Café & Retail Shift Lead

Harvest in the Gardens (HITG) — Nassau, Bahamas

Where Hospitality, Convenience, and Discovery Come Together

Harvest in the Gardens (HITG) is a multi-concept hospitality and entertainment destination bringing together dining, retail, events, entertainment, and community experiences in one vibrant location.

We are seeking a service-focused and highly organized Café & Retail Shift Lead to help create an inviting experience where guests can enjoy quality café offerings, discover thoughtfully selected merchandise, and receive warm, efficient service.

This is a hands-on leadership opportunity for someone who can guide a team, protect operational standards, solve problems in real time, and ensure every shift is ready to welcome guests.

Why This Role Exists

The Café & Retail Shift Lead exists to ensure the Café and Retail experience is consistently welcoming, well organized, properly stocked, and ready to serve.

The role provides immediate leadership during assigned shifts, helping Partners understand priorities, maintain standards, respond to guests, and complete the operational work required for a successful service period.

This Lead helps connect daily execution to the wider HITG experience by ensuring that products are available, displays are attractive, transactions are accurate, and guests feel genuinely welcomed.

The Opportunity

Reporting to the assigned Manager, the Café & Retail Shift Lead will coordinate Partners and operating priorities across the Café and Retail areas during assigned shifts.

You will remain actively involved in service while also monitoring guest flow, product availability, cleanliness, merchandising, cash controls, Partner readiness, and shift completion.

You will help build a culture where Partners take ownership, support one another, protect the guest experience, and understand that every detail contributes to HITG’s success.

What You’ll Lead

Shift Readiness & Daily Execution

• Conduct pre-shift briefings and communicate assignments, product information, promotions, expected business levels, and service priorities.

• Confirm that Partners are present, properly prepared, and assigned according to operational needs.

• Ensure Café and Retail areas are opened, transitioned, and closed according to approved procedures.

• Monitor the shift and reposition Partners when guest traffic, workload, or priorities change.

• Maintain a visible, hands-on leadership presence.

• Complete or verify required checklists, logs, counts, and shift handovers.

• Escalate staffing, safety, equipment, inventory, cash, or service concerns promptly.

Café Operations

• Support the preparation, display, and service of approved café products, beverages, bakery items, and grab-and-go offerings.

• Ensure products meet standards for freshness, presentation, labeling, portioning, temperature, and availability.

• Monitor service counters, displays, pickup points, condiment areas, and guest seating throughout the shift.

• Coordinate replenishment and communicate unavailable or low-stock items.

• Ensure workstations remain clean, organized, stocked, and ready for service.

• Help maintain efficient order taking, payment processing, product preparation, and guest handoff.

Retail Operations

• Ensure retail merchandise is properly displayed, priced, labeled, stocked, and secured.

• Maintain attractive displays that encourage discovery and support the HITG brand.

• Monitor product availability and coordinate replenishment.

• Support receiving, counting, organization, rotation, and storage of merchandise.

• Ensure Partners understand key product information and can assist guests confidently.

• Report damaged products, inventory discrepancies, suspected loss, or recurring control concerns.

Guest Experience

• Create a warm, welcoming, and helpful environment.

• Ensure Partners provide accurate information and thoughtful product recommendations.

• Monitor queues, service times, product presentation, order accuracy, and overall guest flow.

• Respond to routine guest concerns promptly and professionally.

• Take ownership of service recovery within approved authority.

• Escalate serious complaints, recurring concerns, or sensitive situations to management.

• Encourage an experience that builds guest trust and repeat visitation.

Partner Leadership & Development

• Set clear expectations and reinforce approved service and operating standards.

• Coach Partners in real time and recognize strong performance.

• Support the onboarding and practical training of new Partners.

• Help Partners strengthen product knowledge, guest engagement, transaction accuracy, and operational confidence.

• Address routine performance concerns respectfully and escalate formal matters to management.

• Build teamwork and accountability across the shift.

• Model professionalism, reliability, urgency, integrity, and respect.

Cash, Inventory & Loss Prevention

• Follow and reinforce approved point-of-sale and cash-handling procedures.

• Support floats, counts, reconciliations, refunds, discounts, voids, and shift handovers.

• Protect cash, merchandise, equipment, keys, access credentials, and company property.

• Monitor product use, damages, waste, shrink, and unusual variances.

• Ensure supporting records are accurate and complete.

• Report suspected theft, fraud, policy violations, or control weaknesses immediately.

Cleanliness, Safety & Compliance

• Maintain food-safety, sanitation, hygiene, allergen, cleaning, and personal-presentation standards.

• Ensure spills, hazards, equipment issues, and unsafe conditions are addressed promptly.

• Verify completion of cleaning schedules and opening and closing safety checks.

• Follow emergency, incident-reporting, security, and loss-prevention procedures.

• Support a working environment where safety and cleanliness are shared responsibilities.

What Success Looks Like

Success in this role means:

• Café and Retail shifts open on time and remain guest-ready.

• Partners receive clear assignments and understand daily priorities.

• Products and merchandise are consistently available, fresh, organized, and attractively presented.

• Guests receive warm, efficient, knowledgeable, and accurate service.

• Cash, inventory, discounts, refunds, and shift records are properly controlled.

• Cleaning, opening, closing, and handover procedures are completed consistently.

• Partners demonstrate improved confidence, product knowledge, accountability, and teamwork.

• Service or operating concerns are addressed early and escalated appropriately.

• The Café and Retail experience contributes positively to guest satisfaction and repeat visitation.

Who We’re Looking For

The ideal candidate is:

• A hands-on leader who remains actively involved in service.

• Warm, professional, approachable, and guest-focused.

• Organized and capable of managing several priorities at once.

• Calm and solutions-oriented during busy periods.

• Comfortable coaching Partners and reinforcing standards.

• Attentive to presentation, cleanliness, product availability, and transaction accuracy.

• Dependable, trustworthy, and consistent.

• Able to balance hospitality with strong operational controls.

• Willing to work evenings, weekends, holidays, and changing shifts.

Required Qualifications

• High school diploma or equivalent.

• Minimum two (2) years of experience in café, quick-service, retail, food service, or guest-service operations.

• Previous experience as a Shift Lead, Key Holder, Senior Partner, or similar position.

• Experience using point-of-sale systems and handling cash or electronic payments.

• Working knowledge of inventory, stocking, merchandising, and guest-service practices.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

• Ability to guide Partners, prioritize work, and resolve routine service issues.

• Food-handler certification or willingness to obtain required certification.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in a combined café and retail environment.

• Experience supporting a new hospitality, retail, or food-service opening.

• Experience training or onboarding frontline Partners.

• Knowledge of bakery, beverage, grab-and-go, or specialty retail products.

• Experience with inventory counts, loss prevention, and shift reconciliation.

Why You’ll Love Working Here

At Harvest in the Gardens, you will help shape a new destination where hospitality, food, retail, entertainment, and community come together.

Your leadership will directly influence the confidence of the team, the readiness of the operation, and the experience guests receive every day.

You will have the opportunity to build strong service habits, develop Partners, improve daily operations, and help create a Café and Retail experience guests want to revisit.

Join the Team

If you are a hands-on hospitality or retail leader who enjoys developing people, maintaining strong standards, and creating welcoming guest experiences, we would love to hear from you.

Apply today and help bring the Café and Retail experience at Harvest in the Gardens to life.

Harvest in the Gardens is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We value diversity and are committed to creating a respectful workplace where every Partner has the opportunity to contribute, grow, and thrive.