The Position Structure
Every seat in the business — the floor that serves the room, and the functions that fill it, sell it, fund it and protect it. One template, nine fields, twenty-seven positions. Positions only; names go on a roster.
The template every position uses
One structure, filled in the same order, for every seat from dishwasher to Director of Operations. A position that can't be written into these nine fields isn't a position yet — it's a pile of tasks someone is absorbing.
Level
Where it sits on the ladder. Sets the band and what a promotion into it means.
Reports to
One position. Never two, never "management."
Reports in
Which positions answer to this one. Blank is a valid answer.
Purpose
One sentence on why the seat exists. If it reads like any other seat, the seat isn't distinct.
Owns
The specific things this seat is accountable for. Verbs, not areas.
Decides alone
What this seat settles without asking. The field that stops everything routing upward.
Escalates
What goes up, and to whom. The other half of the same rule.
Measured by
The numbers this seat is judged on. Every seat has at least one.
Covered by
Which position runs this one when it's absent or vacant. No seat is allowed to have no answer.
Most job descriptions stop at "owns." That produces people responsible for something but not allowed to act on it — which is exactly how every decision ends up on one desk. A seat that owns a number and cannot decide anything will miss the number and be right to.
The shape
Seventeen defined seats in three clusters under a Director of Operations, plus Finance reporting separately to ownership. The clusters aren't management layers — they're the lines along which this org splits when it gets bigger.
Three things this shape decides, each a real choice:
- The bar sits under the FOH Manager, not beside them. Beverage is the biggest margin lever in the room, so one person is accountable for both what the front sells and what it costs. Bar reporting straight to the GM is how most rooms lose the pour cost number.
- Finance is independent. It reports to ownership with a working line to the Director of Operations. Its one non-negotiable power — the ability to pause a spend — only means something if it isn't held by someone the spender manages.
- The Director of Operations holds no functional lane. Whoever takes it drops marketing, programming or whatever else they were carrying. A DoO who also runs a function will always feed the function and starve the oversight.
How a seat is held
A position and the way it's currently staffed are two different facts, recorded separately. The seat is permanent; how it's held is temporary.
| Held as | What it means | Paid how | Ends when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employee | A hired person on payroll doing this job as their job | Wage or salary | The permanent state |
| Operating partner, on a clock | A partner covering the seat because the hire doesn't exist yet. Real authority, defined hours, written end date. | Management fee or salary, booked as an expense | The named sunset hire lands |
| Vendor | An outside firm holding the function under contract | Contract fee | Contract ends or the work comes in-house |
| Duty on another seat | Too small for its own headcount; attached to an existing job and named in that job's Field 5 | Included in that role | Volume justifies separating it |
Every partner-held seat carries a sunset. Not a hope — a named hire that retires it, with a date. A partner seat without an end date becomes a permanent job nobody applied for.
Partner labor gets paid at market and booked as an expense. Unpaid partner work doesn't save money; it hides cost, flatters the P&L, and makes the venue unsellable — because a buyer has to hire back everything the partners were doing free.
The ladder
| Level | What it means | Positions | Band |
|---|---|---|---|
| L6 | Owns whether the business makes money; the GM reports here | Director of Operations | Band F |
| L5 | Runs a venue or a major function end to end, including its costs | General Manager · Programming & Talent · Brand & Marketing · Finance & Controls · Safety, Facilities & Compliance | Band E |
| L4 | Runs a side of the house, or a scoped function | FOH Manager · Kitchen Manager · Events & Catering · Purchasing & Vendors · Systems & Access · People & Training | Band D |
| L3 | Runs a shift and a station standard; trains the people under them | Floor Lead · Bar Lead · Kitchen Lead · Marketing Coordinator · Creative & Design | Band C |
| L2 | Executes a skilled station to spec, unsupervised | Server · Bartender · Line Cook · Expo · Door Host | Band B |
| L1 | Executes a defined station cleanly, every shift | Host · Server Assistant · Barback · Prep Cook · Dishwasher | Band A |
Bands are set separately and published. The band belongs to the level; where someone sits inside it is a local decision. Two people at the same level in different venues are in the same band — that's the point of having one.
Ownership — what never delegates
Some things belong to ownership and to no operating seat. Writing them down stops them drifting into the Director of Operations' pile by default, and stops them sitting unowned because everyone assumes someone else has them.
| Item | Why it stays here |
|---|---|
| Entity structure across venues | Which company owns what, and who employs whom. Touches tax, liability and every operating agreement. |
| The operating agreement | Ownership percentages, distributions, admission and exit of partners, deadlock mechanism. |
| Banking relationships and debt | Who the lenders are, what's pledged, what the covenants say. |
| Insurance policy selection | Coverage and limits are an ownership risk decision; claims handling is not — that's Safety & Compliance. |
| Capital calls and distributions | Money in and money out of ownership. |
| Leases and real property | Multi-year, irreversible, and usually personally guaranteed. |
| Opening, selling or closing a venue | Structural by definition. |
| Appointing the Director of Operations | The one hire ownership cannot delegate, because it's the seat that replaces them operationally. |
Ownership decides the shape; operating seats decide the running. Insurance is the clean example: ownership chooses the policy and the limits, Safety & Compliance files the claims and keeps the certificates current. Blur that and either owners get dragged into claim paperwork or a manager quietly changes your coverage.
