District Manager -- Restaurant Operations

Job Description

Job Description

About Dos Coyotes

Dos Coyotes Border Café is a Northern California–born restaurant concept inspired by the bold flavors and spirit of the American Southwest and Santa Fe. For more than 35 years, we’ve been serving fresh, made-from-scratch food in a casual, welcoming environment where great hospitality and strong community connections come first.

To this day, our core principles haven’t changed: serve delicious food, create an engaging atmosphere, deliver exceptional value, and take great care of our guests.

Our menu features flame-broiled chicken, citrus-marinated seafood, premium Certified Angus beef, and house-made salsas prepared fresh daily. Everything we do is rooted in quality ingredients, great service, and creating restaurants where both guests and team members feel at home.

We are looking for an experienced, hospitality-minded District Manager to lead the day-to-day operations and performance of our seven corporate owned restaurants.

For a candidate with significant multi-unit leadership experience, the title and compensation may be adjusted accordingly.

The Opportunity

This is a hands-on, field-based leadership role for someone who genuinely enjoys the restaurant business.

You will work directly with our General Managers and company leadership to build strong teams, improve restaurant performance, create consistency across locations, and ensure every Dos Coyotes delivers the food, service, hospitality, and experience our guests expect. We are not looking for someone who simply visits restaurants and points out what is wrong. We are looking for a leader who develops people, asks good questions, identifies the root cause of problems, creates clear expectations, and follows through until things improve. The right person can move comfortably between the big picture and the details — reviewing a P&L with a General Manager one moment and walking a restaurant during the lunch rush the next.

Essential Responsibilities

• Lead the day-to-day operations and performance of all seven Dos Coyotes restaurants
• Coach, mentor, support, and hold General Managers accountable for the performance of their restaurants
• Maintain a strong presence in the field through frequent restaurant visits and direct engagement with management teams
• Maintain an unwavering focus on the guest experience and reinforce a culture of genuine hospitality
• Build strong, capable General Managers who understand their business and can operate their restaurants independently
• Establish clear priorities, expectations, and measurable goals for restaurant leadership
• Ensure consistent execution of food quality, hospitality, speed of service, cleanliness, food safety, and company standards
• Review restaurant performance and identify opportunities to improve sales, profitability, productivity, guest satisfaction, and operational execution
• Partner with General Managers to create and execute action plans when restaurants are underperforming
• Oversee key restaurant financial metrics, including sales, labor, food cost, controllable expenses, and overall profitability
• Help General Managers understand their P&Ls and take ownership of their financial results
• Ensure restaurants are appropriately staffed and scheduled based on business needs
• Recruit, select, onboard, train, and develop restaurant leadership talent
• Build a strong leadership pipeline through succession planning and internal development
• Identify high-potential employees and create opportunities for advancement within the company
• Support General Managers with employee relations, coaching, performance management, and difficult personnel situations
• Evaluate restaurant operations through regular visits, observations, audits, and conversations with managers and team members
• Maintain high standards for food safety, workplace safety, cleanliness, and regulatory compliance
• Ensure company systems, procedures, recipes, training programs, and operational standards are consistently followed
• Support the rollout and execution of menu changes, promotions, technology, training programs, and other company initiatives
• Partner closely with company leadership and departments including Finance, HR, Culinary, and Marketing
• Identify recurring operational issues and develop solutions that improve the organization as a whole
• Be willing to step in and support restaurant teams when circumstances require it

What We’re Looking For

• We are looking for a restaurant operator, leader, and head coach.
• You understand that strong financial performance usually begins with strong restaurant fundamentals: self-motivated managers, well-trained employees, excellent food, unreasonable hospitality, clean restaurants, smart scheduling, and consistent execution.
• You set high expectations but are approachable. You know how to listen before forming conclusions and understand that context matters when solving problems.
• You are comfortable having difficult conversations when necessary, but you do not lead through instilling fear.
• You understand when to coach, when to ask questions, when to make a decision, and when to jump in and help.
• You are organized, proactive, calm under pressure, and capable of managing multiple restaurants and priorities without losing sight of the details.
• Most importantly, you genuinely care about hospitality, people, and restaurants.

Qualifications

• 5-10+ years of progressive restaurant management experience
• Multi-unit restaurant leadership experience strongly preferred
• Previous experience as a District Manager, Area Manager, Regional Manager, high-performing General Manager, or similar restaurant leadership role
• Proven ability to coach and develop General Managers and restaurant leadership teams
• Strong understanding of restaurant P&Ls and key operating metrics, including labor, food cost, sales, and controllable expenses
• Strong fluency with restaurant technology, reporting systems, and operational data. Ability to type 30-45 words per minute at minimum. 
• Demonstrated ability to identify operational problems and implement solutions
• Experience recruiting, training, developing, and retaining restaurant leaders
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills
• Strong organizational skills and consistent follow-through
• Ability to set expectations and hold leaders accountable
• Comfortable making decisions and solving problems independently
• Ability to balance multiple restaurants, priorities, and personalities
• Strong sense of urgency while maintaining sound judgment and attention to detail
• Comfortable working with restaurant technology, reporting systems, and operational data
• Passion for hospitality, food, people, and the restaurant industry
• Valid driver's license and ability to travel regularly between restaurant locations

A college degree in Hospitality, Business, or a related field is welcome but not required . Restaurant leadership ability and demonstrated operating experience matter more to us.

Schedule & Travel

This is a full-time, field-based restaurant operations position.

The District Manager will spend significant time in our restaurants and is expected to regularly visit all seven Dos Coyotes locations throughout the Sacramento region.

Restaurant operations do not exist solely Monday through Friday from 9–5. This position requires flexibility and evenings, weekends, and holidays based on the needs of the business.

We expect our District Manager to understand what is happening in our restaurants during the periods that matter most, including peak service periods.

Business travel between restaurants will be reimbursed in accordance with company policy.

Compensation & Benefits

• Base salary: $85,000–$110,000, based on experience and qualifications. Negotiable based on experience level. 
• Medical insurance
• Dental insurance
• HSA Company Contribution
• Phone subsidy
• Paid vacation / paid time off
• Free meals while working
• Leadership development and advancement opportunities

The final title, compensation, and scope of the position may vary based on the experience and qualifications of the selected candidate.

If you are a strong restaurant operator who loves developing people, believes hospitality still matters, and wants an opportunity to make a meaningful impact across an established restaurant company, we would like to meet you.

Dos Coyotes Border Café provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment.