
ESSENTIAL JOB DETAILS
- Position Title: Waiter / Waitress
- Location: Meru Makutano – Along Meru-Maua Highway, directly opposite Rubis Petrol Station
- Employment Type: Full-time, shift-based hospitality contract (rotating day, evening & late-night service)
- Number of Vacancies: 6
- Salary Range: Competitive base + pooled service charge + daily staff meals + evening transport stipend
- Department: Food & Beverage Service — Front-of-House Operations
- Reporting To: Restaurant Supervisor & Floor Captain
- Interview Mode: Walk-in Assessment — Monday 9th at 10:00 a.m. sharp (bring required documents)
- Required Documents: Updated CV, Original & Copy of National ID, One-page Application Letter
- Application Deadline: Positions remain open until the six seats are formally offered (first-come, first-served)
INTRODUCTION
Stepping into the vibrant world of hotel jobs in Kenya can be your gateway to accelerated learning, consistent income and industry-recognised training without relocating to the coast or the capital. Checkmate Lounge Meru — a trail-blazing entertainment hub famed for live DJ sets, themed cuisine pop-ups and craft cocktails — is opening six new front-of-house roles designed for service-driven professionals hungry for growth. As part of the region’s fastest-rising nightlife venue, you will master global hospitality standards, earn lucrative tips and build repeat-guest rapport that cements your personal brand in the booming hotel jobs in Kenya market. Whether you are a fresh graduate of a hospitality college or a seasoned server ready for your next challenge, these roles deliver a powerful mix of mentorship, clear promotion ladders and daily opportunities to showcase charisma, speed and upselling finesse.
ABOUT CHECKMATE LOUNGE MERU
Checkmate Lounge Meru opened its doors in 2021 with a mission to redefine entertainment on the eastern slopes of Mount Kenya. The 180-seat multi-zone venue blends industrial-chic décor with state-of-the-art acoustics, a cloud-based POS ecosystem and a chef-curated bar-bites menu that sources 80 % of ingredients from local farmers. Weekly events range from acoustic Sundays and Latino salsa nights to monthly comedy showcases, drawing patrons from Meru, Tharaka-Nithi and Isiolo counties. Staff retention sits at 92 % thanks to transparent tip pooling, daily staff meals cooked by the culinary team, quarterly team-building adventures and an open-door management philosophy that values every suggestion — a culture rarely matched in regional hotel jobs in Kenya. By joining now, you enter a company poised for franchising, with senior roles earmarked for internal talent.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Guest Experience & Service Delivery
- Welcome every guest within 30 seconds, present menus and assess dietary needs or allergy alerts to elevate personalised service.
- Describe daily specials and signature cocktails using three-step storytelling (ingredients → flavour profile → benefit) to lift table spend, a proven KPI across leading hotel jobs in Kenya.
- Input orders into the cloud-based POS with zero mis-keys; validate modifiers and cooking levels to minimise re-fires.
- Serve dishes and beverages following a counter-clockwise approach, ensuring plates align with guest seat numbers for seamless follow-up.
- Monitor guest satisfaction at two critical touchpoints (two-minute / two-bite check & dessert suggestion) and log feedback in the digital CRM tablet.
- Maintain full table mise en place — polished cutlery, spotless glassware, linen fold symmetry — in line with Kenya Bureau of Standards hygiene codes.
- Process payments (cash, M-Pesa, Visa, contactless) and reconcile shift float with zero variances — a core audit metric across premium hotel jobs in Kenya.
Sales & Revenue Growth
- Upsell premium bottle packages, flavoured shisha add-ons and loyalty-card enrolment, targeting a personal daily upsell quota.
- Cross-promote upcoming theme nights and private-event packages, capturing guest contact details for remarketing campaigns.
- Support bar credit-card pre-authorisations during high-volume periods, ensuring regulatory compliance and safeguarding chargeback ratios below 0.3 %.
Operational Excellence
- Coordinate with kitchen expo, bar pass and runner stations to maintain ticket-time targets (≤ 12 minutes food, ≤ 4 minutes beverages), mirroring benchmarks of flagship hotel jobs in Kenya in Nairobi & Mombasa.
- Execute opening & closing side-work checklists: restock condiments, roll 80 napkins/hour, sanitise tables, calibrate POS printers and complete health-and-safety logs.