Director of Operations
Director of Operations
L6- Reports to
- Ownership
- Reports in
- General Manager · Programming & Talent · Events & Catering · Brand & Marketing · Purchasing & Vendors · Safety, Facilities & Compliance · Systems & Access · People & Training
- Purpose
- Owns whether the business makes money. The seat the GM escalates to, so ownership doesn't have to be the answer.
- Owns
- The weekly number and the operating calendar
- The GM and every function head
- Execution of whatever ownership approves
- The master calendar — events, deliveries, inspections, renewals
- Holding every partner-held seat to its sunset date
- Resolving conflicts between functions, including calendar conflicts
- Decides alone
- Anything inside approved budget at the routine threshold · vendor selection from the approved list · scheduling · hourly discipline up to termination · which function wins a calendar conflict
- Escalates
- Management-level hires · capital spend · anything structural, multi-year or irreversible · anything in §05
- Measured by
- Prime cost · four-wall EBITDA · revenue against target · the Monday pack landing on time · partner-held seats retired on schedule · unowned-job count trending to zero
- Covered by
- General Manager, for operations only — not for the number
This seat holds no functional lane. Whoever takes it stops running marketing, programming, or anything else. A DoO who also owns a function will feed the function and starve the oversight, every time.
Does this seat get split?
Not at one venue. It looks overloaded because the seats beneath it are unfilled or partner-held, not because the job is two jobs. Fill the function heads and the DoO becomes a coordination seat, which is normal span for a single-unit operator. Split it early and you get two people who each own part of "whether the business makes money," so neither owns it.
When it does split, the cut runs along the clusters in §02:
| After the split | Keeps |
|---|---|
| Director of Operations | Venue cluster and Support cluster — GMs, Purchasing, Safety, Systems, People |
| Director of Commercial | Commercial cluster — Programming, Events & Catering, Brand & Marketing and its two seats |
Trigger the split when any one of these is true:
- Three or more venues report in.
- The DoO cannot deliver the Monday pack and the sixty-day calendar in the same week, two months running.
- Commercial revenue — events, catering, programming — passes a quarter of total revenue.
Name the trigger now; don't pre-build the org.
Is the Director of Operations a venue seat or a group seat? If it's group, the GM reports up and out, and Purchasing, Systems, People, Brand and Finance are shared across venues — one set of functions serving all of them. If it's a venue seat, you will build this structure again at the next venue, and a third time after that.
The answer changes the band, the reporting line, and who pays for the seat. Settle it before the first hire.
The venue
General Manager
L5- Reports to
- Director of Operations
- Reports in
- FOH Manager · Kitchen Manager
- Purpose
- Runs the venue as a business — its numbers, its standards and its two managers.
- Owns
- The venue P&L and prime cost
- The weekly numbers meeting
- Hiring, developing and holding the two managers
- Standards compliance and the audit result
- The labor envelope and schedule approval
- Final sign-off that the building is ready to open each day
- Decides alone
- Spend within the GM threshold · manager hiring and exits · pricing inside the band · the labor model · comp and void policy exceptions · vendors from the approved list
- Escalates
- Spend above threshold · anything multi-year · leases, debt, capex · brand changes · partner or equity matters
- Measured by
- Prime cost · four-wall EBITDA · revenue against target · standards audit score · manager retention
- Covered by
- FOH Manager
FOH Manager
L4- Reports to
- General Manager
- Reports in
- Floor Lead · Bar Lead, and through them the whole front of house
- Purpose
- Owns everything in front of the pass — service, bar, door, bookings and event execution — including what it sells and what it costs.
- Owns
- The steps of service, audited rather than assumed
- Pour cost and beverage inventory through the Bar Lead
- FOH scheduling against forecast covers, and FOH labor %
- Reservations, pacing, sections and the booth queue
- Guest data capture, follow-up and the return rate
- On-premise event execution — staffing the event, day-of contact, running the room to the BEO
- Comps and voids within policy, with a reason on every one
- Nightly cash close and the over/short number
- Decides alone
- Hourly hiring and discipline · schedule within the labor target · section assignments · reservation pacing · comps within policy · beverage ordering to par · event staffing levels
- Escalates
- Lead-level hiring and exits · spend above the department threshold · menu or price changes · anything that changes a standard · event terms outside the signed BEO
- Measured by
- Service audit score · pour cost % · FOH labor % · voids and comps · cash over/short · covers and average check · sixty-day return rate · event execution against BEO
- Covered by
- Floor Lead
Kitchen Manager
L4- Reports to
- General Manager
- Reports in
- Kitchen Lead, and through them the whole back of house
- Purpose
- Owns everything that leaves the kitchen and everything it cost to get there — service, events and catering alike.
