General Manager
Momma’s Grocery + Wine opened at 2304 Massachusetts Ave in North Cambridge in May 2023 + at the Charles River Speedway in Brighton in June 2026. Momma’s features regionally grown organic produce, meat, dairy + locally made products like snacks, beverages + home/body items. We know how + where they were grown or made. We’re a community shop: open 7 days 9AM - 9PM. Momma’s is a place where we know customers’ names + the goings on of their days. We have a considered selection of natural wine, ciders + beers too. We have maple soft-serve daily + a dedicated customer following. We’re looking for someone who wants to lead + be part of a team + is dedicated to spreading the word about what is growing + produced here in the Northeast + why it is so important to eat this way. More than anything we’re looking for someone who wants to be present, positive but realistic + grow with the company.
Momma’s single owner, Danielle Pattavina, is committed to a community-based exit. Which means that when it is time for the owner to move on from the enterprise, they will sell the company to their employees and/or customers in a cooperative conversion.
General Manager
The General Manager is responsible for managing staff + inventory on a daily basis as well as day-to-day operations. The General Manager will be in close contact with the owner on a daily basis + will work to mentor the team by teaching project management skills, supporting + troubleshooting when needed. The General Manager is responsible for exceeding health code standards, being a positive leader + managing issues in the shop as they arise. Upholding a professional, safe, happy work environment for our team + our customers is the topmost priority. The General Manager should have experience with regional food + be able to speak broadly + detailedly about our foodshed + food system.
Position Type: Full-time, Exempt
Annualized Salary: $85,000 - $90,000
Approximate Annualized Benefits Value: $20,000
Total Annualized Compensation: $105,000-$110,000
Application Deadline: September 15, 2026
Start Date: October 2026
Qualities you should have + want to strengthen:
- A commitment or defined interest in locally + regionally grown produce, meat + dairy
- Pride in caring for people through hospitality
- Interest in food policy, advocacy, farming, sustainability or waste-reduction
- Passion for sustainable local economies + building/reusing rather than buying new things
There’s a passage that’s meaningful to us from Living the Good Life by the Nearings about keeping an enterprise “to the barest minimum the number of implements, tools, gadgets, and machines which we might buy from the assembly lines of big business”. We think about this scrappiness not as being cheap, but as being consistent with our values of minimizing waste + the least dependence on inputs from outside our region or from corporate giants that aren’t rooted in community.
- Building on or furthering your professional natural wine knowledge (of serving/selling/buying) through formal education or self-guided education
- Comfort in communicating with vendors + service providers, with kindness + the willingness to understand
- A can-do attitude: help out at other locations, cover team shifts, bring genuine positive energy to every day
- Solutions based thinking
- Project management
- Comfort delegating tasks
- Ability to demonstrate systems + train staff until proficient
- Be an active listener
- Must be able to work weekends, holidays + evenings. PTO is subject to blackout dates consistent with the industry.
- Reliable, supportive, compassionate, patient + curious
- You’ve thought about gender, queerness, justice, community + actions to make the world better; it should resonate with you: Leave things better than you found them
Experience you should have:
- Five years experience managing in a grocery shop, farmers market, farm store, or other retail food environment
- If you do not already have experience in wine, you must complete WSET training up to Level III within the first year of employment
- Experience in staff education + training
- Managed vendor relationships
- Inventory management
- Proven experience managing a team and projects
- Can work independently, create a plan + set timelines for daily, weekly + quarterly
Job duties:
- 3-5 in-store shifts, dependent on seasonality. Your job will have some computer duties but, primarily you are customer + staff-facing. This is not a remote position. You will be a resource to the staff + the customers; this is an active, in-shop role
- Receive, lift, move + unpack orders
- We use: Square, Microsoft Teams, WheniWork, Gusto, Google Workspace + Airtable, you need to be familiar with, or be willing to train yourself to expert level.
- Accountable for all shop operations (staffing, displays, equipment, ordering)
- Identify problems, create solutions + systemize solutions
- In time, be a collaborator on the direction of the company in ways big + small
- Bank Deposits
- Ability to lift 50 pounds
- Monthly report out with owner on: Loss, Labor, Sales Trends
- Work closely with owner, meeting once per week to set management goals + review staff monthly goals
- Meet goals for: Loss, Labor, Sales
- Communicate with customers: written, verbal + phone calls, for: special orders, feedback, highs/lows etc
- Be a manager of record with the City of Cambridge
- Routinely physically check in at all Momma’s locations, you must have your own car + valid driver’s license
Inventory
- Inventory management: pricing, maintenance, monthly counting + ordering of established core inventory
- Inventory rotation: seasonal displays, expiration dates, new products
- Opportunity to order wine inventory, experience dependent
- Enter incoming invoices into our system + review with team on missing/damaged items + communicate with vendors when needed on a daily basis
- Manage soft-serve cleaning schedule, supplies ordering + monthly lab communication
- Communicate with vendors + service providers for ordering, returns + in-shop demos/tastings
- Invoice management (a mostly automated system)
- Proficient in vegetable storage + the ability to teach + troubleshoot to maintain top quality shop standards
Equipment + Standards
- Organize schedule + be accountable for maintenance tasks: e.g. cleaning compressor (we do in house), or arrange HVAC cleanings (we pay a company)
- Troubleshoot: Equipment failure doesn’t happen on a schedule. You should be comfortable with basic troubleshooting of large equipment + seek to understand how it works (i.e. refrigeration, soft serve machine, printing, etc.). We don’t expect you to be an HVAC tech, but you should know enough to communicate issues to techs + the team. This expertise will develop over time. We prefer fixing things over replacing things.
- Order supplies + equipment for shop: paper bags, wearable parts, chems + cleaning supplies
- Maintain + manage necessary certifications for the staff + shop
Team + Development
- Be a mentor to the team, people take this job to learn about grocery, wine, retail, community-building
- Manage a staff of ~10 direct reports
- Revisit/Build + implement training materials
- Schedule staff (Schedule is made seasonally)
- Communicate daily with staff to identify projects, make a plan of action + help staff achieve
- Work alongside team to implement systems + teach until proficient, revisiting when necessary
- Organize + run bimonthly staff meetings
Benefits Include:
- $500/month grocery + wine spend at Momma’s
- 10% - 50% off at Zusammen (party size dependent)
- 2 weeks paid vacation per year / Accrued PTO, subject to company policies
- 1 week paid sick leave per year
- $3,000 a year for travel to: conferences, winemaker partners or farm partners
- Paid wine education
- 401K with employer match (up to 5%)
- Monthly wine club membership for all 3 wine clubs
- HRA (Qualified Small Employer Health Care Reimbursement Arrangement)
- Pre-tax MBTA pass
Other Info:
- You must have wine knowledge, or a plan for learning + you are required to participate in off-site industry tastings, in-shop tastings + wine sales on a regular basis.
- You must attend all bimonthly staff wide meetings.
- You must attend all (unless otherwise specified) extracurricular team building activities.
- Joyful, loving, fun atmosphere with ethos-concerned people. We prioritize a non-toxic, open-communication work atmosphere, we hold the line very firm on a zero toxicity workplace.
