Cafe Lead

Nourish Wellness Cafe — Cafe Lead

Pop Life · 15619 Waterloo Road, Cleveland, OH 44110

Full time · On site · Cleveland, OH (Waterloo Arts District) · Hourly base + tips + bonus and commission potential · Base $15 to $17 per hour · Reports to: Head Chef

Nourish is the 100% vegan cafe inside Pop Life, a community venue on Waterloo Road for art, wellness, movement, music, and ideas. The cafe feeds the building through daily service, grab-and-go, catering, and the events that bring people through the door.

We are rebuilding Nourish under new ownership around a simple belief: food is one of the most powerful tools we have to support healthier lives.

Our mission is to inspire healthier lives by meeting people where they are and proving that every nourishing choice has the power to create meaningful change. Healthy eating should feel approachable, satisfying, and sustainable. Lasting wellness is built through small, intentional choices that fit into everyday life, not perfection.

Our vision is a world where food is recognized not just as fuel, but as a powerful tool for health, connection, and quality of life. We want Nourish to become more than a cafe. It should be a trusted destination where people discover just how good nourishing food can taste and how naturally it can become part of everyday life.

The Cafe Lead is the person who helps bring that vision to life every day.

You are the Head Chef's right hand and the only other leader in the cafe. You cook, run the line, lead the team, and carry responsibility for the schedule, ordering, service, and numbers. When the Head Chef is off or supporting an event, the cafe is yours.

The Role

Leadership here is not a title. It is the standard you set every shift: the greeting at the counter, the plate that goes out, the recommendation you make, the name you remember, and the way you respond when something goes wrong. The team copies what you do, not what you say.

The cafe's best days are the days there is real energy behind the counter. Your job is to help make every day one of those days.

That means creating an experience people want to return to, helping guests discover food they genuinely enjoy, building relationships within the community, and running a cafe that is both mission-driven and financially healthy.

This is still a sales-oriented leadership role. You should be comfortable making recommendations, talking about the menu, asking for catering business, following up on opportunities, and helping grow Nourish. The goal is not to push unnecessary purchases. It is to understand what people need, connect them with something worthwhile, and give them a reason to come back.

You are paid for helping create those results, with a bonus tied to revenue goals and commission on catering sales.

The Job: Day to Day

• Revenue and performance. Help grow daily sales, repeat visits, catering, and overall cafe performance. Understand what is selling, make thoughtful menu recommendations, introduce guests to relevant offerings, and report sales and average ticket weekly
• Right hand to the Head Chef. Execute prep lists, menu direction, and priorities. Take tasks off the Head Chef's plate and close them. Keep communication clear so nothing important becomes a surprise
• Daily operation. Open and close on schedule, run service, maintain quality and speed, handle cash and card transactions accurately, reconcile daily, and keep the space clean and inspection-ready
• Food and menu. Execute the rotating vegan menu to spec, keep prep sheets current, and bring forward ideas based on guest feedback, demand, seasonality, and what sells
• Ordering and inventory. Complete weekly counts, maintain par levels, and manage dry goods orders. The Head Chef orders everything else for now, and all spending is approved through her first. Maintain the waste log and know what is on the shelf
• Cost awareness. Pay attention to waste, purchasing, portions, and product movement. Help build and maintain accurate food-cost numbers so the cafe can make better decisions
• Catering and events. Quote, plan, prep, and execute catering orders and event food. Events at Pop Life run through the kitchen
• Catering and event sales. Help grow this part of the business, not just fulfill it. Follow up on inquiries, provide timely quotes, build relationships, and develop opportunities with offices, community groups, celebrations, organizations, and people already connected to the Waterloo area. Own the catering pipeline and report on it weekly
• Event support. Pop Life runs on events, and the cafe is part of them through food, service, setup, reset, and a front-of-house presence that makes guests feel welcome. Work events and help staff the cafe around them
• Social media support. Capture the cafe's daily life for Nourish channels, including specials, food, people, events, and the stories behind what we serve. Provide authentic photos and straightforward content to Pop Life's marketing team consistently
• Team and training. Schedule, train, and lead cafe staff (2 to 4 and growing) under the Head Chef. Teach the why, not just the steps, so people can think, solve problems, and talk confidently about the food they serve. How you train directly affects the guest experience, team retention, and cafe performance
• Shift coverage. Coverage is yours. When someone calls out, find coverage or step onto the shift yourself. Service cannot stop because the schedule changed
• Food safety. Run daily temperature and sanitation logs and keep the cafe ready for a health inspection at any hour
• Customer experience. Be the front line and the standard the team copies. This is a community, not just a cafe. Engage guests, learn names, understand what brings people in, and build relationships that bring them back. Help guests navigate the menu and make choices that fit their tastes, preferences, and goals without judgment or pressure. Handle complaints and incorrect orders in the moment, make them right, document them, and escalate when needed. Refunds require Head Chef approval for now. Read reviews, learn from them, and act on recurring feedback. Every guest is welcome, and it should feel that way

