Find your place in the field of good food

Our goal is to connect good people with good food. We advertise sustainable food jobs and training opportunities to help jobseekers and employers find each other.

Roots to Work is a project of Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming.

Job description

We're looking for someone to help us open Dee, then run it.

Dee is a new independent neighbourhood cafe in Barnes. We're building a place that feels like a second home: warm, unhurried, rooted in good food and the community around it.

Nature plays a quiet role here, from the ingredients on the plate to the plants and light that shape the space. We source most of our food from UK farms, work closely with sustainable suppliers, and take seriously the connection between what people eat and how the land is treated.

We're not a corporate operation. We're two people, Olessia and Antonio, running something we believe in. Now we're looking for the person who will help us open the doors, and then run Dee day-to-day alongside us.

Cafe Manager / General Manager (Full-time)

This role starts before we open. The foundations are in place: legal and compliance requirements are covered, and our chef leads the menu, suppliers and stock. What we still need to build is front of house: how the bar and floor run, our service standards, and a shared workflow between front and back of house, created together with our chef. You'll help us build it, open with us, then run it.

You'll be at the heart of how Dee runs. This is a hands-on role: you'll be behind the bar pulling shots as often as you're building the rota, and on the floor with guests as much as you're checking stock. You'll work closely with our chef on ingredients, suppliers and where the menu goes next, and you'll lead a small team that shares what we care about.

Everything at Dee is new, and we run on modern tech: a building management system, software to manage workflows and the team, EPOS, and we're fully cashless. You'll need to be comfortable with technology and happy to get the most out of it.

We want someone who takes initiative. If you see something that could work better, we want to hear it, and we want you to run with it. The role will grow as Dee grows, and you'll have real room to shape it.

What the role covers

Getting front of house ready for opening

• Creating our front of house routines, checklists and service standards, from opening and closing to how we look after guests
• Building a shared workflow between front and back of house with our chef, so orders, ingredients and communication flow smoothly
• Getting the floor and team ready for opening day, and refining what needs changing in the first weeks

Running the cafe

• Opening and closing, and keeping the floor running smoothly through the day
• Building and managing the staff rota
• Ordering and managing front of house stock: drinks, and the pastries and cakes we buy in
• Making sure health and safety, food safety and allergen procedures are followed day to day

Behind the bar and on the floor

• Working as a barista and setting the standard across our full drinks menu: coffee, specialty coffees, specialty hot and iced drinks, juices and smoothies
• Running juices and smoothies as part of our overall ingredients management, in close step with the kitchen to make the most of every ingredient and cut waste
• Looking after guests and making Dee feel like a place people want to come back to

Food, ingredients and suppliers

• Working side by side with our chef on seasonal ingredients and where the menu goes next, bringing in what you hear from guests and what's selling
• Working with the chef on drinks and front of house suppliers, within our 60%+ UK sourcing commitment and budget

The team

• Helping recruit, settle in and train new people, not just on how to do the job, but on what Dee stands for
• Being the first person the team comes to, and building a team that works well together

Waste and costs

• Using our reporting systems to spot over-ordering, spoilage or labour creep, and working with the chef to adjust ordering, portioning and rotas

What we're looking for

• Experience running a cafe (or similar) that serves both food and drinks
• Comfortable shaping how front of house works in a new cafe. Opening experience is a real plus
• A skilled barista who's happy on the bar every day, not managing from a distance, and confident with specialty drinks, juices and smoothies
• Comfortable with technology: EPOS, cashless payments, management software and smart building systems, and quick to learn new ones
• Initiative: you spot what needs doing, get on with it, and bring ideas without waiting to be asked
• Excellent with people, guests and team alike: warm, calm under pressure, and someone others want to work for
• Enjoys working closely with a chef on ingredients, seasonality and suppliers
• A real passion for sustainability, and a wish to help put our vision into practice every day
• A solid grasp of food safety, allergens, stock control and rotas

Sustainability sits at the heart of how Dee works, but quietly, never as a slogan. We're looking for someone who already lives some of this, and wants to help us do it better.

What Dee stands for

• Food that nourishes people and is honest about the planet
• A menu that evolves gently towards more plant-forward options over time and with the seasons
• A space that belongs to the neighbourhood, Barnes and beyond
• Service that feels human, never corporate

The details

• Location: Barnes, SW13, South West London
• Hours: Full-time, with shifts between 6:00am and 6:00pm
• Reporting to: Olessia, co-founder
• Salary: From £37,000 a year, depending on experience
• Start: As soon as possible, to help us through set-up and opening

Application information

If Dee sounds like your kind of place, we'd love to hear from you: hello@dee.cafe

Send your CV and a short introduction telling us about a cafe you have run and what sustainability means to you.

We're a small team opening something new, and every application will be read by one of us personally. We'll be in touch.

Please mention Roots to Work when applying for these jobs