General Manager

About Us

Cream City Concepts is Milwaukee’s hospitality group built for the energy of a packed house. We run Oak Barrel Public House, Who’s on Third, Who’s on Layton, Cream City Catering, and 3rd Street Retreat — craft food, cold drinks, game days, date nights, big events, and a place to stay, all over the city. The pace is fast, the standards are high, and the people are what make it work.

Oak Barrel Public House is a high-volume bar and restaurant where hospitality comes first and standards hold steady — especially on game days, event surges, and peak weekends. The General Manager is the operator of the building — a floor-first leader who delivers strong opens, smooth service, clean closes, and disciplined controls, leading side‑by‑side with the AGM, Service Manager, and kitchen leadership.

Oak runs the highest event volume in the group, so the GM has a major impact on Cream City Catering and on every event held at Oak Barrel, partnering closely with the Catering & Events team. You embody Cream City Concepts’ mission and standards through daily execution — guest connection, team coaching, disciplined shift leadership, and brand protection — and you own the venue’s results.

Arrive early and prepared. Plan, forecast, and adjust proactively to keep service smooth and teams aligned. Lead from the floor with structure, clear communication, and consistent follow‑through — in it with the team during the rush, not hiding in the office. Coach with urgency and respect while holding the standard, and when you’re the most senior person in the building, it runs like an owner is there — because one is.

Skills can be taught. These five can’t — they’re the bar in every CCC venue, every shift.

• Optimistic Warmth — You set the tone for the entire building — positive, professional, and steady — and your team and your guests feel it.
• Curious Intelligence — You run on the numbers and the details — labor, COGS, prime cost, comps, P-mix — and you dig into root causes to lead with facts and fix what’s driving them.
• Work Ethic — You’re a floor-first operator — early, prepared, and in the rush with your team — and you carry the full operational and financial load behind it.
• Empathy — You build and develop leaders and take care of guests — you coach with urgency and respect, and you make the venue a place people want to work and return to.
• Self‑Awareness & Integrity — You own the standards and the controls — cash, comps, pours, compliance, and audits — you run a clean, honest, inspection‑ready operation, and you document and elevate the hard things.

• Guest experience: fast, accurate service; effective recovery; a consistently clean and welcoming environment.
• People: stable staffing, strong retention, completed training, and clear performance accountability.
• Financial performance: disciplined labor, food COGS, and beverage COGS; controlled comps/voids; improved profitability.
• Operational rhythm: inspection‑ready standards, consistent shift execution, clean closes, and tight cash controls.
• Leadership bench: capable leaders who run service without constant escalation.
• Bar identity: a curated whiskey list and consistent cocktail program, brand‑aligned and built for profitable execution.

• Recruit, hire, onboard, train, schedule, and performance‑manage the FOH and BOH teams.
• Set clear standards and hold the team accountable through coaching, documentation, and consistent follow‑through.
• Lead daily pre‑shifts, manager huddles, and post‑shift recaps; run structured manager and staff meetings with priorities, deadlines, and ownership.
• Build and maintain a strong leadership bench and succession plan, and keep an always‑on hiring pipeline for critical roles.
• Own training standards and completion cadence — onboarding, station training, refreshers, and validation.

• Own the MOD schedule and ensure leadership coverage for all operating hours, peak periods, and events.
• Serve as the escalation point for critical issues — guest incidents, staffing emergencies, facility failures, cash…