General Manager - Premium Italian Restaurant (Pre-Opening)

An opportunity has become available to lead the pre-opening and ongoing operations of a new premium, high-energy restaurant opening in a key location at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town. Backed by an international lifestyle-hospitality group, the restaurant is a contemporary Mediterranean concept with Italian influence and a distinctly South African soul - sophisticated yet accessible, energetic yet grounded in genuine hospitality.

This is a founding leadership role, as General Manager you will own the pre-opening programme, build and develop the opening team, take full ownership of the restaurant P&L, and act as the primary custodian of the brand as it establishes itself in Cape Town's premium dining landscape.

The role calls for a restaurateur first and foremost - a visible, floor-led operator who understands the rhythm of a busy premium restaurant, combines international operating standards with genuine local relevance, and can translate a strong personal network across Cape Town's hospitality, business and lifestyle communities into reservations, repeat visitation, private dining and events.

Responsibilities

• Lead the full pre-opening lifecycle: organisational structure, manpower planning, leadership recruitment, SOPs, service standards, training and operational readiness.
• Build and develop the opening team, ensuring every employee understands both the service standards and the reasons behind them.
• Own day-to-day operations with a highly visible, hands-on floor presence across reservations, reception, dining room, bar, private dining and guest relations.
• Take full ownership of the restaurant as a profit centre — revenue, EBITDA and operating margins - managing labour productivity, food and beverage cost, gross profit, menu mix, average spend, table utilisation and RevPASH.
• Work closely with the Executive Chef and beverage leadership on menu engineering, pricing, procurement and product mix.
• Build memorable, highly personalised guest experiences and develop lasting relationships with regular guests, VIPs and the wider Cape Town hospitality community.
• Actively grow the restaurant's client base and network — concierges, corporates, lifestyle, events and destination-management partners — converting relationships into sustained revenue.
• Act as brand custodian, working with culinary, marketing and PR teams so that food, service, environment, music, events and communications consistently reinforce the concept.
• Lead through a people-centric, servant-led philosophy: coach continuously, develop future leaders and build culture through personal example.

Requirements

• Proven experience as a General Manager, Restaurant Director or senior operator in premium, elevated-casual or high-energy restaurant environments.
• Demonstrable pre-opening experience - recruitment, training, operational setup and launch execution.
• Strong exposure to internationally benchmarked hospitality standards, with experience running high-volume restaurants without sacrificing personalised service.
• Full restaurant P&L ownership: revenue and EBITDA management, labour planning, food and beverage cost control, gross-profit analysis, menu engineering and pricing, forecasting and performance reporting.
• A deep, current understanding of the Cape Town premium hospitality market and an established local network capable of supporting a launch - with evidence of how those relationships have previously translated into revenue, events and repeat clientele.
• Experience in premium Mediterranean, Italian, lifestyle or comparable restaurant environments, and within multi-brand or sophisticated restaurant groups, is advantageous.
• Charismatic, highly visible, floor-led leadership style with strong emotional intelligence and a genuine commitment to coaching and developing teams.
• Fluent professional English and impeccable grooming.
• Must hold the right to work in South Africa.

Benefits

• Salary: competitive and commensurate with experience, market-aligned for a founding premium-restaurant General Manager in Cape Town - confirmed with shortlisted candidates.
• Performance-based incentive linked to pre-opening delivery and trading performance.
• Further benefits to be confirmed during the recruitment process.

Additional Information

• This is a pre-opening role; the successful candidate is expected to start ahead of launch, with exact timing confirmed during the process.
• Based on-site at the V&A Waterfront, Cape Town, the role requires a consistent, hands-on floor presence including peak evening and weekend services.
• Candidates must hold the right to work in South Africa.

Disclaimer

We appreciate your interest in this vacancy. Due to the high number of applications we receive, only candidates selected to move to the next stage of the recruitment process can be contacted. Radiant does not charge any fee to candidates.