Café Manager – Hands-on Venue Leadership

The Silva Spoon – Cotton Tree, Maroochydore
Full-time | $75,000–$85,000 + super | Predominantly daytime | Every second weekend off

The Silva Spoon is a well-established café, teahouse and retail destination in Cotton Tree, known for warm hospitality, beautiful food and cakes, High Tea and an extensive loose-leaf tea range. We’ve also been recognised as Queensland’s Best Tea House multiple times, most recently in 2025.

We’re looking for an experienced Café Manager to take genuine ownership of the day-to-day operation of the venue.

This is a hands-on leadership role. Most of your working week will be spent in the venue, alongside the team and actively involved in service. At the same time, you’ll provide the leadership, structure and follow-through that keeps the whole operation running smoothly without the owners needing to manage the day-to-day.

You’ll join an established team with experienced people across both front and back of house.

What you’ll own

- Lead the day-to-day operation across FOH, BOH and retail.

- Lead, coach and develop the team, including recruitment, onboarding and performance management.

- Work closely with experienced team members while maintaining overall accountability for venue performance.

- Oversee workforce planning, including BOH rostering, FOH roster approval, labour efficiency and short-notice staffing issues.

- Maintain high standards of service, presentation, cleanliness and customer experience.

- Strengthen communication and coordination between FOH and BOH.

- Own day-to-day food safety, compliance and operational standards.

- Monitor labour, stock, wastage, purchasing and other key operating costs.

- Develop and maintain practical procedures, checklists, recipes, training materials and other operational documentation.





- Build cross-skilling and capability so the business is not overly dependent on any one person.

- Identify practical opportunities to improve efficiency, customer experience and commercial performance.

- When an issue or opportunity is identified, investigate options, recommend a practical solution and follow it through to implementation.

- Plan ahead for seasonal trade, staffing, maintenance and operational requirements rather than simply reacting as issues arise.

- Provide the Owners with a concise weekly operational update and escalate material issues when genuinely required.

The kind of manager we’re looking for

You’ve already managed a café, restaurant or comparable hospitality venue and understand what it takes to make a busy operation work well.

Just as importantly, you know that strong leadership in hospitality is about people as much as process.

You are:

- Warm, approachable and naturally customer-focused.

- Confident enough to set expectations and hold people accountable, without needing to dominate the room.

- Comfortable having difficult conversations respectfully and constructively.

- A practical problem-solver who takes ownership rather than waiting for someone else to provide the answer.

- Happy to roll up your sleeves during service while still keeping sight of the management work that needs to get done.

- Organised and proactive, with a natural instinct to improve how things work.





- Comfortable with the commercial basics of hospitality — labour, stock, wastage, purchasing and productivity.

- Collaborative and low-ego, able to use the knowledge of experienced team members while still providing clear leadership.

- Comfortable working with owners who set the broader direction and trust you to run the operation.

You don’t need to be the strongest barista, baker or cook in the team. You do need to understand the operation, use the expertise around you effectively and remain accountable for the overall outcome.

What we offer

- $75,000–$85,000 + super, depending on experience and demonstrated capability.

- Permanent full-time employment.

- Predominantly daytime hospitality hours.

- Every second weekend off.

- Genuine autonomy over the day-to-day operation.

- An established, well-loved independent business with an experienced team.

- The opportunity to strengthen and systemise a successful operation and help prepare it for future growth.

- Owners who genuinely want the manager to manage.

About The Silva Spoon

The Silva Spoon brings together specialty tea and coffee, house-made cakes and food, High Tea experiences and a curated retail tea range.

We care deeply about creating a venue where customers feel genuinely welcomed and looked after — and a workplace where people are treated with respect, know what is expected of them and can do excellent work together.

How to apply

Please send us your CV together with a short note covering:

1. The type and size of hospitality venue and team you have managed.

2. Why a hands-on daytime café management role appeals to you at this stage of your career.

3. One example of an operational improvement you personally identified and implemented

📌 Cafe Manager (Maroochydore)
🏢 The Silva Spoon
📍 Maroochydore