s exciting and ongoing journey as the UK’s favourite premium chocolate brand?

As the Store Manager, you will hold overall accountability and responsibility for managing your store: driving profitable sales and meeting KPIs and completing all operational tasks including Health and Safety and HR processes and procedures. You will regularly collaborate with your District Manager, Support Functions and Store Managers, working together and supporting each other as one team, towards a shared goal and vision for Hotel Chocolat.

Resilient and adaptable to work under pressure, you will lead from the front to coach and develop your team to achieve your stores objectives as our business continues to evolve.

Commercially focussed, you’ll consistently drive KPIs and performance in store, motivating your team to achieve targets and deliver our premium shopping experience to every customer, every day. Sharing your expert knowledge as a brand ambassador, you will train, support and coach your team to be the best in class.

Working with pride, you are a resourceful, presentable and self-motivated, always making the right decisions for your store. And lastly, People are the reason you are in retail - you thrive off building and maintaining excellent relationships with your customers and stakeholders with your infectious communication style.

What you bring to Hotel Chocolat:

• A current role or background working in a hospitality or café environment or premium high street retailer delivering an excellent customer experience.
• Demonstrable experience of full P&L responsibility.
• Commercial Awareness to make sound decisions to benefit the store’s business.
• Strong communication skills with an ability to flex your communication style as needed.
• Teamwork: you can work autonomously and collaboratively with your team effortlessly.
• Effective decision-making and problem-solving skills.
• Reliable, with effective time keeping and organisational skills.
• Goal-oriented with a focus on driving your own performance, demonstrating a continuous improvement mindset.
• IT literate with a good understanding of Microsoft Excel, Word and Outlook.

In return for going the extra mile every day, we’ll offer you:

• A competitive salary.
• Incentives based on performance.
• 50% unlimited staff discount to treat yourself and your friends and family.
• 70% discount off a stay in our Hotel in St Lucia.
• A chance to develop yourself personally, working in an exciting, innovative and expanding company with real career progression.

About Us

We’re not just a chocolate company; we’re a family of chocolate lovers. From luxury gifts to our iconic Velvetiser™ and beyond, we’ve built a brand that’s all about crafting moments of indulgence. Our journey began as a humble mint company, but we soon found our passion for cacao and never looked back. Today, we’re proud to operate over 150 stores across the UK and continue to grow across categories, channels, and territories.

Patience, passion, and purpose drive everything we do – just like the perfect cacao pod, our success doesn’t happen overnight. It’s the result of hard work, innovation, and the shared dedication of our customers, colleagues, farmers, and suppliers.

To learn more about who we are and our People Pledge to equality, diversity, and inclusion, visit: hotelchocolat.com/uk/engaged-ethics/our-people.html