Restaurant Manager

Company Description

Mantis is a leading, conservation-focused hotel group with eco-lodges, waterways, and curated eco-resorts located all over the world. Sustainable travellers have been enjoying eco-tourism, safaris, and adventure travel with Mantis since 2000. Rooted in conservation, Mantis pursues sustainable business practices and develops tourism products that are respectful of the environment and communities in which they operate. Whether small and intimate or vast and complex, on a sweeping African plain, beach-side escape or bustling city, each is an exceptional place for guests to find themselves. While uniquely different in the experiences they offer, all are linked through a collective obsession to be extraordinary, to be rare in a world that mass-produces sameness.

Job Description

Restaurant Manager - Italian Experience

As Restaurant Manager at Hawar Resort by Mantis, you will oversee the day-to-day operations of our restaurants across the resort, with a particular focus on our signature Italian speciality restaurant. You will be responsible for delivering exceptional dining experiences that reflect the resort’s luxury positioning, combining outstanding service, authentic culinary experiences, and warm, personalized hospitality.

What is in it for you:

• Unleash the excitement: enticing rewards and unbeatable benefits are waiting for you!
• Ignite your skills with our cutting-edge Academies for rapid professional growth.
• Cultivate your talents and watch your career flourish, locally and globally.
• Drive change through impactful Corporate Social Responsibility activities.
• Immerse yourself in a vibrant work environment with extraordinary colleagues.
• Join us on a direct path to success as we skyrocket to new heights!Key Responsibilities:

• Restaurant Operations: Oversee the daily operations of the restaurant, ensuring seamless service, operational efficiency, and consistently high standards of presentation, cleanliness, and guest satisfaction. Support operations across other F&B venues when required.
• Guest Experience: Deliver exceptional and personalized guest experiences in line with Hawar Resort by Mantis’ luxury standards. Anticipate guest needs, handle feedback and complaints professionally, and build guest loyalty through attentive and memorable service.
• Italian Speciality Dining: Take a leading role in the operation and development of the resort’s Italian speciality restaurant, ensuring an authentic and elevated dining experience. Work closely with the director of culinary and culinary team to maintain consistency in food quality, menu presentation, Italian dining traditions, wine pairing, and service standards.
• Team Leadership and Development: Lead, supervise, train, and motivate the restaurant team, including supervisors, captains, servers, hosts, and other service personnel. Establish clear performance expectations, promote teamwork, and develop talent through coaching and ongoing training.
• Employee Engagement: Foster a positive, inclusive, and supportive working environment where team members feel valued, involved, and appreciated. Encourage open communication, recognise achievements, and promote a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Financial Performance: Take responsibility for the restaurant’s financial performance, including revenue generation, average spending, upselling, labour productivity, and operating costs. Monitor performance against budgets and targets, identify opportunities to increase profitability, and implement corrective actions when necessary.
• Cost Control and Inventory Management: Oversee stock control, inventory management, purchasing, and wastage reduction in coordination with the culinary and purchasing teams. Ensure appropriate stock levels, accurate records, and effective cost management, particularly for speciality ingredients, premium products, and wines.
• Food and Beverage Knowledge: Maintain excellent knowledge of the restaurant’s menus, ingredients, preparation methods, allergens, beverage offerings, and wine list. Ensure the team can confidently communicate menu details, make suitable recommendations, and deliver informed, professional service.
• Quality Assurance and Standards: Ensure consistent adherence to the resort’s service standards, brand expectations, and operational procedures. Conduct regular service briefings, monitor service delivery, and maintain high standards throughout all stages of the guest journey.
• Compliance, Health and Safety: Ensure full compliance with food safety, hygiene, occupational health and safety requirements, licensing regulations, and company policies. Work closely with the culinary and stewarding teams to maintain a clean, safe, and well-organised operation.
• Events and Special Occasions: Coordinate with the events, culinary, and wider F&B teams to deliver private dining experiences, celebrations, themed dinners, and special events. Ensure all arrangements meet guest expectations and operational requirements.
• Systems and Reporting: Utilize POS systems, restaurant management platforms, reservation systems, and Microsoft Office applications to monitor sales, analyse performance, manage reservations, and prepare accurate operational and financial reports.
• Interdepartmental Collaboration: Work closely with the director of Culinary, F&B leadership, stewarding, purchasing, finance, front office, and other departments to ensure smooth operations and consistent delivery of the resort’s overall guest experience.
• Flexibility and Operational Support: Maintain a hands-on presence during service and be flexible to work evenings, weekends, public holidays, and late-night shifts according to operational requirements. Provide support across the resort’s F&B outlets when needed.
• Additional Duties: Perform any other duties and responsibilities assigned by the Food & Beverage Manager, or other designated members of management.

