General Manager

Celestino's is the flagship of Lume Hospitality Group. We're a family-owned operation building toward 15 restaurants across Northern New Jersey.

We're hiring a GM who will run the flagship and helps us build what comes next.

This is a real operator's role. You lead from the floor during service and run the business when it slows. We're not looking for a strong shift manager with a title...we're looking for someone who has already run a high-volume restaurant well and wants a bigger table to play at with a greater upside potential.

What You'll Own

The store

• Full P&L ownership: labor, food cost, prime cost, budget adherence, complaint rate
• All four channels — dine-in, off-premise (takeout and delivery), catering, and our event room
• Scheduling to volume in a way that protects margin without burning the team out
• Inventory, ordering, vendor relationships and negotiation
• Presence on the floor during peak service, setting the tone for pace, hospitality, and standards

The team

• Hiring, developing, and when necessary exiting your staff — you build the team you lead
• Direct leadership of the AGM/FOH manager and the kitchen manager
• Building the bench: we can't open future locations without managers who came up here

The systems

• Developing training programs, position checklists, and certification standards
• Labor efficiency work across departments
• Assist in the continued development of our internal playbook by building documented recipes and SOPs

Who We're Looking For

• Multiple years as a GM in a high-volume restaurant, pizzeria, or fast-casual environment - you've successfully carried a P&L, not just executed someone else's plan
• Multi-unit, multi-department, or above-store experience is a strong plus. If you don't have it yet, you should want it and be able to show us why you're ready
• You've built systems, not just followed them: training programs, SOPs, scheduling models, something that outlasted your shift
• You've developed managers who've got promoted
• Fluent in restaurant economics: labor %, food cost %, prime cost, SPLH, scheduling to forecast
• A leader people respect because of how you show up, not because of the title
• Calm under pressure, decisive when it counts, humble enough to keep learning
• The business runs nights and weekends, and you run the business
• Proficient with technology - Our tech stack includes Toast, 7shifts, Google Sheets, Shipday, Ovation, Marqii, and more.

What We Offer

• Salary: 80-100k based on experience + quarterly performance bonus
• Real autonomy to run your store, with a founder who is in the business and accessible, not a corporate layer between you and decisions
• A defined path above store level. As we open locations, our best operator becomes the person overseeing them. That's the intent of this hire, not a maybe
• Paid holidays and additional benefits as outlined in our team handbook
• A culture built on hospitality, standards, and genuine care for the people doing the work. No yelling. No chaos. No old-school nonsense

A Word on Culture

We're family-owned and culture is non-negotiable. We're building the restaurant group we'd want to work for - where people are proud of the work, where standards are high because we respect each other, and where doing things right matters more than doing it loud.

If you've run a restaurant well and you're looking for the place where that work compounds, we should talk.