General Manager, Valencia Café
Dandelion Chocolate
Operations
San Francisco, CA, USA
Posted on Mar 13, 2026
Job Title: General Manager, Valencia Café
Hours: Full Time (40 hrs/week), some weekends, evenings, and holidays required
Department: Café and Retail
Report: COO → future Director of Retail
Wage: $84,000-$96,000/year, exempt
Location: 740 Valencia Street, San Francisco
About Us
Dandelion Chocolate is a bean-to-bar chocolate factory in San Francisco’s Mission District. We make chocolate from only two ingredients, cocoa beans and cane sugar, and travel to origins as often as we can to build good, trusting relationships with the producers who grow and ferment our beans. Today we’re seeking a General Manager to create a world-class, high-touch chocolate café experience at our Valencia Street location while also upholding our mission to be a sustainable, ethical business.
About the Role
Our Valencia location is our original café experience -- it’s bustling with all kinds of guests eager to pick out a gift, learn about our process, and taste chocolate. While there is no typical day at our café at 740 Valencia Street, your day might start with a meeting with the Creative team to make a plan for café refresh -- retail signs, chalkboard art, and merchandising will all need to be spruced up -- after being open for 14 years, the store could use a little extra love. Last night, one of your café associates texted you that they weren’t feeling well, so you are on the floor covering the team’s lunch breaks. After stepping off the floor to check emails and finalize the schedule, you work with our Facilities Manager to schedule an electrician to fix the parklet solar panels. Then, you place the supply order for the week, have some 1:1s with your team members and then respond to all Yelp and Google reviews before meeting with the COO to plan for the holiday season.
Outside of the day-to-day tasks, you have a clear vision for how the café can continue to improve, broken into concrete quarterly milestones such as later opening hours, team greeters, a guided chocolate tasting station, and revamped merchandising. Even with ambitious plans and shifting priorities, you always make time to prioritize your team and guest service -- when a café regular who you haven’t seen in awhile shows up, you take the time to ask about their kids and get them their favorite drink.
About You
There are many different types of people who could succeed in this role -- whether you’re a been-there-done-that entrepreneurial restaurant manager who craves an artisan experience or a kitchen manager who has worked in a fast-paced, high-volume environment who wants a more intimate, guest-facing role. Regardless, you should have the operational chops and leadership experience to know that no plan ever goes perfectly -- machines break, tour groups show up without notice, and team members have unexpected life complications. Our ideal candidate has experience running a serious, multiple shift location -- be it a restaurant, high volume café, or a high level of service operation. We are looking for someone to own this position and build out the teams, systems, and processes to ensure that our café always runs smoothly.
Success looks like:
- Vision: Working closely with the team, develop a vision for what an iconic, exquisite chocolate café experience should be while also keeping an eye on profitability and overseeing a healthy, cohesive team. Maintain an open and clear communication line with other Managers and the COO to ensure cohesion and alignment towards the organization’s goals. Be the single point-person responsible for the day-to-day success and long-term growth of the operation.
- Department relationships: Work across the organization to build long-lasting systems with Fulfillment, Kitchen, Product, Creative and other teams that will ensure that products and merchandise are stocked and displayed at their best.
- Track Financial Objectives: Work with the Finance team to outline actionable goals for the store’s overall profitability including reviewing monthly reports that track labor and discretionary costs.
- Guest Experience: Ensure that the store is kept to a high standard of cleanliness and organization that reflects the Dandelion Chocolate brand. This includes clean bathrooms, bussed tables, clean parklets, and stocked shelves while also making sure the team has time to proactively greet and attend to guests.
- Team Member Education: Ensure that the team is trained appropriately so they can deliver high-touch guest care, serve pastry items at their best, quickly and accurately answer any guest questions ranging from the bean-to-bar sourcing to allergen concerns, and handle tricky guest issues.
- Team Management: Work with and oversee the team to ensure smooth guest interactions, a safe work environment, completion of day-to-day tasks, and long tenures within your staff. Actively recruit, train, and develop all team members with an eye towards their long-term success so that Dandelion Chocolate remains one of the best small businesses to work for in San Francisco.
- Eye for Detail: From an askew bar display to marshmallow dust on the black counter, you are always aware of the guest experience and can develop systems to ensure the café always looks its best.
- Online Presence: Work with our press team to maintain relationships with followers and fans through our social media and local review sites so that Dandelion Chocolate continues to be rated one of the best food experiences in the city.
- Other tasks as necessary
Requirements
- Previous Experience: Already know best practices from 5-7 years previous experience in a food establishment such as a restaurant, retail store, or high-volume café with the systems and process know-how to prioritize elevated guest service.
- Tech Skills: Proficiency with spreadsheets and profitability reports. Can read and modify financial models to inform day-to-day decision making such as what products should be displayed and staffing hours.
- Availability: While this is a full-time role and we prioritize work-life balance, we’re looking for someone who can adjust their schedule to fit the needs of the team, including working some evenings and weekends.
- Plus: A passion for chocolate or experience in the cacao-world is a huge plus though not required!
Benefits
Dandelion Chocolate constantly invests in our people and culture. All team members receive medical, vision, and dental benefits as well as the option to enroll in our 401k program. All team members receive paid vacation time, holiday pay, and paid sick time. In addition, team members enjoy commuter benefits, FSAs, local gym discounts, chocolate tasting opportunities, the chance to travel to origin and our Japan locations, and a range of opportunities to grow and develop within the company.
How to Apply
Please submit a copy of your resume and cover letter. You’ll stand out from the crowd if you include one or two sentences about your favorite technique for engaging guests. We do our best to respond to all serious candidates within 7-14 days. We look forward to hearing from you!