General Manager

General Manager – The Cocktail Hour (New Orleans, LA)

The Opportunity

The Cocktail Hour is opening in the heart of the French Quarter — a new multi-level cocktail and entertainment destination from the team behind Jewel of the South, alongside hospitality veteran Deke Dunne, most recently of Allegory in Washington, DC. Housed in the storied 1104 Decatur Street (past home to Storyville, Margaritaville, and B.B. King's Blues Club), this is a ground-floor opportunity to help launch one of New Orleans' most ambitious new hospitality concepts.

We're looking for a General Manager to lead daily operations for a venue unlike anything else in the city: an evolving, immersive cocktail experience built around five seasonal "chapters" — Halloween, Holidays, Carnival, Festival Season, and Summer — each bringing new design, drinks, music, and programming rooted in New Orleans' cultural rhythms. Layered on top is a rotating residency program hosting 30 of the world's best bars and bartenders through Summer 2027, taking over the upstairs bar for guest shifts Friday through Sunday nights.

What You'll Do

• Own day-to-day operations across a multi-level venue open seven nights a week, ensuring consistent, high-caliber service through every seasonal transition
• Serve as the operational backbone for the residency program — coordinating logistics, schedules, and hospitality for visiting bars and bartenders from around the world
• Lead, train, and develop a large front- and back-of-house team, building a culture that can flex across five distinct seasonal identities each year
• Partner with ownership, the bar program, and design/production teams to execute each chapter's rollout on time and on brand
• Manage budgets, labor, inventory, and vendor relationships with a close eye on cost control and quality
• Ensure compliance with health, safety, and liquor licensing standards
• Act as a key point of hospitality for VIPs, media, and visiting industry guests during residency weekends

What We're Looking For

• 5+ years of management experience in high-volume bars, restaurants, or entertainment venues; multi-level or multi-concept experience a plus
• A genuine passion for craft cocktails and bar culture — comfort operating alongside a world-class bar program
• Proven ability to lead teams through change; this space transforms five times a year
• Strong financial acumen: P&L management, labor forecasting, inventory control
• Experience coordinating complex event logistics, ideally with touring or visiting talent/programs
• A deep appreciation for New Orleans hospitality and culture, and the ability to represent that on a global stage
• Flexibility to work nights and weekends, including holidays and peak festival periods

Why The Cocktail Hour

This is a chance to help build something genuinely new in one of America's great hospitality cities — a venue that reinvents itself all year long while staying true to New Orleans. You'll work alongside proven operators and get a front-row seat to some of the best bar talent in the world.