Venue Manager

Venue Manager – Circular Quay
Belles Hot Chicken

We’re a place called Belles… you might know us

In 2014, two fine dining chefs and a maître d’ opened the doors to Belles Hot Chicken in a cosy Fitzroy diner. Part hot chicken joint, part natural wine bar, part block party, Belles quickly became known for doing things a little differently.

Since then, Belles has grown, evolved and continued to build its reputation around Nashville-inspired comfort food, great drinks, energetic restaurants and genuinely good hospitality.

Our Sydney restaurants at Circular Quay and Barangaroo are an important part of the next chapter of Belles. They are different venues, with different rhythms and opportunities, but one expectation: exceptional hospitality, strong teams and restaurants that are operationally sharp.

And now, we’re looking for someone pretty special.

We’re recruiting a Venue Manager to lead our flagship Circular Quay restaurant, working closely with our Head of Operations, with a clear development pathway toward General Management in 2027.

This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who loves restaurants, develops people exceptionally well and knows how to create a brilliant guest experience while maintaining strong commercial discipline.

What the role looks like

As Venue Manager, you’ll take ownership of Circular Quay and be accountable for delivering a consistently strong restaurant across people, service, operations and commercial performance.

You’ll lead from the front through key services, while building a capable leadership team around you and creating the structure required for the venue to perform consistently.

Your key accountabilities will include:

• Lead, coach and develop the Circular Quay team, building a positive, accountable and high-performing culture across FOH and BOH.

• Take ownership of training and development, ensuring service standards, product knowledge, systems and expectations are understood and consistently executed.

• Build the capability of Duty Managers and Supervisors so they can confidently lead services and take greater ownership of the restaurant.

• Maintain an acute focus on customer service and guest experience, staying highly visible on the floor and constantly looking for opportunities to improve the experience.

• Take full accountability for restaurant standards across service, cleanliness, food quality, safety, presentation and execution.

• Work closely with kitchen leadership to maintain strong food quality, ticket times, stock management, wastage control and COGS performance.

• Own and actively drive the commercial performance of the venue, including revenue, labour, COGS, productivity and controllable costs.

• Understand the numbers and work with the Head of Operations to turn financial performance and reporting into practical operational actions.

• Actively identify opportunities to grow sales through better service, upselling, repeat visitation, stronger trading periods and local area engagement.

• Own recruitment, onboarding, performance management and retention while building a strong and sustainable team culture.

• Maintain strong systems, processes and operational controls across the restaurant.

• Work closely with the Head of Operations on venue strategy, leadership development and continuous improvement.

Who might just be you…

You’ve previously led a busy hospitality venue or worked in a senior management position within one, and you understand what it takes to support a seven-day operation without letting standards slip.

You’re an excellent trainer and genuinely enjoy developing people.

You notice the details others miss — the guest who hasn’t been acknowledged, the table that needs attention, the team member who needs coaching or the operational habit that is quietly affecting the experience.

You naturally lead from the front and enjoy being part of the action during key services.

You’re also commercially switched on. Labour, COGS, revenue, productivity and profitability make sense to you, and you understand how the decisions made on the floor ultimately influence the numbers.

You know how to hold people accountable while maintaining a positive team culture, and you want to keep developing yourself as a leader.

Your pathway to General Manager

We want this role to have somewhere to go.

The successful Venue Manager will work closely with the Head of Operations through 2026 and into 2027, with coaching and development across commercial strategy, financial ownership, leadership development, succession planning, revenue growth and broader business decision-making.

The expectation is simple: build a high-performing Circular Quay restaurant, develop strong leaders underneath you and demonstrate that you can think beyond the day-to-day operation.

Do that well, and there is a genuine pathway into General Management in 2027.

We’re looking for someone ambitious enough to want that opportunity and grounded enough to know they need to earn it.

Great restaurant. Strong team. Big opportunity. Plenty of chicken.

Head to @belleshotchicken to catch the Belles vibe.