- Owns
- Food cost inside the published band
- Recipe spec adherence across every menu section
- Prep, par levels and daily production
- Receiving, invoice verification and storage rotation
- BOH staffing, training, certification and scheduling
- Event and catering production — and the capacity call on whether a date can be taken
- Allergen handling and the guest allergy protocol
- Ticket times, the waste log, kitchen labor % and inspection readiness
- Decides alone
- BOH hiring and discipline · prep lists and par levels · ordering to par · station assignments · schedule within the labor target · daily specials within cost · whether the kitchen can take an event date
- Escalates
- Menu changes · new vendors · equipment above threshold · anything moving food cost outside the band · event menus that need a custom build
- Measured by
- Food cost % · BOH labor % · waste · ticket times · inventory variance · inspection results · event food cost against quoted
- Covered by
- Kitchen Lead
Floor Lead
L3- Reports to
- FOH Manager
- Reports in
- Server · Door Host · Server Assistant · Host
- Purpose
- Runs the floor shift by shift and holds the service standard on a full night — the FOH Manager's bench.
- Owns
- A complete shift, open or close, with no manager in the building
- Pre-shift lineup and section assignments
- Service quality against the written steps
- Training servers, hosts and assistants to sign-off
- First-line guest recovery before it reaches a manager
- Closing checklist, cash count and written handoff
- Decides alone
- Section assignment · pacing and table holds · comps up to the lead limit · sending staff home when volume drops · reseating and table moves
- Escalates
- Comps above the limit · hiring, firing, formal discipline · schedule changes · equipment failures · incidents involving guests, police or injury
- Measured by
- Audit scores on their shifts · cash over/short · clean closes · trainee pass rate · incident handling
- Covered by
- FOH Manager, or a cross-trained Bar Lead
Bar Lead
L3- Reports to
- FOH Manager
- Reports in
- Bartender · Barback
- Purpose
- Runs the bar as a station and a cost centre — every drink to spec, every bottle accounted for.
- Owns
- Weekly inventory count on the top SKUs, entered and signed off
- Spec adherence across the full cocktail collection
- Bar opening and closing standards
- Bartender and barback training to sign-off
- Bottle service setup and execution on peak nights
- Well setup, prep lists and par maintenance
- Decides alone
- Station assignment behind the bar · build order during a rush · well and prep setup · restock priority · refusing service to an over-served guest
- Escalates
- Ordering and vendors · recipe or price changes · comps above the lead limit · hiring and discipline · variance they can't explain
- Measured by
- Inventory variance · pour cost % · spec audit results · bar close quality · stock-outs at peak
- Covered by
- FOH Manager, or the senior bartender on shift
Kitchen Lead
L3- Reports to
- Kitchen Manager
- Reports in
- Line Cook · Expo · Prep Cook · Dishwasher
- Purpose
- Calls the line through service and holds plate specs under volume — the Kitchen Manager's bench.
- Owns
- The line during service: ticket flow, firing order, expo
- Plate spec and consistency at volume
- Station setup, breakdown and line cleanliness
- Executing the prep list and reporting shortfalls
- Training cooks and prep to sign-off
- Temperature logs and the shift's waste entries
- Decides alone
- Station assignment on the line · firing and course order · pulling an item when prep runs short · sending a plate back · prep sequence within the day's list
- Escalates
- Ordering · menu or spec changes · hiring and discipline · equipment failures · anything that will move food cost
- Measured by
- Ticket times · plate consistency · waste on their shifts · line close quality · trainee pass rate
- Covered by
- Kitchen Manager, or the senior line cook on shift
Revenue seats
Programming & Talent
L5- Reports to
- Director of Operations
- Reports in
- None — works through the FOH Manager on execution nights
- Purpose
- Owns what happens in the room on our own nights, and the revenue that comes with it.
- Owns
- The weekly programming identity — what each night is, and that it stays that
- DJ, host and entertainment contracts
- Promoter relationships and their measured performance
- Sections, VIP and bottle revenue on house nights
- The event calendar, locked sixty days out
- Guest list and comp list management
- Decides alone
- Talent and promoter deals inside budget · calendar and lineup on house nights — domain authority, no group vote · guest list caps
- Escalates
- Anything that changes a night's concept · spend above the programming budget · a date being given up to a private event
- Measured by
- Section and bottle revenue by night · covers by night versus last year · calendar locked sixty days out · talent cost as a share of the night · comp list value
- Covered by
- Director of Operations
Events & Catering
L4- Reports to
- Director of Operations
- Reports in
- None — hands off to the FOH Manager for on-premise execution and the Kitchen Manager for production
- Purpose
- Sells the room and the kitchen to people who plan ahead — the only function whose job is to fill a night that isn't filling itself.
