General Manager | Major Japanese Restaurant

A major Japanese restaurant group planning a new opening in Bentonville, Arkansas is seeking a General Manager to lead its launch and operations.

A multi-concept space that creates an interactive and varied dining experience, offering a chance for both chefs and diners to take risks and find delight. In the restaurant, they’ll showcase yakitori, ramen, and sushi across multiple food stages and inventive grab and-go options.

<Job Summary>
As general manager, you will identify and attract guest chefs from The US, Japan and beyond to host weekly Food Concerts, and lead programming and partnerships in the community.
Our first location will be in Bentonville, but we have ambitious plans to expand nationally.
In your role as the General Manager, your primary responsibility is to establish the business model in Bentonville. As one of the first hires, you’ll manage and execute everything from construction and build-out to ingredient procurement, hiring and training, and compliance.
From there, you’ll iterate and improve the model as we expand to future locations. This is an opportunity to take true ownership of the management process and creative decision making and grow into a strategic leadership position.

<Responsibilities>
・Plan and oversee all day-to-day restaurant activities, including full P&L responsibility, starting with the buildout and opening.
・ Create and manage the restaurant and food concert SOP, and oversee creation of
the recipe database.
・Hire, support, and train both BOH and FOH teams across all concepts, including yakitori, temaki, and ramen, and manage scheduling for lunch and dinner operations.
・This includes hiring for your immediate support team as your role becomes more
strategic (HR consulting, accounting support, etc.)
・Establish and maintain visibility throughout the organization, so you and others have a clear picture of inventory, costing, tipping, revenue reporting, growth, and challenges.
・ Iterate constantly, reviewing what’s working and what needs improvement—including making difficult but necessary changes wherever necessary.
・ Bring a mix of warmth and discipline to the team, emphasizing professionalism and mentorship. Your team will be collaborative, engaged, and excellent, and they will clearly demonstrate that to visiting team members.
・Work with a distributed team, spread from Bentonville to Japan, coordinating virtually and sometimes asynchronously.
・ Foster a memorable guest experience, ensuring consistency when visiting teams host concerts.

<Requirements>
・Japanese English bilingual
・Must have experience of AGM or GM  for over 3 years
・Must have had P&L experience before
・Japanese food experience – know the terms and types with confidence
・Create and manage SOP and Recipe database
・Should have opened a restaurant before/been part of an opening team
・Appropriate mix of warmth and discipline, focus on professionalism and mentoring
・Iteration – humility to review what’s working and what’s not, improve as you go
・Work with a distributed team – Japan, California, everywhere in between (coordinate virtually, asynchronously)
・Create visibility throughout the organization – inventory, payroll, costing, SOP, tipping, revenue reporting
・Proficiency with GSuite, Slack, Toast, and inventory management software.

【Keywords】
・General Manager, Assistant General Manager
・Restaurant P&L
・Japanese Cuisine