General Manager - Festive Dining & Nightlife Venue

About the role

Aretha is a festive dining destination combining restaurant service, a live show every evening and a DJ set. It is looking for an experienced, charismatic General Manager with a strong background in festive dining, entertainment-led restaurants or nightlife concepts. Previous experience in festive dining or nightlife is mandatory.

Key responsibilities

• Lead the overall operation of the venue, overseeing the guest journey from arrival and dinner through the live show and DJ experience, and coordinating front-of-house, kitchen, bar, entertainment, security and technical teams.
• Ensure compliance with company policies, UAE regulations, licensing requirements and health and safety standards.
• Deliver a seamless nightly show and DJ programme, working with entertainment and technical teams and proactively improving the concept.
• Manage VIP guests, special occasions and large parties, handle guest feedback and complaints professionally, and build guest loyalty.
• Own the venue's financial performance: drive sales of food, beverage, premium experiences and VIP bookings, monitor KPIs such as revenue per cover, average check, table turnover, labour cost and guest satisfaction, and control payroll, purchasing, inventory and wastage.
• Recruit, train and develop department heads and supervisors, ensure adequate staffing and foster collaboration between operations, kitchen, bar and entertainment teams.
• Prepare the venue for each service, manage reservations, VIP arrangements and show schedules, and review operational challenges to improve efficiency.

Required profile

• Proven experience as a General Manager or senior operational leader in a festive dining, entertainment-led dining or nightlife venue.
• Demonstrated experience managing high-energy evening operations, entertainment programming and DJ-led experiences.
• Strong commercial acumen with a track record of achieving revenue and profitability targets.
• Excellent leadership skills managing large, fast-paced hospitality teams, and strong VIP guest management, reservations and table management experience.
• Ability to stay composed under pressure, with excellent communication and guest-relations skills.
• Flexibility to work evenings, weekends, public holidays and peak trading periods.