Job Title: Seasonal Part-Time Guest Care Associate (with Chocolate Experiences Focus)
Hours: 12 hours
Department: Guest Care (with Chocolate Experiences focus)
Report: Director of Guest and Partner Services & Chocolate Experiences Manager
Schedule: Sat & Sun: 9:30 am-12:30 pm onsite, Mon, Tues, Wed: 9:30 am-11:30 am onsite
Pay rate: $32.10/hour
Location: Onsite at 2600 16th Street, San Francisco

About Us
Dandelion Chocolate is a bean-to-bar chocolate factory 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. Now we’re seeking a Guest Care Associate to support our Chocolate Experience (Chex) team throughout our busiest season. 

Day in the Life
At 9:45am on Saturday, just 15 minutes before the first tour, you check in with today’s Chex (Chocolate Experiences) team members to ensure they note a nut allergy for the praliné class and to let the tour guide know a tour is now twelve, not eleven, so no need to wait for a last-minute straggler. With classes, tours, and the factory humming, you reach out to our remote Guest Care team to respond to any other Chex-related inquiries – voicemails, emails, chats, and calls. While responding to an email for a 100-person factory buyout with a virtual tasting,  you see an in-person factory guest wandering aimlessly around the factory floor and you take a quick moment to redirect them to their class. A bit later, the twelfth tour person unexpectedly appears and the café team asks for your help uniting them with the in-progress tour. The remaining Saturday goes smoothly with only one call from a guest reporting a lost thermos they may have left in the classroom. You spot the thermos and move it to the café area with a post-it note of their phone number and a note to the café team with the time the guest will stop by to retrieve it. Just before you leave, you double check that the noon tour is flowing smoothly and that there are no last-minute cancellations for the later afternoon events. With the factory fully activated and your inboxes at zero, you head home.

About You
Above all, you’re great at multi-tasking and reading between the lines to understand intentions, unspoken needs, and to experience the world through guests’ eyes. Our ideal candidate can write emails for a desired emotional impact, connect with in-person guests with grace, guide a VIP guest through the factory to plan their upcoming buyout event, and will help cement Dandelion Chocolate’s reputation as a San Francisco landmark through exceptional hospitality and chocolate-inspired events. Success in this role is measured both by data (numbers of repeat guests, sales figures, etc.) and also from the personal relationships that naturally follow genuine, one-on-one connections.

Responsibilities:

