Director of Retail

Job Title:

Director of Retail

Hours:

40 hours/week, including evenings, weekends & holidays
Department:
Retail
Report to: COO
Wage:
Salary starting at $115k/year

Dandelion Chocolate is a bean-to-bar chocolate company based in San Francisco’s Mission District. We make chocolate from only two ingredients, cocoa beans and cane sugar, and travel to origins as often as we can to build good, trusting relationships with the producers who grow and ferment our beans. Our business is built upon trust and partnership, and now we’re looking for a Director of Retail to lead our growing café and retail operations.

Heading into 2026, your success will be measured on three strategic priorities:
1) position Dandelion as the premier destination for craft chocolate (e.g. retail training, strategic merchandising, sampling program, etc),
2) streamline operations so that our in-store experiences reflect the thoughtfulness and care in our products (e.g. hospitality training, product knowledge, consistent café service, cleanliness, checklists), and
3) cultivate a performative team aligned with the organization that can continue to scale to Dandelion’s growth and with a potential bench for future leadership (e.g. achieving sales and contribution budgets, managing labor budgets, developing career opportunities, implementing ongoing education/training).

Specifically, this role is responsible for operating the West Coast operations (e.g. SF and Las Vegas), but not Japan. In the future, if we open in other states or countries, we’ll work together to figure out the right structure to manage those areas. In addition, this role is not tasked with designing and building new locations or pop-ups, but will be responsible for their daily operations within their region.

This full‑time, salary exempt position starts at $115,000 annually.

As the Director of Retail, no two days will be the same, and we are especially excited about candidates who find energy from a role with variety. Your morning may start by meeting with our Product Managers to go over our new product roll‑out process before reviewing the end‑of‑quarter financial reports with the finance and leadership teams. You get a calendar reminder to schedule a holiday planning meeting – the holidays will be here before you know it!

Luckily, your retail holiday playbook will make this year the smoothest season yet. After lunch, you sit down with your retail managers to discuss changes to our training and leveling programs. You would like to implement more concrete hospitality standards into our new‑hire training program so you solicit their ideas and input. After your meeting, you head over to the Valencia Street Café to interview a potential new Assistant Manager candidate.

As the interview wraps up, you get a call from our Operations Team about a new product launch that has gotten pushed up. As you reconfigure the timeline and make a note to notify your managers, you end your day by sending out your weekly status report to the team, ready to do it all over again tomorrow.

You are an operations‑minded planner and people person with a high EQ. You are equally comfortable creating robust reports in a spreadsheet as you are developing merchandising guidelines to help our products look their best on the shelves. You’ve been‑there‑done‑that experience provides guidance and mentorship to our retail teams, and your unflappable zen keeps your teams focused and motivated even on the busiest and most stressful days.

Ideally you have worked in a retail leadership role before and understand the importance of warm hospitality and consistently made drinks. This is not a desk job – our ideal candidate is operational, hands‑on, and someone the team can rely on to get the things done.

• Lead Retail Operations – Lead and expand upon our retail operations including hiring, building out scalable training and leveling programs, visual merchandising, inventory management, and instilling world‑class hospitality standards.
• Guest Happiness – Develop systems and training protocols designed to reinforce and improve our hospitality and retail service…