- Owns
- The enquiry pipeline, from first contact to signed deposit, across all three lanes in §12
- Private buyouts, group bookings, corporate and celebration business
- Off-premise catering sales and the catering menu's commercial terms
- Outbound prospecting into corporate, alumni, association and community planners
- Contracts, deposits, minimums, cancellation and damage terms
- The BEO — the single document that carries an event from sale to floor
- Repeat and referral business from past bookers
- Decides alone
- Quoting inside published minimums and package pricing · date holds · package composition from approved menus · which enquiries to pursue · deposit schedules within policy
- Escalates
- Discounts below the floor · full buyouts that close a service · custom menus · any date that displaces house programming · catering that exceeds the kitchen's capacity call
- Measured by
- Enquiry response time · enquiry-to-booking conversion · event and catering revenue by daypart · deposits collected on time · repeat booker rate · BEO accuracy against what actually happened
- Covered by
- Director of Operations, with Programming & Talent on calendar conflicts
Start it before you can fully fund it. The enquiries already arrive — they just land in a shared inbox and get answered by whoever sees them, which makes response time unmeasured and follow-up accidental. A scoped part-time seat or a commission structure beats waiting for a full hire.
Marketing seats
Brand & Marketing
L5- Reports to
- Director of Operations
- Reports in
- Marketing Coordinator · Creative & Design
- Purpose
- Owns the funnel from never having heard of the room to walking through the door — and owns what the brand is allowed to look and sound like.
- Owns
- Brand voice, creative direction and the guardrails on both
- The content calendar and its publication
- Every guest-facing platform: social, automation, reservations, listings, the site
- Review response cadence and rating trajectory
- Marketing spend inside budget, and what it returns
- The funnel measured end to end — awareness through repeat visit
- Press, community relations and partnership marketing
- Decides alone
- Brand voice and creative — final say, no committee · marketing spend inside budget · channel mix · campaign timing · which partnerships to take
- Escalates
- Repositioning · name or concept changes · spend above budget · anything that alters what the venue is
- Measured by
- Enquiry and booking volume by channel · DM-to-booking conversion · content published against calendar · rating and review volume · cost per booking
- Covered by
- Marketing Coordinator for platform work; brand judgement does not delegate
Marketing Coordinator
L3- Reports to
- Brand & Marketing
- Reports in
- None
- Purpose
- Takes the platform work off the brand seat so brand judgement stops being administration.
- Owns
- Publishing the content calendar across every platform
- Keeping every night live and consistent everywhere it's listed
- Automation flows and the inbox they feed
- Non-sales DMs and enquiries, routed correctly
- Review responses inside the approved playbook
- Weekly performance reporting on the funnel
- Asset library and version control
- Decides alone
- Posting schedule inside the calendar · reply wording inside the playbook · which assets to reuse · routing of an incoming enquiry
- Escalates
- Anything off brand voice · new creative · spend · a review that needs more than a playbook answer
- Measured by
- Publish rate against calendar · platform consistency audit · response time on DMs and reviews · reporting delivered weekly
- Covered by
- Brand & Marketing
This is the first hire to make. It's the only one that retires a partner-held seat outright rather than relieving a manager, and it's the cheapest seat on this page.
Creative & Design
L3 · usually a vendor- Reports to
- Brand & Marketing
- Reports in
- None
- Purpose
- Produces the visual output — flyers, menus, screens, assets — to the brand standard and on the calendar.
- Owns
- Campaign and event graphics · menu and screen design · brand asset library · print production files · décor and ambiance assets where designed rather than bought
- Decides alone
- Execution inside the brand standard · file formats and production specs
- Escalates
- Anything that extends or bends the brand standard · new formats · scope beyond the retainer
- Measured by
- Turnaround against the calendar · revision rounds per piece · brand consistency audit
- Covered by
- Brand & Marketing, or a backup vendor on the approved list
Control seats
Finance & Controls
L5 · independent- Reports to
- Ownership, with a working line to the Director of Operations
- Reports in
- Bookkeeping, where held by a vendor
- Purpose
- Makes the numbers true and visible on a schedule, and can stop money leaving.
- Owns
- The weekly flash and the monthly P&L
- Prime cost and its definition — one definition, used everywhere
- Payroll oversight and vendor payment terms
- The Monday pack — in every owner's inbox whether or not anyone asks
- Cash controls, comp and void reporting, theft and shrinkage prevention
- Gift cards and certificates — issuance, tracking and liability
- Capital calls, debt schedules and covenant tracking
- Revenue attribution between concepts sharing one building or one POS
- Decides alone
- Sole authority to pause any spend · sets the reporting format and calendar · sets the chart of accounts
- Escalates
- Distributions · capital calls · debt · anything touching the operating agreement
- Measured by
- Monday pack delivered on time, every week · close completed by the published day · reporting accuracy · variances flagged before month end, not after
- Covered by
- Bookkeeper or CPA for mechanics; the oversight itself does not delegate
One deliverable carries this seat: the Monday pack. It is what stops owners finding out how the business is doing from a group chat.
Purchasing & Vendors
L4- Reports to
- Director of Operations, with a working line to Finance & Controls
- Reports in
- None
- Purpose
- Owns what we pay for things, across every category — the seat that sees total spend when each manager only sees their own.
