Experienced Barista / Café Operations Assistant – Future Café Manager (Rivonia)

The Daily Grind Coffee Café

Location: Rivonia, Johannesburg
Employment Type: Full-time
Start Date: Immediate
Salary: Competitive basic salary + performance-based profit-sharing opportunities

About The Daily Grind

The Daily Grind is a growing coffee café brand focused on quality coffee, excellent customer experiences, efficient operations, and building a strong community-driven café environment.

We are looking for an experienced barista with strong operational and business understanding to join our team and help launch and grow our Rivonia location.

This is a unique opportunity for someone who does not only want to make coffee but wants to take ownership of a café operation and grow with the business.

The successful candidate will initially operate the café independently, managing everything from coffee preparation, customer service, daily operations, stock control, and sales, until the business grows enough to require additional staff.

As the café expands, this role will develop into a Café Manager position, with responsibility for managing employees, maintaining standards, and supporting future branch growth.

Role Overview

Initially, you will be responsible for running the café as a standalone operator, including:

• Preparing high-quality coffee and beverages
• Managing customers and daily sales
• Operating the café independently
• Maintaining cleanliness and presentation standards
• Managing stock and inventory
• Managing deliveries and online orders
• Completing daily operational tasks
• Reporting on business performance

This role requires someone who is comfortable taking ownership and working independently.

Key Responsibilities Barista Responsibilities (Essential)

The successful candidate must be an experienced barista and confident with:

• Preparing quality espresso-based beverages
• Operating commercial coffee equipment
• Dialling in coffee and maintaining consistency
• Understanding coffee preparation standards
• Creating a positive customer experience
• Maintaining speed and quality during busy periods
• Keeping the coffee station clean and organised

You must have practical café experience and be able to confidently manage the coffee operation without supervision.

Café Operations Management

Responsibilities include:

• Opening and closing the café
• Managing daily café operations independently
• Ensuring smooth workflow
• Maintaining excellent customer service
• Keeping the café clean, organised, and welcoming
• Identifying opportunities to improve efficiency
• Taking ownership of problems and finding solutions

POS & Payment Systems

The candidate must understand and be comfortable with:

• GAAP Point of Sale system
• Processing customer payments
• Daily cash-up procedures
• Sales reporting
• Tracking daily revenue
• Understanding sales performance

Experience with café or restaurant POS systems is required.

Delivery Platform Management

The candidate must understand how to manage:

• Uber Eats
• Mr D Food

Responsibilities include:

• Managing online orders
• Ensuring orders are prepared correctly
• Monitoring customer feedback
• Maintaining delivery service standards
• Improving online sales performance

Stock & Inventory Management

You will be responsible for:

• Monitoring stock levels
• Ordering supplies
• Managing coffee, milk, food, packaging, and consumables
• Tracking wastage
• Preventing stock shortages
• Maintaining supplier relationships
• Ensuring stock accuracy

Previous experience managing café or restaurant stock is required.

Business & Financial Understanding

The ideal candidate must understand the business side of running a café.

You should understand:

• Revenue
• Expenses
• Gross profit
• Basic profit and loss calculations
• Product profitability
• Cost control
• Waste management

You should be able to understand how operational decisions affect the profitability of the café.

Administration & Communication

The candidate must be comfortable with:

• Email communication
• WhatsApp business communication
• Supplier communication
• Customer communication
• Daily reporting
• Following operational processes

Professional communication skills are important.

Events & Weekend Operations

The Daily Grind will participate in events, markets, corporate activations, and private functions.

The successful candidate will assist with:

• Event preparation
• Stock planning
• Coffee service at events
• Setup and breakdown
• Customer engagement
• Managing event operations

Weekend availability will occasionally be required.

Additional profit-sharing opportunities will apply for successfully completed events.

Future Branch Management Opportunity

As The Daily Grind grows, this role has the opportunity to become a management position.

The successful candidate may progress into:

• Café Manager
• Branch Manager
• Multi-branch Operations Manager

Future responsibilities may include:

• Training new employees
• Managing teams
• Maintaining quality standards
• Monitoring branch performance remotely
• Supporting new branch openings
• Ensuring consistency across locations

Marketing & Growth

The ideal candidate understands that building a café requires attracting and retaining customers.

Experience or understanding of:

• Local marketing
• Promotions
• Social media
• Customer engagement
• Increasing sales
• Building customer loyalty

will be advantageous.

Corporate Account Management

The Daily Grind will develop corporate relationships.

The candidate should understand:

• Managing corporate customers
• Handling corporate orders
• Maintaining professional relationships
• Following up with business clients
• Managing repeat accounts

RequirementsEssential Requirements:

• Must live in Johannesburg
• Must be able to work in Rivonia
• Must be available immediately
• Experienced barista with café experience
• Able to independently run a café operation
• Experience with coffee preparation and equipment
• Experience with GAAP or similar POS systems
• Experience with Uber Eats and Mr D Food
• Experience with stock and inventory management
• Understanding of café operations
• Basic financial understanding
• Reliable and punctual
• Friendly and customer-focused
• Clean, organised, and professional appearance
• Strong communication skills

Advantageous:

• English speaking required
• Afrikaans speaking is a plus
• Previous café management experience
• Experience opening a new café
• Event catering experience
• Marketing experience
• Experience managing teams
• Experience managing multiple locations

Compensation & Growth

The successful candidate will receive:

• Competitive basic salary
• Performance-based incentives
• Profit sharing from completed events
• Profit sharing from profits generated by future branches
• Opportunity to grow into a senior management role
• Opportunity to be part of building a growing café brand

The Ideal Candidate

We are looking for someone who is:

☕ A skilled and passionate barista
☕ Independent and responsible
☕ Business-minded
☕ Customer-focused
☕ Reliable and punctual
☕ Clean and organised
☕ Positive and friendly
☕ Interested in growing with the company

This is an opportunity for someone who wants more than a job, someone who wants to help build and grow The Daily Grind into a successful café brand.

To apply, please send your CV and a short introduction explaining your café experience and why you would be the right fit for this opportunity.

Pay: R5 000,00 - R5 500,00 per month

Ability to commute/relocate:

• Rivonia, Gauteng 2128: Reliably commute or planning to relocate before starting work (Required)

Experience:

• Barista: 1 year (Required)

Language:

• Afrikaans (Preferred)

Work Location: In person