Founding General Manager

Company Description

Golconda is a new cultural hospitality concept opening in Houston, built around coffee, art, design, and discovery
.

More than a traditional café, Golconda is conceived as a cultural living room — a place where hospitality, creativity, food, objects, and ideas come together.

We believe there is always another way to see something familiar. From the environment and menu to the way guests experience the space, Golconda is designed around a shift in perception.

As we prepare to open our first location, we are looking for a strong hospitality operator to help build the team, systems, and service culture that will define Golconda from the beginning.

Golconda — Houston, TX

Full-Time | On-Site

Golconda is a new cultural hospitality concept opening in Houston, built around coffee, art, design, and discovery
.

More than a traditional café, Golconda is conceived as a cultural living room — a place where hospitality, creativity, food, objects, and ideas come together.

We believe there is always another way to see something familiar. From the environment and menu to the way guests experience the space, Golconda is designed around a shift in perception.

As we prepare to open our first location, we are looking for a strong hospitality operator to help build the team, systems, and service culture that will define Golconda from the beginning.

The Founding General Manager will help launch and lead Golconda’s first Houston location.

This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who can build strong systems behind the scenes while maintaining an exceptional guest experience on the floor.

Working closely with ownership, the Founding General Manager will establish operating procedures, develop the opening team, manage daily performance, and create the operational foundation for Golconda as the brand grows.

• Lead all day-to-day café operations
• Recruit, hire, train, schedule, coach, and develop the opening team
• Build and implement SOPs, opening and closing procedures, and operational systems
• Maintain high standards for hospitality, service, cleanliness, and presentation
• Manage inventory, purchasing, receiving, and vendor relationships
• Monitor sales, labor, food and beverage costs, waste, and other key performance metrics
• Manage operational budgets and identify opportunities to improve efficiency and profitability
• Maintain food safety, health-code, and regulatory compliance
• Oversee POS operations, cash controls, reporting, and daily reconciliation
• Maintain equipment, facilities, and overall operational readiness
• Resolve guest, staff, and operational issues quickly and professionally
• Partner with ownership on menu execution, events, retail, partnerships, and community initiatives
• Continuously improve systems and standards as the business grows

• 5+ years of progressive experience in café, restaurant, or hospitality operations
• At least 2–3 years in a management or senior leadership role
• Proven experience hiring, training, managing, and developing teams
• Strong understanding of scheduling, labor management, inventory, purchasing, and cost control
• Experience managing food and beverage costs, waste, and operational performance
• Comfortable reviewing sales reports, labor reports, budgets, and key performance indicators
• Strong organizational, communication, and problem-solving skills
• Working knowledge of food safety, health-code, and restaurant compliance requirements
• Comfortable using POS, scheduling, inventory, and reporting systems
• Ability to work mornings, evenings, weekends, and holidays as operationally required
• Pre-opening, new-concept, or high-volume hospitality experience is strongly preferred
• Specialty coffee experience is a plus, but not required

We are looking for someone who thinks like an operator and an owner
.

Someone who notices problems before they become problems, creates structure without unnecessary bureaucracy, holds themselves and their team to a high standard, and understands that exceptional hospitality comes from both strong systems and genuine human connection.

You should be comfortable entering a business at the beginning, creating processes where they do not yet exist, and taking real ownership of the operation.

This is an opportunity to help build Golconda from the ground up and create the operating foundation for what we intend to become.