- Owns
- The approved vendor list, and what it takes to get on or off it
- Vendor terms, pricing agreements and rebates
- Benchmarking — no category goes unquoted for more than a year
- Consolidated spend by category across food, beverage, supplies and facilities
- Contract renewal calendar for every vendor
- Smallwares, china, equipment and cleaning supplies purchasing
- Receiving standards and invoice dispute resolution
- Decides alone
- Which vendors are on the approved list · negotiated terms inside budget · consolidating two suppliers into one · disputing an invoice
- Escalates
- Sole-source decisions · contracts above the routine threshold · anything multi-year · dropping a vendor a department depends on
- Measured by
- Cost per unit trend by category · share of spend benchmarked in the last twelve months · invoice accuracy · savings realised against prior terms
- Covered by
- Finance & Controls
Usually a duty before it's a job. At one venue this sits with Finance & Controls or the GM. Separate it when consolidated spend across categories is large enough that a full-time set of eyes pays for itself — which is sooner than most operators think, because nobody is currently looking across categories at all.
Safety, Facilities & Compliance
L5- Reports to
- Director of Operations
- Reports in
- Security vendor · facilities vendors · porter contract
- Purpose
- Protects the licence, the building and the people in it. This is the liability seat, not an administrative one.
- Owns
- Security contract, guard performance and guard hours
- Incident logging and follow-through
- Liquor licence, health, food-safety and alcohol-service certification currency
- Insurance certificates, workers comp claims and labor-law postings
- Building systems, work orders and preventative maintenance
- Inspection scheduling and the renewal calendar
- Pest control, parking lot lighting and jurisdiction
- Music licensing for public performance
- Equipment manuals, warranties and service records
- Emergency and continuity plan — power, POS, equipment, staffing, incident
- Decides alone
- Authority to shut a night down or refuse entry on safety grounds, unilaterally, with no vote. Written down before it's needed. Also: work orders inside budget, vendor call-outs, pulling equipment from service.
- Escalates
- Security vendor changes · capital repairs · anything with legal exposure · insurance coverage changes
- Measured by
- Incident count and closure rate · open work orders and their age · certification calendar with nothing lapsed · inspection results · claims filed and their outcomes
- Covered by
- Director of Operations, with the security vendor's account manager as named backup
Music licensing is a decision, not a deletion. A venue playing recorded music and running DJs most nights needs public-performance licences; these societies audit actively and damages are assessed per song. If a vendor, landlord or DJ contract covers it, record who — don't remove the line.
Systems & Access
L4- Reports to
- Director of Operations
- Reports in
- None
- Purpose
- Owns the platform stack, who can get into it, and whether the numbers coming out of it are true.
- Owns
- The platform list — POS, reservations, inventory, scheduling, automation, accounting, storage — and an administrator for each
- Account provisioning on hire and removal on exit, every platform, same day
- Permission levels — who can comp, void, discount, edit a menu, pull a report
- POS configuration: menu items, sales categories, modifiers, revenue centres
- Data integrity — nothing posts without a category; definitions match the chart of accounts
- Integrations between platforms, and what breaks when one changes
- Document storage structure, naming conventions and version control
- Retiring tools nobody uses
- Decides alone
- Permission levels inside policy · configuration changes that don't alter pricing · folder and naming structure · which integration method to use
- Escalates
- New platform purchases · anything that changes pricing or menu structure · anything affecting the chart of accounts · giving anyone owner-level access
- Measured by
- Access removed within one day of exit, every time · share of sales posting with no category · reporting available when the close needs it · platforms with a named administrator
- Covered by
- Director of Operations, with the POS vendor's support as backup
The offboarding gap is the one that bites. When someone leaves, who removes their POS access? Across ten platforms with no named owner, the answer is usually nobody — and former staff keep working logins for months.
People & Training
L4- Reports to
- Director of Operations
- Reports in
- None
- Purpose
- Owns the pipeline in and the development up, so hiring isn't an emergency and promotion isn't a guess.
- Owns
- Recruiting pipeline and a candidate bench for every station
- Onboarding curriculum and completion tracking
- Training modules by role and sign-off standards
- The disciplinary ladder and its consistent application
- This document — the record of every position, kept current
- Background checks where the role requires them
- Employee handbook and policy currency
- The onboarding and offboarding checklists, including the access handoff to Systems
- Decides alone
- Sourcing channels · interview structure · training content inside the standard · which candidates reach a manager
- Escalates
- Offers and compensation · terminations · anything that changes a band or a level · policy changes with legal exposure
- Measured by
- Time to fill · training completion rate · sixty-day retention · bench depth against the coverage table in §15
- Covered by
- Director of Operations
Station positions
Same template, short form. Every one of these seats still owns something, still decides something, and is still measured.
Skilled stations — L2
Server
L2 · to Floor Lead- Purpose
- Delivers the full steps of service to every table in their section.
