Danai Gates
Dawsonville
Summary
Dynamic leader with extensive experience in multi-unit operation management and strategic planning, honed through the hospitality industry. Proven track record in driving business growth and profitability through effective team development and process improvement. Skilled in contract negotiation and relationship management, achieving a 20% increase in market share.
Overview
12
12
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
General Manager
7Pie Pizzeria and Bar
Dahlonega
06.2025 - Current
- Operations Management: Overseeing daily activities, ensuring efficiency, implementing procedures, and coordinating teams.
- Strategic Planning: Developing and executing business growth strategies, setting goals, and identifying new opportunities.
- Financial Management: Creating and managing budgets, monitoring financial health, controlling costs, and analyzing performance data.
- Human Resources: Hiring, training, mentoring, and evaluating staff and lower-level managers, creating hiring standards and SOPs regarding performance and attendance.
- Performance & Profitability: Driving revenue, improving productivity, ensuring quality offerings, and meeting performance targets.
- Leadership & Communication: Leading teams, making key decisions, communicating with stakeholders, and representing the business.
- Growth: Researching opportunities, implementing new initiatives, and increasing market share.
- Efficiency: Optimizing internal processes for better productivity and creating SOPs to ensure consistency moving forward.
- Relationships: Building relationships with regular customers, community leaders, neighboring business owners and surrounding community.
District Manager
Waffle House
Gainesville
10.2018 - 06.2025
- Immediate supervisor for 3 restaurants within the organization.
- Overseeing the performance of each unit manager, and the approximately 75 employees within the units as well as developing those managers into possible new district managers and identifying and developing hourly associates who have the potential to do more within the company.
- Recruitment of future managers for the area as well as overseeing the training of those managers.
- Inspecting and double checking the daily paperwork, schedules, truck orders, maintenance requests, vendors, sanitation standards, hiring needs, and overall profitability of each of the units.
- Handling all production requirements for the unit manager's day off.
- Creating reports regarding each unit in regards to food cost, operations, development, people supply and using those reports to create detailed P&L analysis for the area manager each month along with creating plans to correct any behaviors that don't align with the brand or maximize profitability.
Assistant Manager
Better Buzz Coffee Company
San Diego
12.2015 - 08.2018
- Responsible for all store supervisors, executes their training and managing their responsibilities.
- Maintaining Better Buzz standards set up by company's operations managers and district manager.
- Trains baristas in all positions and manages their training progress as it is passed on to their buddy supervisor.
- Executes daily schedule as well as managing baristas while Manager on Duty.
- Keeping drive thru times within acceptable range and managing customer experience.
- Trouble shooting both technological errors as well as malfunctioning machines.
- Quality control of beverages and prepared foods & expediting hot food, cold food, and beverage bar lines.
- Espresso bar certified working towards latte art certification.
- Administrative responsibilities include: Creates daily schedule based on the weekly schedule set up by manager to coordinate breaks based on California labor laws, offering feedback to manager on areas of concern and opportunity, Divides weekly cash tips amongst all hourly staff based on hours worked, Creates weekly deposit logs, and evaluates all cash discrepancies before taking cash deposit to bank and restocking change bank for the following week, Trained in approving time clocks for manager to submit to HR for payroll, although not apart of my regular administrative responsibilities, Creating and updating par sheets for supervisors to use for ordering food and paper product.
Business Owner
Candy Coated Events
San Diego
03.2014 - 06.2017
- Event planning, primarily wedding planning company specializing in personalization of projects.
- Creates and executes timelines for day of event as well as a planning schedule for client.
- Hires, schedules and supervises interns and vendors based on event need (average 15 people at any given time during event, 3 in office).
- Coordinates consultations, creates quotes, contracts & invoices during the sales process.
- Responsible for social media networking, marketing strategies & cold calling marketing.
- Comfortable with processing flowers and preparing workspace for freelance florists as well as creating floral pieces for small weddings only.
- Works with client and family to determine details and ease concerns.
- Coordinates with vendors on schematics, set up, tear down, and other details of events.
- Attends wedding shows to create potential client lists and meet potential clients face to face.
Catering Coordinator
Personal Touch Dining
San Diego
02.2015 - 10.2015
- Initial client contact and drawing up proposals, adjusting menu requests and needs and finalizing contracts.
- Working along side the kitchen management and client to develop menus, execute tastings and finalizing details while adjusting contracts accordingly.
- On site for day of service, supervising the setup to the needs of the client and making sure the standards of the company exceed the client's expectations.
- Receiving initial deposit and following up with payment schedule and ensuring final payment includes any upgraded final services from final walkthrough.
- Event follow up with client to ensure they were satisfied with the services.
- Left to pursue my own company full time.
Education
Bachelor of Science - Hospitality management
Art Institute of California-San Diego
San Diego, CA03.2015
Associates of Science - Baking and pastry
Art Institute of California-San Diego
San Diego, CA09.2012
Associate of Science - Culinary Arts
Art Institute of California-San Diego
San Diego, CA03.2012
Skills
- Marketing
- Training & development
- Contract negotiation
- Client services
- Process improvement
- Payroll Budgeting and Management
- Presentation skills
- Leadership development
- Strategic Planning
- Succession planning
- Project / Program Management
- Analytics
- Sales development management
- Profit & loss
- Merchandising
- Conflict management
- Business development
- Relationship management
- Team development
- Business management
- Human resources
- Multi-unit operation management
- Computer literacy
- Product & Supplier management
- Strategic planning
- Performance analysis
- Budget oversight
Certification
- ServSafe management, 10/01/23, 10/01/28
- Driver's License
- Food Safety Certification
- Food Handler Certification
- ServSafe
Additional Information
Extensive personal and over the phone communication skills, In depth customer service & sales training background, Knowledge in both a savory kitchen, drive thru cafes and bakery, Cash handling and kitchen math experience, Management experience, and extensive office work. Loyal, Hardworking individual with an extensive team building and training background. Above average in management training and interpersonal communications. Strives in time pressured situations. Excels in team-dependent as well as independent goals. Specializes in leadership development within the hospitality industry.
Languages
English
Timeline
General Manager
7Pie Pizzeria and Bar
06.2025 - Current
District Manager
Waffle House
10.2018 - 06.2025
Assistant Manager
Better Buzz Coffee Company
12.2015 - 08.2018
Catering Coordinator
Personal Touch Dining
02.2015 - 10.2015
Business Owner
Candy Coated Events
03.2014 - 06.2017
Bachelor of Science - Hospitality management
Art Institute of California-San Diego
Associates of Science - Baking and pastry
Art Institute of California-San Diego
Associate of Science - Culinary Arts
Art Institute of California-San Diego