General Manager

Location: Evanston, IL — Alleyway Grill
Employment Type: Full-Time / Salaried
Salary: $90,000–$120,000/year
Reports To: Owners Beverly Kim and Johnny Clark

Starting compensation will be determined based on experience, leadership background, scope of previous operations, and other job-related factors.

Alleyway Grill is our contemporary Midwestern restaurant, inspired by our own Midwestern upbringings and centered around seasonal ingredients, responsibly raised meats, handmade pastas, and live-fire cooking. Set in Evanston’s historic Varsity Theater, we’re creating an all-day neighborhood gathering place that feels warm, approachable, and personal to the way we love to cook and eat.

We’re looking for an experienced General Manager to help us open Alleyway Grill and lead the restaurant day to day.

Working closely with us as owners and with our Chef de Cuisine, the GM will translate our vision for hospitality into clear, repeatable systems that allow the restaurant to operate consistently at a high level.

This is both a people and systems leadership role. The GM will own the guest experience, FOH team, service standards, restaurant technology, scheduling, labor management, beverage operations, training, and daily financial performance. The GM will also be accountable for meeting assigned labor and COGS goals and taking corrective action when performance falls outside target.

We’re looking for someone who can build structure — not simply inherit it. That means creating SOPs, checklists, training materials and steps of service; setting up and maintaining POS and reservation systems; establishing accountability; and continually educating the team on food, wine, spirits, cocktails, and hospitality.

Alleyway Grill will be a roughly 100-seat restaurant serving brunch and dinner seven days a week. Our GM should be equally comfortable leading a busy Saturday night, coaching a manager, reviewing labor, troubleshooting the POS, teaching the team about a new menu item, or sitting down to improve an operating system that isn't working.

• Lead the restaurant day to day across brunch and dinner
• Own the guest experience and uphold our standards for service and hospitality
• Lead the floor during high-volume services with a calm, organized presence
• Hire, train, schedule, mentor, and develop the FOH team
• Create, document, implement, and continually improve restaurant SOPs
• Build and maintain opening, closing, side-work, sanitation, manager, and service checklists
• Develop and enforce clear steps of service and service standards
• Establish systems for accountability and consistently follow through when standards aren't being met
• Lead pre-shifts, ongoing training, performance conversations, and staff development
• Maintain current staff training and knowledge around food, ingredients, allergens, wine, spirits, cocktails, and nonalcoholic beverages
• Understand and administer the restaurant's POS system, including menus, buttons, modifiers, permissions, reporting, troubleshooting, and updates
• Understand and administer the reservation system, including floor plans, pacing, turn times, guest notes, VIPs, reservation inventory, and service strategy
• Build strong systems for reservations, opening and closing, communication, cash handling, comps, voids, and service recovery
• Own assigned labor targets — build schedules to forecasted sales, monitor labor in real time, and make thoughtful adjustments while protecting the guest experience
• Own assigned COGS targets, including beverage cost, purchasing, inventory controls, waste, comps, and other controllable costs within the GM's area of responsibility
• Review weekly financial performance against budget and work with ownership and culinary leadership to identify and correct variances
• Understand how operational decisions affect restaurant profitability and make decisions accordingly
• Monitor sales, labor, COGS, operating expenses, and other key restaurant performance metrics
• Oversee beverage inventory, purchasing, organization, and cost controls in partnership with beverage leadership
• Work closely with the Chef de Cuisine and kitchen leadership to achieve overall restaurant cost and labor goals
• Manage guest feedback and service recovery thoughtfully and directly
• Ensure compliance with alcohol-service, food-safety, labor, and health-code requirements
• Communicate restaurant performance, staffing needs, challenges, and opportunities clearly to ownership
• Build a restaurant culture rooted in professionalism, accountability, respect, hospitality, and genuine care for the team
• Take ownership of the restaurant when the owners are not onsite

Required

• 7+ years of hospitality experience
• At least 2–3 years in a meaningful restaurant leadership role such as Assistant General Manager, General Manager, Service Director, or equivalent
• Experience in a chef-driven, high-volume restaurant
• Strong working knowledge of restaurant POS, reservation, scheduling, and operating systems
• Experience creating and implementing SOPs, checklists, training programs, and steps of service
• Demonstrated ability to establish standards, communicate expectations, and hold a team accountable
• Demonstrated experience managing against labor and COGS targets and explaining variances when targets aren't met
• Strong understanding of restaurant financials, including sales, labor, COGS, budgets, and operating expenses
• Proven ability to hire, train, schedule, develop, and retain a FOH team
• Strong food, wine, spirits, and beverage knowledge with the ability to educate a team
• Strong command of service and hospitality standards
• Experience handling guest recovery with confidence and good judgment
• Strong organizational, communication, and leadership skills
• Ability to remain calm, decisive, and solutions-oriented during service
• Required food-safety and alcohol-service certifications, or ability to obtain them shortly after hire
• Availability to work nights, weekends, and holidays as the restaurant requires

• Experience opening a restaurant
• Experience building operating systems from the ground up
• Experience in chef-driven, high-volume, or fine-dining restaurants
• Strong wine and beverage background
• Experience developing managers and building leadership teams
• Experience managing restaurant budgets and working directly with ownership
• Advanced familiarity with Toast and modern reservation and restaurant technology
• Experience creating a culture of accountability without creating a punitive management environment

• $90,000–$120,000 annual salary, based on experience
• Paid time off
• Dining benefits across our restaurants
• Professional development and certification support
• The opportunity to work directly with James Beard Award–winning chefs and restaurateurs Beverly Kim and Johnny Clark
• Significant responsibility in building and opening a new restaurant
• The opportunity to help establish the systems, culture, and service identity of Alleyway Grill from the beginning
• Opportunity for long-term growth within our hospitality group

This is an active restaurant leadership position requiring prolonged standing and walking, frequent movement throughout the dining room, bar, kitchen, and office, and the ability to safely lift and carry up to 50 lbs. The position involves working in a fast-paced restaurant environment for extended shifts, including nights, weekends, and holidays.

Please submit your resume along with a brief introduction telling us about the restaurants and teams you’ve helped lead and what you’re looking for in your next role.

Alleyway Grill is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive workplace. We comply with all applicable federal, state, and local employment laws.