- Owns
- Their section · menu knowledge · order accuracy · check handling
- Decides
- Table pacing · when to bring a lead in
- Measured
- Average check · audit scores · guest feedback · void rate
- Next
- Floor Lead
Bartender
L2 · to Bar Lead- Purpose
- Builds every drink to spec at volume without slowing the bar.
- Owns
- Their well · spec accuracy · ringing every drink · bar cleanliness
- Decides
- Build order during a rush · when to cut a guest off
- Measured
- Spec audits · ring accuracy · speed at peak · guest feedback
- Next
- Bar Lead
Line Cook
L2 · to Kitchen Lead- Purpose
- Runs a station to recipe spec through a full service.
- Owns
- Their station · plate spec · station prep and par · temperature logs
- Decides
- Prep order within their station
- Measured
- Ticket times · plate consistency · waste at their station
- Next
- Kitchen Lead
Expo
L2 · to Kitchen Lead- Purpose
- The last check between the kitchen and the guest.
- Owns
- Plate check against spec · course timing · communication to the floor
- Decides
- Whether a plate goes out or goes back
- Measured
- Send-back rate · course timing · table accuracy
- Next
- Kitchen Lead
Door Host
L2 · to Floor Lead- Purpose
- Controls entry, ID and capacity, and sets the first impression.
- Owns
- ID checks · capacity count · entry pacing and the queue · dress standard · incident log
- Decides
- Entry refusal within policy · when to hold the line
- Measured
- Compliance record · incident count · entry flow at peak
- Next
- Floor Lead
Entry stations — L1
Host
L1 · to Floor Lead- Purpose
- Owns arrival — the first ninety seconds of the visit.
- Owns
- Greeting and seating · reservation check-in · guest data capture · wait quote accuracy
- Decides
- Seating order within the pacing plan
- Measured
- Data capture rate · wait quote accuracy · arrival feedback
- Next
- Server or Door Host
Server Assistant
L1 · to Floor Lead- Purpose
- Keeps the floor moving so servers stay with their guests.
- Owns
- Table resets and turn speed · water and pre-bus · running food · side work
- Decides
- Reset order across their zone
- Measured
- Table turn time · floor cleanliness · side work completion
- Next
- Server
Barback
L1 · to Bar Lead- Purpose
- Keeps the bar stocked so bartenders never leave the well.
- Owns
- Stock and ice · glassware · garnish prep · bar cleanliness · close-down
- Decides
- Restock order during service
- Measured
- Stock-outs at peak · bar close quality · prep completion
- Next
- Bartender
Prep Cook
L1 · to Kitchen Lead- Purpose
- Produces the day's prep to spec and to par.
- Owns
- The prep list · yields and portioning · labelling and rotation · walk-in order
- Decides
- Prep sequence within the day's list
- Measured
- Prep completion · yield accuracy · waste · rotation compliance
- Next
- Line Cook
Dishwasher
L1 · to Kitchen Lead- Purpose
- Keeps the kitchen and floor supplied with everything clean.
- Owns
- Dish and glass flow · sanitation standards · trash and recycling · floor and drain cleaning
- Decides
- Wash priority during service
- Measured
- Zero stock-outs of clean ware · sanitation checks · close quality
- Next
- Prep Cook
The three event lanes
"Events" means three different businesses with three different cost structures, three sales motions and three execution paths. Most venues run all three and own only one properly.
| Lane | What it is | Sold by | Produced by | Executed by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| House programming | Our event, our room, open to the public. The weekly identity. | Programming & Talent | Kitchen Manager, normal service | FOH Manager |
| Private & group | Their event, our room. Buyouts, corporate, celebrations, sections. | Events & Catering | Kitchen Manager, to the BEO | FOH Manager |
| Off-premise catering | Their event, their room, our food. Drop-off or staffed. | Events & Catering | Kitchen Manager, separate production run | Events & Catering, with assigned staff |
Why catering is a separate business, not an extension
- Production capacity competes with a line that's already running service — the same people, the same equipment, the same window.
- Transport and holding introduce food-safety exposure that doesn't exist in the building: temperatures, times, vehicles, equipment.
- The labor model is different — off-site staffing, travel time, and no bar revenue to carry it.
- The P&L is different — it uses the kitchen but not the room, so a catering job that looks profitable on food cost can still be a loss once labor and transport land.
- It doesn't compete with your own dayparts. That's the argument for it: catering fills kitchen capacity without needing the floor.
No event or catering job goes on the calendar without a kitchen capacity sign-off. The Kitchen Manager decides whether a date can be taken; Events & Catering decides whether to pursue it and at what price. Both signatures, or it isn't booked.
Without that gate, a Saturday buyout gets accepted on top of a night that's already at capacity, and the venue fails two sets of guests at once.
