Front of House Manager

Salary: £24,000 per annum

The Living Room Cinema Chipping Norton is looking for a Front of House Manager to join their team.

About The Living Room Cinema

Created by the team behind the highly successful and respected Living Room Cinema in Liphook, this local cinema is a welcoming home from home at the heart of the Cotswolds community; a local cinema like you’ve never experienced before. We care about our surroundings, our environment, our experience, and our people, but most of all we care about our guests.

Chipping Norton

Our new venture in Chipping Norton is a 2-screen boutique cinema with a vibrant Café/Bar which transforms to an elegant evening wine and cocktail bar. The film programme consists of new releases, arthouse cinema, classic movies as well as special evenings with Q&A’s, and The Little Living Room, our delightful weekend Kids Club.

The Living Room Cinema Chipping Norton will be a welcoming, cultural hub for the Chipping Norton community and our Front of House Managers will be an essential part of making our venue a destination spot along with the FOH team. Reporting to the General Manager, the successful candidate will support the GM in all aspects of the cinema operation including helping to manage the Café/Bar and digital projection/auditorium.

Due to the nature of our business, weekend and evening work is required for this role. Please only apply if you are able to work evenings and weekends on a regular basis. Applicants must also be available over all school holiday periods including half-terms, summer holidays, Easter, and Christmas.

Only applicants over the age of 18 will be considered.

About the role

Job Title: Front of House Manager
Contract Type: Full Time – 40 hrs per week
Reporting to: General Manager
Salary: £24,000 per annum
Purpose of the role: To support the General Manager in the smooth operational running of The Living Room Cinema Chipping Norton.

Key working relationships

• General Manager
• Front of House Team Members
• Membership and Events Coordinator

Key tasks

• To ensure the smooth day-to-day running of the cinema ensuring that the Front of House team always deliver exceptional customer service.
• Be a key holder for the venue: opening and closing over a variety of shift patterns over the week and ensuring that correct financial and security procedures are adhered to.
• Provide a welcoming environment and always look for opportunities to improve the customer experience.
• To be aware of maximising retail profitability by maintaining excellent product knowledge of our food and beverage proposition and consistently always look for opportunities to upsell.
• To be fully knowledgeable in our film programme and able to confidently converse with customers to recommend films for them.
• Actively discuss and maximise sales of our 3-tiered membership programme with a full understanding of the benefits of each tier.
• Lead and motivate the team and give feedback to develop individual staff members.
• To ensure that all Health & Safety protocols are being adhered to.
• To be knowledgeable in the operating system of the fire panel and the evacuation procedure. Along with the General Manager conduct fire alarm testing and evacuation drills.
• Create a positive and inclusive working environment where staff members gel as a team at all times and take pride in what they do.
• Point of contact for all customer queries.
• Responsible for the on-duty team and their welfare.
• To brief team members on the day/night ahead, expected numbers, any special events, potential problems.
• To ingest films into the digital projector and build digital playlists for DCP screenings. (Training will be given for this and correct storage for the films).
• To promptly start the films in both screens making sure all audience members are aware the film is starting and welcoming them into the auditoriums.
• Ensure the smooth running of all private hires and events, making sure the clients needs are met and creating a welcoming host venue for them.
• To sell and serve drinks and food in the cinema Café/Bar when needed on busy times. Coffee Barista training will be offered.
• To be knowledgeable of our local and nationwide suppliers for our Café/Bar and maintain good relationships with them all.
• Along with the GM ensure stock management policies are adhered to and take deliveries of stock.
• To remain vigilant around the cinema and ensure safety and security throughout the working day.
• To maintain cinema cleanliness and safety through operational vigilance.
• To be familiar with the general area and businesses of Chipping Norton and maintain good relationships with our neighbours.
• To be an ambassador for The Living Room Cinema Chipping Norton.
• To undertake any other duties that may reasonably be required by the General Manager.

Person specification

• Experience of working in a venue, hospitality, festival or customer experience operation in a similar managerial or supervisory role.
• The ability to prioritise and multitask, to be adaptable and remain calm under pressure. A cinema environment can be exceptionally busy at certain times; no two days are the same and the ability to think on your feet is essential.
• Demonstrate professional demeanour, a dedicated work ethic, self-motivation, show initiative and an attention to detail.
• A natural leader and the ability to delegate effectively and motivate others.
• Retail and cash handling experience desirable; comfortable working with IT.
• Understand budgets and business targets, and how to reach these.
• Good interpersonal and communication skills and an ability to interact clearly and confidently with a diverse range of people.
• Excellent problem-solving capabilities
• Willingness to work flexibly including evenings, weekend, and holidays.
• A sense of pride working for a company that is the beating heart of the local community. Passion for the local area and an understanding of its demographic.
• A fun team player.
• A current First Aid at Work certificate is desirable.
• You will need to be a personal licence holder (preferred but not essential when applying for the role as training can be provided).
• Passionate about the Arts, particularly film.
• A fabulous sense of humour!

Why work for The Living Room Cinema?

Put simply, we will strive to be one of the best employers in the area. We want to be known for providing a rewarding and stimulating working environment, showing flexibility, and understanding towards our employees.

As well as competitive pay and an employer pension scheme, you can enjoy a range of other perks and benefits such as cinema tickets, a generous holiday allowance and other employee benefits.

Most of all though, we strongly believe that you should love what you do. We will make sure that it is always a pleasure to come to work and, like us, you will be proud to work for The Living Room Cinema.

Please apply with your CV and cover letter outlining why you would be good for the role to: gm.chippingnorton@thelivingroomcinema.co.uk

The closing date for this position is 08/09/2023 at 00:00