Qualifications

• Educational Background: Bachelor’s degree or diploma in Hospitality Management, Restaurant Management, Food & Beverage Management, or a related field.
• Professional Experience: Minimum of 8 years of experience in food and beverage operations, including at least 3 years in a Restaurant Manager or equivalent leadership position within a luxury hotel, resort, or high-end standalone restaurant.
• Luxury Dining Experience: Proven experience managing upscale or luxury dining operations, with experience in speciality restaurants strongly preferred. Exposure to Michelin-starred or award-winning establishments would be a distinct advantage.
• Italian Restaurant Experience: Previous experience in an Italian restaurant or Italian speciality dining concept is highly desirable, with a strong understanding of Italian cuisine, regional food traditions, wine, and the service expectations associated with premium Italian dining.
• Financial Acumen: Demonstrated ability to manage restaurant budgets, control labour and operating costs, maximize revenue, improve average spending, and achieve financial targets.
• Leadership and Communication: Excellent leadership, interpersonal, organizational, and communication skills, with the ability to motivate a diverse team and maintain high standards in a demanding hospitality environment.
• Food and Beverage Expertise: Strong knowledge of restaurant service, menu engineering, food and beverage pairing, wine service, guest relations, and contemporary dining trends.
• Technical Proficiency: Proficiency in restaurant POS systems, reservation platforms, inventory management tools, reporting systems, and Microsoft Office Suite.
• Cultural Awareness: Strong understanding of international guest expectations and cultural preferences, with familiarity with Middle Eastern dining customs and service considerations considered an advantage.
• Regional Experience: Previous experience in Bahrain or the wider Middle East is preferred.
• Personal Attributes: Professional, guest-focused, commercially aware, detail-oriented, and passionate about delivering exceptional hospitality. Demonstrates initiative, adaptability, integrity, and a genuine commitment to team development and continuous improvement.
• Flexibility: Willingness to work flexible shifts, including evenings, weekends, public holidays, and late-night operations, in line with the needs of a luxury island resort.

Additional Information

Our commitment to Diversity & Inclusion: We are an inclusive company and our ambition is to attract, recruit and promote diverse talent.

Why work for Accor? We are far more than a worldwide leader. We welcome you as you are and you can find a job and brand that matches your personality. We support you to grow and learn every day, making sure that work brings purpose to your life, so that during your journey with us, you can continue to explore Accor’s limitless possibilities.

By joining Accor, every chapter of your story is yours to write and together we can imagine tomorrow's hospitality. Discover the life that awaits you at Accor, visit https://careers.accor.com/

About Mantis Collection: Mantis is a boutique hospitality group that was founded by conservationist Adrian Gardiner in 2000, with its main focus predominantly in Africa and the Middle East. Mantis grew from Adrian’s vision to restore and rewild degraded farmland which he developed into a widely-acclaimed Private Game Reserve. This was the first private game reserve in the Eastern Cape and the beginning of eco-tourism in a poverty-stricken province that had few opportunities outside of commercial farming. Adrian and the Mantis team successfully created a place where man and nature could co-exist sustainably. From this initial success, the Mantis model was then developed worldwide, understanding that consumers could use the Mantis portfolio as a mark of quality, consistency and character. Today the diverse portfolio of handpicked properties links up to create travel journeys, which offer guests the opportunity to experience the essence of the location in a setting of tailored luxury. Rooted in conservation, Mantis pursues sustainable business practices and develops tourism products that are respectful of the environment and communities in which they operate.

Do what you love, care for the world, dare to challenge the status quo! #BELIMITLES