The BEO — one document, four handoffs
Every booked event carries a Banquet Event Order. It is the single artefact that moves an event from sale to floor, and it is Events & Catering's to produce and keep current.
| When | What happens | Who |
|---|---|---|
| At signature | BEO created: date, headcount range, menu, timing, room setup, minimum, deposit, cancellation terms | Events & Catering |
| At signature | Capacity sign-off recorded against the date | Kitchen Manager |
| 14 days out | Menu locked; any custom items costed and approved | Events & Catering + Kitchen Manager |
| 72 hours out | Final headcount confirmed and billable. Staffing set against it. Ordering placed. | Events & Catering → FOH Manager + Kitchen Manager |
| Day of | Room set, staff briefed on the BEO, day-of contact named to the client | FOH Manager |
| Within 48 hours | Final invoice reconciled against actuals; overages, damages and gratuity settled | Events & Catering + Finance & Controls |
| Within 7 days | Follow-up to the booker; repeat or referral logged | Events & Catering |
The 72-hour gate is the one that protects the P&L. Headcount confirmed later than that means either overstaffing and over-ordering, or a client billed for a number they'll dispute.
The cash chain
Cash is the one process that crosses three seats and belongs wholly to none of them, which is exactly why it goes wrong. Written as a chain, each link has one owner and one check.
| Link | Owner | Control |
|---|---|---|
| Drawer issued at open | Floor Lead | Counted and signed by two people; starting float recorded |
| During service | The station holding the drawer | One person per drawer per shift; no shared drawers |
| Comps, voids and discounts | Floor Lead within limit, FOH Manager above it | Every one carries a reason code — no open or blank reasons |
| Drawer counted at close | Floor Lead | Counted and signed by two; over/short recorded against a published tolerance |
| Manual adjustments | FOH Manager | Every adjustment documented with a reason, same night. No exceptions, no retrospective entries. |
| Deposit prepared | FOH Manager | Sealed, logged, matched to the day's report before it leaves the office |
| Deposit to bank | General Manager or named courier | Receipt returned and filed same or next business day |
| Reconciliation | Finance & Controls | Bank against POS against deposit log, weekly — not monthly |
| Exception review | Finance & Controls | Any night outside tolerance, or any undocumented adjustment, reported in the Monday pack |
In a room where a large share of payment comes in as cash, the difference between a controlled chain and an uncontrolled one is not a rounding error. Undocumented manual adjustments are the specific failure to watch — not because every one is theft, but because when they're undocumented you cannot tell which ones aren't.
Two numbers to publish and hold: a nightly over/short tolerance, and 100% of manual adjustments documented. Both belong in the Monday pack.
The decision ladder
Field 6 and Field 7 on every page above resolve against this. Three tiers, published, so decisions stop happening in a group chat.
| Tier | Who decides | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Routine — under $5K | The seat holder alone, no vote | Supplies, scheduling, routine repairs, talent inside budget, marketing inside budget, vendors from the approved list, event quotes inside published minimums |
| Significant — $5K to $50K | Majority of owners | Management hires, vendor contracts, capital expenditure, programming changes, new platforms, full buyouts that close a service |
| Structural — over $50K or irreversible | Supermajority, or unanimous where the operating agreement requires it | Everything in §05 — entity structure, partners, venues, distributions, leases, dissolution |
Inside a seat's lane, the holder has the final call at the Routine tier. Eleven people do not vote on a DJ booking or a caption.
Two authorities override the ladder entirely and are deliberate: Safety & Compliance can shut a night down on safety grounds with no vote, and Finance & Controls can pause any spend. Both exist because the cost of a slow decision in those two lanes is much higher than the cost of a wrong one.
Name the deadlock mechanism now, while everyone still likes each other: a casting vote held by the Director of Operations, escalation to mediation, or a buy-sell provision.
Coverage
| Position | First cover | If vacant long-term |
|---|---|---|
| Director of Operations | General Manager, operations only | Nothing else works until this is named — fill it first |
| General Manager | FOH Manager | Promote the FOH Manager |
| FOH Manager | Floor Lead | Promote the Floor Lead |
| Kitchen Manager | Kitchen Lead | Promote the Kitchen Lead |
| Floor · Bar · Kitchen Lead | Their manager | Promote from the station below |
| Programming & Talent | Director of Operations | Relationships stay with a partner; calendar goes to an Events & Talent Lead |
| Events & Catering | Director of Operations | Start scoped or commission-based rather than leaving it empty |
| Brand & Marketing | Marketing Coordinator, platform work only | Brand judgement doesn't delegate — this seat stays held |
| Marketing Coordinator | Brand & Marketing | Reverts to the brand seat, which is the current state |
| Finance & Controls | Bookkeeper or CPA, mechanics only | Oversight stays permanently with an owner |
| Purchasing & Vendors | Finance & Controls | Duty on Finance or the GM until volume justifies the seat |
| Safety & Compliance | Director of Operations | Security vendor account manager as named backup |
| Systems & Access | Director of Operations | POS vendor support, and a written access-removal checklist held by People & Training |
| People & Training | Director of Operations | Folds into the FOH Manager until filled |
The FOH Manager covers the GM, both leads underneath, and their own job. Empty, and three things go uncovered at once.
The Director of Operations covers or backstops six business seats. It is the most important position here and the one most likely to go unnamed, because it never feels urgent on any given night.
