Job Overview

The Restaurant Manager oversees the daily operations of the restaurant, ensuring exceptional guest experiences, efficient team management, and consistent food quality rooted in authentic Serbian and traditional Balkan cuisine. This is a hands-on leadership role requiring strong knowledge and practical experience with Balkan culinary traditions, particularly traditional meat dishes, grilled specialties, and BBQ preparation.

The ideal candidate has a genuine understanding of Serbian and Balkan food culture, including traditional meat cuts, marinades, seasoning, grilling methods, and preparation techniques. They will work closely with kitchen and front-of-house teams to ensure food authenticity, quality, consistency, and excellent service while maintaining smooth and profitable restaurant operations.

Responsibilities

- Culinary Knowledge & Food Quality: Demonstrate strong knowledge of traditional Serbian and Balkan cuisine, with particular expertise in meat dishes, grilled specialties, BBQ, and traditional preparation methods.
- Meat & BBQ Expertise: Understand traditional Balkan meat selections, cuts, seasoning, marinades, grilling techniques, portioning, and cooking temperatures to ensure authentic taste and consistent quality.
- Daily Operations: Oversee daily restaurant operations, coordinating front- and back-of-house teams to ensure efficient workflow and excellent guest service.
- Team Leadership: Supervise, support, and motivate staff across food preparation, cooking, serving, and guest services. Coordinate schedules and daily responsibilities.
- Kitchen Oversight: Work closely with kitchen staff to maintain food quality, presentation, portion consistency,



and authenticity of traditional Serbian and Balkan dishes.
- Food Safety & Standards: Ensure compliance with food safety, sanitation, food handling, storage, and workplace health regulations.
- Customer Experience: Maintain high service standards, address customer concerns, and ensure guests receive a welcoming and memorable dining experience.
- Staff Recruitment & Development: Onboard, train, and coach employees while promoting teamwork, accountability, and professional development.
- Financial & Administrative Duties: Monitor daily operations and inventory.
- Communication & Coordination: Maintain clear communication between kitchen and service teams to ensure smooth operations and consistent customer satisfaction.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications:

- Previous experience in restaurant management or a supervisory role within the food service or hospitality industry.
- Solid knowledge of Serbian and traditional Balkan cuisine, particularly traditional meat dishes, BBQ, and grilled specialties.
- Practical understanding of Balkan meat preparation, including meat cuts, marinades, seasoning, grilling methods, and traditional cooking techniques.
- Ability to recognize and maintain the authentic flavours, quality, and presentation of traditional Serbian and Balkan dishes.
- Strong leadership,



staff management, communication, and problem-solving skills.
- Knowledge of food safety, proper food handling, sanitation, and kitchen operations.
- Excellent customer service and organizational skills.

Preferred Qualifications:

- Previous experience managing a Serbian, Balkan, or Eastern European restaurant.
- Hands-on experience working with traditional Balkan BBQ, grilled meats, and specialty meat dishes.
- Familiarity with traditional Serbian specialties such as ćevapi, pljeskavica, ražnjići, kobasice, karadjordjeva and other regional grilled and roasted meat dishes.
- Experience with inventory management, purchasing, and supplier coordination.
- Experience with staff scheduling and employee training.
- Knowledge of Serbian or other Balkan languages is an asset.

Ideal Candidate

We are looking for a hands-on, experienced restaurant manager who understands that Serbian and Balkan cuisine is more than just food preparation — it is a culinary tradition. The successful candidate will bring genuine knowledge of traditional Balkan meat dishes and BBQ, strong operational leadership, and a passion for preserving authentic flavours while delivering outstanding hospitality.

Pay: From $37.50 per hour

Expected hours: 40.0 per week

Benefits:

- On-site parking

Ability to commute/relocate:

- Mississauga, ON L4Z 1N9: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (preferred)

Experience:

- Balkan Cuisine: 5 years (required)
- Food Service: 5 years (preferred)

Language:

- Serbian or any other former Yugoslav Languages? (preferred)

Work Location: In person

📌 Restaurant Manager - Serbian & Balkan Cuisine Specialist (Mississauga)
🏢 McAdam Friends Retourant
📍 Mississauga