Venue & Cafe Lead

Vista Musical Instruments is an innovative, global collective of music-related brands dedicated to building meaningful products and experiences for the music community. Brands include MONO, Harmony, Heritage Guitars, Teisco, Swee Lee, Dawsons, and Manny’s. Vista Musical Instruments is headquartered in Singapore, with operations in the USA, UK, and APAC, and is a part of Caldecott Music Group.

Established in 1946 and headquartered in Singapore, Swee Lee is South East Asia's leading omni-channel musical instrument and lifestyle retailer and distributor. Committed to community and creativity, the brand's mission is to be the region's trusted house of music and expression. Swee Lee is known for curating immersive experiences at their cafes and Local store concepts, and matching customers with the products and services they need throughout their musical journey. With a legacy rooted in thoughtfulness, resourcefulness, and enthusiasm, Swee Lee embodies a passion for music that resonates across the region. Swee Lee is a part of Vista Musical Instruments and has locations in 5+ countries across South East Asia.

Job Overview:

We are looking for a commercially minded and culturally plugged-in Venue & Cafe Lead to lead the overall business and experience of Swee Lee’s cafe and events venue at its flagship location in Clarke Quay in Singapore. 

This role owns the venue as one integrated P&L, bringing together the day-to-day cafe business, venue hire, and self-produced community programming. You will be accountable for growing revenue and profitability across the space while ensuring that everything we do feels cohesive, intentional and unmistakably Swee Lee. This is not solely an operations role. You will think about the venue holistically as both a product and a business — across programming, F&B, marketing, community and commercial performance. You will be responsible for the full customer journey — what draws people in, how they experience the space, what they discover, and ultimately why they come back. You will oversee the teams delivering on both our F&B and events experiences while continually developing the cafe and venue as a vibrant, commercially successful destination for music, culture and community. 

Responsibilities:

• Drive commercial performance across the venue by growing cafe and events revenue and margins, increasing utilisation and bookings, building a healthy pipeline, developing loyal audiences through owned programming, and improving overall P&L performance.
• Lead the overall strategy and direction of the venue, ensuring the cafe, events, retail and community experience operate cohesively as one lifestyle destination.
• Own cafe strategy and performance, including menu direction, pricing, promotions, margins, customer experience, day-to-day operations and marketing.
• Develop and oversee the events and programming calendar, including Swee Lee produced community programming, partnerships and other cultural activations.
• Drive the venue hire business, overseeing pricing, sales, enquiries, corporate bookings, concerts, private events and brand activations from pipeline through delivery.
• Own marketing, promotions and audience growth for the cafe and venue hire business, developing campaigns, offers and partnerships that drive footfall, bookings, attendance and repeat visitation.
• Oversee venue and event operations, including budgets, production, staffing, suppliers, scheduling and delivery, ensuring consistently high standards across all activities.
• Lead and develop the cafe and events teams, creating a welcoming, culturally relevant and commercially successful space rooted in music and community.
• Ensure compliance with all applicable local health, safety, and food hygiene regulations, including obtaining and maintaining any relevant permits or licences required for events and business operations.

Requirements:

• 8+ years of experience across venue management, hospitality, events, commercial operations or related businesses, including experience leading multidisciplinary teams and owning business performance.
• Demonstrated P&L ownership, including budgeting, forecasting, cost control, margin management and revenue growth.
• Strong working knowledge of F&B economics and operations, including COGS, menu pricing, labour costs, inventory and margin optimisation.
• Strong understanding of event and venue operations, including production, staffing, suppliers, scheduling, licensing and operational requirements.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to use sales, customer, utilisation and financial data to identify opportunities and improve performance.
• Good knowledge of music and contemporary culture, with the commercial judgement to translate audience and cultural insights into programming and business opportunities.
• Singapore-based and available to work fully on-site.

Benefits:

• Competitive Remuneration.
• Healthcare, Dental & Insurance Programme.
• Various Leave Benefits e.g., birthday, volunteer, family care, childcare.
• Long Service Awards.
• Employee Referral Programme.
• Gym Membership Discount.
• Attractive Staff Discount at our academy, purchase of musical instruments and lifestyle products.