Every leadership row says promote. That only works if the level below is trained and named before the seat opens — which makes "who is my successor" a standing question for every lead and manager, not a conversation that starts when someone resigns.
Unowned jobs, mapped to seats
A responsibility review found twenty jobs with nobody on them, seven carrying legal or regulatory exposure. Each one belongs to a seat on this page — that's the point of having the seats.
| Unowned job | Belongs to | Exposure |
|---|---|---|
| Allergen handling & guest allergy protocol | Kitchen Manager, with Safety & Compliance | Legal |
| Workers comp claims | Safety, Facilities & Compliance | Legal |
| Parking lot — lighting, maintenance, jurisdiction | Safety, Facilities & Compliance | Legal |
| Pest control | Safety, Facilities & Compliance | Legal |
| Labor law postings | People & Training | Legal |
| Inspection scheduling | Safety, Facilities & Compliance | Legal |
| Music licensing — ASCAP, BMI, SESAC | Safety, Facilities & Compliance | Legal |
| Entity structure across venues | Ownership — see §05 | Legal |
| Background checks for security staff | People & Training | Risk |
| Theft & shrinkage prevention | Finance & Controls, with the Bar Lead | Money |
| Guest list & comp list management | Programming & Talent | Money |
| Gift cards & certificates | Finance & Controls | Money |
| Revenue attribution between concepts | Finance & Controls | Money |
| Master calendar — events, deliveries, inspections, renewals | Director of Operations | Ops |
| Deadline & renewal tracking | Safety, Facilities & Compliance | Ops |
| Equipment manuals & warranties | Safety, Facilities & Compliance | Ops |
| Version control & naming conventions | Systems & Access | Ops |
| Cleaning supplies | Purchasing & Vendors | Ops |
| Smallwares, china, kitchen equipment | Purchasing & Vendors | Ops |
| Queue & line management | Door Host, under the FOH Manager | Ops |
Every row above is now addressed by a seat. What remains is assigning a person to each seat — which is a roster exercise, not a structure one.
Hiring order
Sequenced by what each hire releases, not by what feels most urgent on a Saturday.
| # | Seat | Type | What it releases |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Director of Operations | Name it, internal or external | Nothing else works until someone owns the number and the GM has somewhere to escalate. This can be a partner seat with a sunset, but it must have a name. |
| 2 | Marketing Coordinator | Hire | Retires a partner-held seat outright — the only hire on this list that does. Cheapest seat here. |
| 3 | FOH Manager | Hire or promote | Releases the GM from covering the floor and unlocks the whole front-of-house chain. |
| 4 | Kitchen Lead | Promote | Ends the Kitchen Manager as a single point of failure. |
| 5 | Floor Lead · Bar Lead | Promote | Builds the bench that makes every "if vacant, promote" row in §15 true. |
| 6 | Events & Catering | Scoped or commission | Starts the only function whose job is filling a night that isn't filling itself. |
| 7 | Porter / facilities contract | Vendor | Takes maintenance response off partners and managers. |
| 8 | Bookkeeper | Vendor | Takes the mechanics off Finance & Controls; the oversight stays. |
Everything not on this list is a duty, not a hire — Systems & Access, Purchasing & Vendors, People & Training and Safety & Compliance all start attached to an existing seat and separate later. Resist turning any of them into headcount before the volume justifies it.
How this gets used
| Situation | What you do with this document |
|---|---|
| Posting a job | The posting is Fields 4, 5 and 8 plus requirements. Nothing written from scratch, nothing promised that isn't in the structure. Post unsponsored. |
| Onboarding | Their first document is their position page. They should answer "what do I own and what am I measured on" by the end of day one. |
| Promoting someone | Put the two position pages side by side. The promotion is the difference between them — and that difference is what they demonstrate first. |
| A decision lands on the wrong desk | Check Field 6 of the seat below. Either it was allowed to decide and didn't, or the threshold is too low and needs changing. |
| Something falls through | Find which position's Field 5 it belongs to. If it's in nobody's, that's the finding — add it to one seat, not to "the team." |
| A partner is covering a seat | Record it as partner-held with a named sunset hire and a date. Review quarterly. No sunset means it's a permanent job nobody applied for. |
| Someone leaves | Coverage table first, access removal second, backfill third — in that order, same week. |
| Opening a new venue | Start from this structure and delete what the room doesn't need. Never start from a blank page. |
| Quarterly review | Check every seat still matches what the person actually does. Where it has drifted, change the document or change the job — don't leave them different. |
Hand any one of these pages to someone who has never worked in the building. They should be able to say what that person does all day, what they're allowed to settle on their own, and what number they'd be asked about on a Tuesday. If they can't, the page isn't finished.
Tell us what's wrong
This is a draft, and the people who know whether it's accurate are the people doing the jobs. If a seat doesn't match what you actually do, or something you handle every week isn't on any page — say so here. Responses are visible to the team, so nobody files the same thing twice.
The feedback form is directly below this document — scroll to the end of the page.