Who Does Well Here

• Consistent. Brings the same standard on day 30 as day 1 and the same care to a plate at 2pm as at 8am
• Dependable. Shows up, opens on time, and follows through without being chased
• Flexible. A catering order lands, a supplier shorts you, or an event runs long. You adjust without allowing service to suffer
• Willing and curious. Says yes to the unfamiliar, asks how things work, and keeps learning about food, systems, wellness, and the people who come through the door
• Comfortable with sales. Can confidently recommend food, talk about what Nourish offers, follow up on an opportunity, ask for catering business, and turn a great guest experience into a lasting relationship
• A problem-solver. Figures out what is actually wrong and fixes it instead of continually working around it
• Outgoing and engaging. Comfortable at the counter, at events, and with regulars. Builds genuine relationships with the people Nourish serves
• A critical thinker. Reads the numbers, questions assumptions, notices patterns, and brings a recommendation instead of only identifying a problem
• A leader and a teacher. Sets the standard, holds it calmly, and explains the why so people become capable of succeeding without constant supervision
• A foodie. Genuinely interested in food. Eats out, reads, experiments, and cares about what plant-based food can be. Curious about the connection between food, health, and wellbeing

What We Need From You

• 2+ years running or leading a commercial kitchen or cafe
• Plant-based cooking experience, or demonstrated ability to execute a fully vegan menu at a high standard
• Experience with a POS system and third-party delivery platforms such as Square, ezCater, Grubhub, Uber Eats, or similar
• Comfortable with basic spreadsheets for inventory and sales tracking
• Catering or event food experience, including quoting, client communication, and sales
• Experience contributing to sales growth, repeat business, catering, customer engagement, or other measurable cafe performance
• Comfortable recommending products and menu items in a helpful, natural way
• Reliable, direct, and calm under pressure. You can address a difficult issue clearly and then work toward the solution
• Able to work weekends, evening events, and holidays, and to step onto a shift on short notice when coverage falls through
• Able to stand for extended periods and perform the physical work of running a cafe

As We Grow

As the cafe rebuilds its systems, this role will eventually take responsibility for keeping menus, pricing, and hours accurate across the POS, online ordering, and delivery platforms. This is not part of the role on day one.

Compensation

Compensation has three components:

• Hourly rate of $15 to $17 per hour, plus tips
• Bonus tied to cafe revenue goals
• Commission on catering sales you generate once a monthly sales floor is reached

Additional benefits include one shift meal per day.

Nice to Have

• Experience opening, rebuilding, or relaunching a cafe
• Interest in food-as-medicine, therapeutic nutrition, or medically oriented plant-based meal programs
• Experience educating guests about plant-based food and ingredients
• Ties to the Collinwood / Waterloo community

About Pop Life

Pop Life exists to help people go after the life they would chase if fear, money, or circumstance were not in the way, and to make wellness reachable for everyone.

Nourish brings that philosophy to the table. We believe food can be delicious, approachable, deeply satisfying, and an important part of living well. We meet people where they are and help make the next nourishing choice an easy one.

All are welcome. Take your shot.

Pop Waterloo, LLC is an equal opportunity employer. Duties may evolve as the cafe and business grow.