- Participate in Monday inventory counts for glassware, cutlery and linen; report variances using Google Sheets to enable real-time cost-control dashboards.
- Adhere to age-verification protocols before alcohol service and complete incident-report documentation for any guest disturbances or slips, reinforcing a culture of safety found in top-tier hotel jobs in Kenya.
Team Collaboration & Development
- Attend weekly pre-shift briefings to review menu engineering tweaks, upcoming events and service-recovery learning points.
- Mentor new trainees on guest-greeting scripts, plate-carrying posture and upselling psychology, earning internal “Service Champion” points redeemable for paid off-days.
- Engage in quarterly hospitality masterclasses led by visiting mixologists and barista trainers to remain competitive within evolving hotel jobs in Kenya.
QUALIFICATIONS & SKILLS
Minimum Education & Certification
- KCSE C- (or equivalent); Diploma/Certificate in Food & Beverage Service, Front-Office, or Restaurant Operations is a distinct advantage for standout hotel jobs in Kenya candidates.
Experience Profile
- 12 months+ in restaurants, cafés, hotels, cruise ships or high-volume catering; however, high-energy graduates with stellar customer-service internships are encouraged to apply.
Technical Toolkit
- Familiarity with touchscreen POS (e.g., Toast, Micros, Square).
- Basic barista or cocktail-garnish exposure boosts promotion prospects.
Language & Soft Skills
- Fluent English & Kiswahili; bonus points for local dialects (Kimeru, Kikiuyu) to foster community rapport in Meru’s competitive hotel jobs in Kenya scene.
- Impeccable grooming standards, punctuality, conflict-de-escalation, active listening, persuasive upselling.
COMPANY CULTURE & VALUES
Checkmate Lounge lives by four pillars — Service, Integrity, Creativity, Community. Staff enjoy:
- Transparent Earnings: 100 % of tips are pooled and equitably shared every Sunday evening, creating income stability rare in regional hotel jobs in Kenya.
- Skill Acceleration: Monthly masterclasses in latte art, basic sommelier skills and pairings, plus cross-training in bar-back duties for multi-skilling.
- Work-Life Harmony: Rotational scheduling allows two consecutive off-days every fortnight, plus paid leave for national holidays worked.
- Growth Pathways: Clear promotion framework from Waiter → Senior Waiter → Floor Captain → Assistant Restaurant Manager within 24 months for high performers.
- Community Impact: Quarterly street-clean-ups, food-donation drives and partnership with Meru Hospices; hours logged count toward promotion criteria, a CSR emphasis increasingly demanded in modern hotel jobs in Kenya.
HOW TO APPLY
Apply today for these high-impact hotel jobs in Kenya and secure your seat before slots close:
- Compile Documents(hard copy then PDF)
- Curriculum Vitae (max 2 pages, include contactable referees).
- National ID (original & photocopy).
- One-page Application Letter summarising service experience & upselling wins.
- Attend Walk-in Interview
- Date & Time: Monday 9th, 10:00 a.m. sharp.
- Venue: Checkmate Lounge Meru, main entrance foyer (clearly sign-posted along Meru-Maua Highway opposite Rubis Petrol Station).
- Dress Code: Smart an industry standard across frontline hotel jobs in Kenya.
Important: Checkmate Lounge never charges any recruitment fee. Any approach for money should be reported immediately to HR. Integrity checks mirror top global hotel jobs in Kenya employers.
FUTURE CAREER POTENTIAL
Joining now gives you first-mover advantage as Checkmate Lounge prepares to launch two satellite outlets (Embu & Chuka) in 2026. Internal promotion is policy, and supervisors for new branches will be selected exclusively from Meru floor staff. This forward trajectory mirrors success stories from international chains, underlining why fully engaged frontline professionals often leapfrog into management faster within ambitious hotel jobs in Kenya.

ADDITIONAL ENGAGEMENT
- View More Job Opportunities — explore new barista, mixology and concierge roles across Kenya’s expanding hospitality landscape.
- Browse verified jobs on JobKenya.org — Kenya’s trusted portal for meticulously screened hotel jobs in Kenya.
- WhatsApp Channel for Job Updates — Join our real-time alert community: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029ValRUem7DAX1gmkC7y2K
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hotel jobs in Kenya, waiter jobs in Kenya, jobs in Meru Kenya, hospitality jobs in Kenya, bar jobs in Kenya