About the Opportunity
We are building something new in Vienna — a ground-floor restaurant, bar and café concept inside a design-led hotel in one of the city’s most exciting new neighborhoods. The space is fully fitted, the infrastructure is ready, and the hotel is operational. What’s missing is the person who will make it theirs.
This is not a GM hire in the traditional sense. We are looking for a founding operator — someone who will co-create the concept from scratch, build the team, set the standards, and run the business as if it were their own. In return, we are offering something rare: real equity in the F&B operation, a performance-linked bonus structure with no ceiling, and the autonomy to shape every aspect of the guest experience.
Think of this as a startup role with hotel infrastructure behind it. You get the space, the systems, the license platform, and a guaranteed audience of hotel guests. You bring the vision, the palate, the hustle, and the ability to turn a blank canvas into a destination.
What You’ll Do
- Concept Creation: Co-develop the F&B concept, brand identity, menu architecture, pricing philosophy, interior mood, and guest journey. You will work with our design team and ownership, but the creative direction is yours to lead.
- Pre-Opening: Hire and train the opening team. Set up supplier relationships, negotiate purchasing terms, establish SOPs, HACCP procedures, and the operational playbook. Source the opening inventory. Run the soft launch.
- Daily Operations: Full P&L ownership from day one. You manage the kitchen, the floor, the bar, procurement, stock, scheduling, labour cost, covers, revenue per seat, food cost percentage — the full picture. You are the operator, not a figurehead.
- Guest experience: Set and maintain the standard. Build a culture where service is genuine, the food is consistent, and the space feels like somewhere people want to come back to — hotel guests and locals alike.
- Commercial performance: Own the revenue targets. Drive covers, manage average check, build the events and private dining pipeline, develop the bar programme, and find the revenue lines that the space makes possible.
- Team: Build, lead and retain a team that reflects the concept. You hire, you train, you mentor, you hold the standard. No HR department to hide behind.
What You Bring
- Minimum 5–8 years in F&B leadership, with at least one concept you built or substantially shaped from pre-opening through maturity
- Direct experience managing a full P&L — not just operations, but cost control, margin management, supplier negotiation, and revenue optimisation
- A genuine point of view on food, drink, and hospitality. We want someone with taste, not just competence
- Fluent English; German is a strong advantage but not a prerequisite if you have the right profile and are willing to learn
- Comfort with ambiguity; this is a build, not a maintenance role. If you need a brand manual and a regional director to report to, this isn’t the right fit
- Entrepreneurial instinct; you think about food cost the way a founder thinks about burn rate. You negotiate with suppliers the way you’d negotiate with investors. You obsess over the details because they’re your details
- Hotel F&B experience is valued but not required — we are equally interested in candidates from standalone restaurants, bar groups, or food startups who want to scale
Compensation — Founder-Level Package
We have deliberately structured this role to attract someone who thinks like a founder, not an employee. The package has three components:
1. Base salary. Competitive fixed salary benchmarked to the Vienna market for senior F&B operators (indicative range: EUR 70.000 gross per annum, depending on experience). The base is designed to cover your living costs comfortably, not to be the primary driver of your total compensation.
2. Performance bonus (uncapped). A quarterly bonus tied directly to the F&B operations performance against agreed targets.
3. Equity participation. This is the centerpiece. You will receive an equity stake in the F&B operating entity (not the hotel company).
The exact percentages, vesting schedule, and valuation mechanics will be set out in a shareholders’ agreement or equity participation agreement, to be negotiated in good faith before or shortly after your start date. We are flexible on structure and open to discussion — the goal is alignment, not a template.
What We Offer Beyond Compensation
- A fully fitted, design-led space in one of Vienna’s strongest locations, ready for concept development
- Hotel infrastructure: the license platform, AVAC/HVAC, extraction, plumbing, electrical, structural maintenance, building insurance, and FF&E are all Hotel-borne costs. You focus on the operation, not the premises
- A guaranteed baseline of hotel guests for breakfast and casual dining, plus strong walk-in potential from the street
- Full operational autonomy within an agreed concept framework: you set the menu, the pricing, the suppliers, the systems, the hours, and the team. No committee approvals for day-to-day decisions
- An ownership group that has built and operated hospitality businesses across multiple markets and understands the difference between oversight and interference
- A long-term commitment. This is not a pop-up or a management contract — we are building a business together
Process
If this sounds like you, reach out with:
- Your CV
- A short note (one page maximum) on what kind of concept you’d build in this space and why; we’re not looking for a polished pitch deck — we want to understand how you think
- Any links to previous work, press, or social channels that show what you’ve built before
Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. We are looking to have someone in place by Q3 2026, with a target opening of Q3 2026.
