Food & Beverage, Retail, Coffee

Operations Manager | Chicago

Chicago, ILOnsiteFull TimeManager / Head$100,000–$130,000 /yrPosted 5 days agoVisa sponsorship available

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Required skills

Operations Manager
General Managers
area PnL
sales forecasts
labor plan
inventory calibration
talent pipeline
succession targets
KPIs
menu launches

Nice to have

fast-growing consumer business
retail
fast-moving
high-energy
collaborative
fun

Role summary

Blank Street is seeking an Operations Manager to lead an area of 5+ stores and their General Managers. This role focuses on people development, PnL ownership, and strategic planning to drive continuous improvement and exceptional customer and employee experiences. The Operations Manager will coach GMs on hospitality standards, financial management, inventory control, and talent development, reporting to the Director of Operations. Key responsibilities include translating sales forecasts into store-level plans, setting labor targets, managing inventory, developing GMs through training and feedback, and fostering a positive team culture. The ideal candidate has 5+ years of leadership experience in hospitality or retail, strong financial judgment, and excellent communication skills.

About Blank Street

At Blank Street, we’re on a mission to become the defining food and beverage brand of our generation. From the very beginning, we’ve set out to add a spark to ordinary experiences through elevated products, attention-to-detail, and a commitment to making every moment memorable. We’re motivated by the millions of customers we serve across cities, and know that our potential is unlimited. It all starts with our people and their commitment to make magic happen each and every day.

Like the sound of this? Keep reading.

Start Something Extraordinary…

As an Operations Manager at Blank Street, you are the ultimate leader of an entire area of 5+ stores and the General Managers who lead them.

That means your greatest responsibility is growing people. You will hire, coach and develop an A* team of GMs, helping them become confident leaders who build engaged, high-performing teams across our stores. You are also the strategic mind behind your stores: you will own your area's PnL and decide how to plan, prioritize and follow through, so your stores get better day by day. In a fast-moving and constantly evolving business, you will create clarity, build capability, and foster a culture of accountability, hospitality and continuous improvement.

You'll report to the Director of Operations and work closely with the rest of our Field Leadership team. Together, you'll help scale the next generation of leaders while driving an exceptional experience for both our teams and our customers.

What You'll Own

Be Our Ultimate Hospitality Leader

Make the standards stick: Coach your GMs to build the systems, behaviors and processes that keep our hospitality standards high every shift, whether you're in the store or not.

Hold the bar: Check standards across your area through regular store visits and data, and hold GMs accountable for closing gaps fast.

Jump in where it counts: Take an active role in turning around struggling stores and launching new stores in your area.

Run a Tight PnL

Plan for demand: Take quarterly sales forecasts from HQ, translate them store by store and make sure every GM knows what's coming (growth, slowdowns, seasonality, new openings nearby).

Build the labor plan: Set labor targets a quarter out, including headcount and transfers between stores, and coach GMs to build rotas against them.

Calibrate inventory: Help GMs calibrate inventory to forecast demand, and set clear guardrails so no store is badly overstocked or running short.

Build and Develop an A-Team

Develop your GMs: Grow GMs into future leaders through our training pathways, regular 1:1s and direct feedback.

Own the talent pipeline: Calibrate hiring and promotion decisions across your area and set quarterly succession targets from barista to GM, so every store has its next leader ready.

Build an area-wide culture: Turn your stores into one team that shares what works and backs each other, with a culture that's distinctly Blank Street: fast-moving, high-energy, collaborative and fun.

Operate Strategically

Know your numbers inside out: Master your stores' KPIs and PnL, and set clear priorities for your area every week and every quarter.

Make sure every store has a plan: Work with each GM to build a plan for their store, then stay close as they carry it out and push the numbers in the right direction.

Land change and innovation: Roll out new initiatives across your area, from menu launches to tech tools. That means clear comms, hands-on training and real buy-in from your teams, then tracking adoption until it sticks.

Who We’re Looking For

5+ years of leadership experience in hospitality, retail, or another fast-growing consumer business.

Experience leading multiple locations (3-10) and developing the managers who run them.

Passionate about hospitality: you love creating exceptional customer and employee experiences, and care about setting the bar high in every store you’ve managed.

Commercial thinker: you have strong operational and financial judgment. You read the data (P&L, KPI dashboards) and know what to do next.

People leader: you have developed managers in the past and are able to hire an A* team, coach, make decisions and lead through change.

Strategic planner: you know how to plan a quarter ahead and how to turn priorities into plans your GMs can act on.

Excellent communicator: you know how to cut through the noise and are sharp in writing (Slack, Notion, email) and confident in speech (area meetings, workshops).

Availability Requirements

Able to travel regularly between stores within your market.

Full Time: 50 hours per week, 5 days of availability required and must be available to work 2 peak days (usually weekend days, weekend as described as Friday, Saturday, Sunday)

Benefits & Perks

$100,000–$130,000 annual base salary

Blank Street believes this salary range is accurate for this role in Chicago at the time of posting. Final compensation will depend on factors such as experience, skills, qualifications, and location. In addition to base salary, this role is eligible for a competitive total rewards package, which may include benefits, paid time off, and other perks. The posted salary range may be updated from time to time.

15 days of paid annual leave (on top of company-observed holidays and sick time)

Three health plan options, with full coverage available for two employee-only tiers.

Commuter benefits

Parental leave

Bereavement leave

Exclusive access to our coveted Regulars program - yes, that means free coffee, matcha and more!

Regular social outings with the team

Free Blank Street swag

This job description is intended to describe the general nature and level of work performed in this role. It is not an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, or qualifications. Responsibilities and expectations may change from time to time based on business needs, and Blank Street reserves the right to modify, add, or remove duties at any time.

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