General Manager - New Michelin Star Trained Chef Owned Concept

General Manager

Very Delicious Group | Sherman Oaks, CA | Full-Time

Reports to: Chef-Owner

The role

New modern Mediterranean/Middle-Eastern fine dining concept opening in Sherman Oaks — the second act of a family restaurant that has been in this room for 40 years.

Led by a Michelin Trained Chef-Owner. We are transforming a restaurant that has been a long-standing  landmark and building the best restaurant in the Valley. Not a good one. Not a well-reviewed one. The best one. That is the actual goal, stated plainly.

We are looking for a General Manager to own everything outside the kitchen: the systems, the team, the service standard, and the FOH P&L. You will build the operation before we open and lead it after.

The chef/owner is in the building every day. This is not a role where you operate at a distance from ownership. It is a role where you sit next to it, and where the person next to you is working the same hours you are.

Who you are

A player-coach. You run the pass and you clear the four-top. You expo, you run food, you polish glassware at 4pm because it needs doing and you're the one standing there. Nobody on your floor has ever heard you say that something isn't your job, because it isn't true. We are not looking for a manager who wants to lead from a podium.

Someone chasing excellence, not completion. You are not looking for a restaurant to run competently. You want to build something that people drive across the city for, and you take it personally when something goes wrong. The difference between very good and excellent is a hundred small things nobody thanks you for, and you do all hundred anyway.

All in. This is a build. The hours are long, the first year is the hardest, and the people who thrive in it are the ones who treat it like a sport rather than a shift — they want to be here, they're keeping score, and they'd rather be closing this room than doing almost anything else. If that reads as a warning to you, this isn't the right room. If it gets you excited, keep going.

A complete operator. You can run a service Saturday at 8pm and a labor analysis at 8am Monday. Neither is foreign to you. Neither is what you hand to someone else — there is no one else to hand it to.

A P&L owner. You know your weekly numbers cold without looking: labor, beverage cost, cover count, average check, comp dollars. Show me a 200-basis-point labor overage and you can tell me whether it's scheduling, overtime, mix, or a station that shouldn't be staffed at all.

Someone who has changed a room, not just opened one. You have walked into a restaurant with existing staff and existing habits and raised the standard without gutting the roster. You can tell me who you kept, who you lost, and how you decided.

Someone who builds from a blank page. Pre-shifts, steps of service, training programs, checklists, dashboards — you have built these where none existed, and you can show me what you built.

Direct, warm, and unsentimental. You give hard feedback the same day it's earned. You don't manage by email.

What you'll own

The FOH P&L. Labor, controllables, invoicing, payroll, financial reporting. You will run a weekly operating report and bring decisions, not just numbers.

The floor and the service standard. Pre-shift, floor presence, table touches, recovery. This is a fine dining concept in a market that does not have many. What that means in practice — pacing, polish, the level of detail — you will define and then teach.

The full FOH team. Hiring, training, scheduling, coaching, performance management.

The systems. Toast POS, ATS, LMS, scheduling, payroll, and reservations. Some of this is architected; most of it needs to be built, configured, and made real. You will also write the SOPs, steps of service documentation, sidework checklists, and the employee handbook, and keep the LMS current as menus and standards change.

Compliance and HR. Licenses, permits, California labor law, employee relations, the paperwork nobody wants. It's yours.

Private events and banquets. Inquiry through execution, including the revenue target.

Non-food vendors. Negotiate the contracts, enforce the standards, replace the ones who don't hold up.

First 90 days

Days 1–30 — Diagnose and stabilize. Assess the room, the team, the numbers, and the systems in writing. Tell me what's working, what's broken, and what you'd change.

Days 31–60 — Build. Systems configured and live. Steps of service written. Training program built and running. Hiring plan executed for the roles we're missing. Handbook and SOPs done.

Days 61–90 — Open. Soft opens and preview dinners run to your plan. Then a full month of your service standard on the floor and a full month of P&L delivery. And one strategic recommendation that goes past the day-to-day — something you'd do if this were your restaurant.

Hard requirements

• 5+ years in FOH management, including at least 2 in fine dining or a genuinely upscale room.
• Deep command of fine dining steps of service — you can teach it, not just describe it.
• Demonstrable P&L ownership. Walk me through a real operating report you built and the decisions you
• made from it.
• Hands-on Toast POS configuration.
• Experience building a training program and running an LMS.
• Working knowledge of California labor law, HR, and compliance.
• Private events and banquet experience, including selling them.
• Either prior opening experience or a credible operating playbook for the first six months of a restaurant.
• LA market fluency strongly preferred. You should know what a Valley regular looks like without it being explained.

References will be asked specifically about: work ethic, ownership, P&L rigor, floor presence, and how you handle inheriting a team you didn't hire.

Compensation

The better you run this restaurant, the more you make. That isn't just a slogan— bonuses are the most attractive part of this compensation package. The bonus structure carries the weight, and every lever in it is tied to something the business needs. The targets are set to be hit.

Base salary: $85,000 – $100,000, depending on experience.

Total compensation, inclusive of base:

• Minimum — $141,000. In our mind this is the floor, not a stretch.
  Not clearing it means you aren't performing and probably aren't here for year two.
• On target — $200,000. Executing the plan as designed.
• Full — $225,000. Peak performance — hitting 100% of your targets.

To apply

Send your resume and a short note about one of two things: a restaurant you opened, or a service standard you raised at a restaurant that was already running. Tell me what specifically changed and how you know.