Area Manager - Cologne (m/f/d)

On-site Cologne, Germany 

Our mission:

We're on a mission to make the speciality coffee experience more affordable, digital, and convenient. In a world where services continue to move into the virtual world, LAP (Life Among People) is bringing back the human touch paired with the personalisation and convenience that modern consumers have gotten used to with digital business.

We're a small but mighty team serving coffees out of our stores in Berlin, Munich and Hamburg and quickly expanding to the rest of Germany. We're looking for an Area Manager in Cologne to work directly with our Operations Team.

What you'll do:

As an Area Manager at LAP Coffee, you will play an important role in supporting our growth in Cologne. We are entering an exciting phase, and this role offers the chance to take meaningful ownership, contribute to key decisions, and have real impact on our operations.

You’ll help us work toward our goal of becoming one of the leading coffee retail brands in the city and support the successful opening of new stores in Cologne. In this role, you will oversee day-to-day store operations, including staffing, sales, P&L, and customer experience.

Occasionally, you’ll also step behind the counter to support the team, lead by example, and help create a warm and welcoming environment for our customers. Your focus will be on enabling strong store performance, fostering teamwork, and contributing to steady, sustainable growth.

• P&L ownership: You will be responsible and accountable for overseeing the P&L, financial activities, performance and business strategy of a set of stores.

• Project planning: Agree actions plans for building a business set for growth in collaboration with our Founders and Operations Director.

• Team alignment: Plan and facilitate Area Meetings bringing innovative ideas to the table and encouraging and open, honest, and collaborative business planning. You will also create the environment for everyone to succeed supported by a strong succession plan for your area.

• Collaboration: Sharing company initiatives, being a culture ambassador and contributing to building an engaging and inspiring environment.

• Continuous improvement: you’ll drive continuous improvement by meeting quality objectives and standards and coming up with initiatives to make the customer experience at our stores outstanding. 

What you bring:

• You bring at least 5 years of leadership operational experience in retail F&B, ideally with a mix of retail food and beverage chains ideally at international level. Experience in the coffee industry will be a massive plus.

• Strong familiarity with the relevant metrics that impact a retail F&B business, how to interpret them and drive action. 

• Experience with employee performance management, benefits and incentive programs that contribute to a winning culture.. 

• You are willing to occasionally travel in order to explore new locations and meet with potential partners.

• Your are entrepreneurial, solution orientated and excited to work on the full-cycle of building a start-up diving into whatever topics need to be done

• You have a creative flair and eye for spotting growth opportunities. You ideate, test and fail fast with working within tight deadlines and budget constraints

• You are fluent in English and German at a professional level.

What we offer:

• Ambitious team and growth plans: Work closely with our Founders to build and scale an innovative lifestyle consumer coffee brand.

• Fun and passion: Become part of our curious and diverse team cherishing our joint love for good food, regular team events, and coffee culture.

• Exciting industry: Be at the forefront to revolutionize the coffee industry and make speciality coffee affordable and accessible

• Backing of leading investors: Join a promising startup early on while relying on the backing of top investors.

To ensure that we provide an inclusive and accessible interview process, please let us know if you require any accommodations or adjustments during the interview due to a disability. Your response will help us support you effectively. (For example, adjustments might include accessibility needs, assistive technology, or extra time for certain tasks) 💙