• Chocolate Experience (Chex) Expertise: You are the go-to person (via in-person, email, chat, and phone) for a range of experiences such as a high-touch VIP guest who wants a holiday factory buyout to a tourist who wants to know if they can walk to the 16th Bart station at night. You will work with the Chex team to understand offered events and to be able to answer questions such as, “Can I bring my three-year-old on the tour?” “How many people can I bring to a factory buyout?” “Is there parking available?” “Can I bring an external caterer to my party?” “Do you have an oven available for my party?” “Is there locked storage available for a tour group’s luggage?” “Can I bring glitter and garlands?” You're responsible for understanding the operating details of the factory, the events, guest expectations, our Chex systems and operations, and then ensuring Chex offerings meet and exceed expectations.
• On-site Chex Experience Support: Our factory is almost always bustling with classes, tours, private events, and chocolate programming. Be available onsite from 9:30-12:30 on Saturday and Sunday to support the Chex team with tours, answer phone calls from guests who need technical help rescheduling tours, handle inbound private event inquiries, and answer guest questions such as – “Did I leave my purse?” “Is there room for another person in this class?” “Can I book a second tour for this afternoon?” “Can I meet with someone to see the space in person?” “Can I book the factory for our company’s holiday party and what’s the maximum capacity and deposit?” You ensure that guests have exceptional experiences by ensuring that the events calendar is up-to-date, noting guest requests (e.g. a special birthday, a Michelin-starred chef) are recorded and read by the Chex team, and by being an extra set of eyes and ears for the chocolate factory.
• Communication & Scheduling: Whether it's a private truffle making class or a school factory tour, you will be on hand to assist with event booking, calendaring, and scheduling. This will involve a keen eye for detail such as remembering to send an invoice for a private buyout 30 days prior to the event. Take ownership for ensuring the Chex team has the information they need to be successful by providing an end of the day report, recording any issues in GChat for the team, documenting notes in the calendaring systems such as, “The 10am Tuesday tour needs wheelchair accommodations.” and confirming that the Chex team has read the reports and been able to respond appropriately.  When additional clarification is needed (e.g. does a stone fruit allergy include almonds), follow-up with the guest in a timely manner. On weekends, be within earshot of the Chex team and assist in-person such as a guest needing assistance with the restroom, greeting early arrivals, moving a cart of dirty dishes to the kitchen, and helping the café team greet a large group at the door.
• Hospitality & Tone: Ensure that all Chex-related guest communications receive a timely, helpful response with a warm, calm, detail-oriented voice, while within our SLA standards. For chat, we respond in minutes, for email we typically respond within a few hours. During business hours, we aim to answer all calls when they are received. Help ensure every guest interaction reflects the same level of care and thoughtfulness as our chocolate.
• Strategy and Input: You learn the most about an organization when something goes amiss – a lost order, a misscheduled tour, or a sold-out bar. Each time you handle a guest issue, you see an opportunity to improve our operations and event offerings. Work across the organization to research and resolve issues. Help teams create goals (e.g. we should have more summer events next year), improve experiences (e.g. could we have a recipe take-home), & evolve operations (is there a better scheduling tool that will scale better) based on guest feedback. Help shine light on systems that could be improved so that we avoid making the same mistakes each year and our experiences continue to improve. Record and provide that day-to-day feedback into our Guest Care logging tools so that we can share our learnings and suggestions at our quarterly company-wide Guest Care meeting.
• Team Player: Manage your time strategically and when you have downtime, ask the Guest Care and Chex teams how you can best assist overarching team goals across Wholesale, Corporate, and Guest Care, especially during the busy holiday season when our success depends upon everyone’s coordinated efforts. During the winter season, we see a 2-3x influx of guest activity – spirits and expectations can be high! We are looking for Guest Care team members whom we want to work with again and again, even when the emails, chats, and calls are at their busiest.
• Digital Savvy & Discretion: Research whether an email is a scam before forwarding it to others., know when to loop in other teams (PR receives press inquiries, HR receives reference check requests) and which issues require legal or personnel sensitivity (e.g. someone asks for the CEO’s email, a guest asks if a boxed chocolate set has an allergen, an influencer asks for a free class in exchange for a TikTok post, the IRS requests a wage garnishment for an existing team member). When you learn about something potentially sensitive, maintain confidences, and don’t allow that information to influence how you interact with others.
• Other tasks as necessary

Requirements

• Availability: This role requires weekends on Saturday & Sunday from 9:30 am-12:30 pm and Monday-Wednesday from 9:30-11:30 am so you can assist with the first tour of the day and the factory is ready. This role will be temporary from August 2025 until the new year when we reevaluate the role and the fit. 
• Emotional maturity: You’re working with guests from all over the world. Your dedication to providing great service helps you put even the testiest guest at ease.
• Excellent verbal and writing skills: You have impeccable spelling and grammar and communicate with simplicity and warmth. You read between the lines and write emails for a desired emotional effect. Your verbal and written communication goes above and beyond what is expected of a guest support role. You are not only communicating clearly, but fostering a relationship with the guest through genuine connection. 
• Active listening: You are naturally curious and ask questions to understand the context for guest questions. 
• Technical know-how: We use tools such as Gorgias, Square, Shopify, Aircall, Shipsation, spreadsheets, and Google Suite, just to name a few. We’re happy to train anyone -- a can-do attitude will serve you well.
• Previous experience multitasking: Scheduling events involves a lot of moving parts and communication. You must be super organized and thorough in your work and previous experience in a role that required organization is essential. 

To Apply
Please email [email protected] with a copy of your resume and cover letter. You’ll stand out from the crowd if you include one or two sentences detailing a favorite food experience. We do our best to respond to all serious candidates within 7-14 days. We look forward to hearing from you!