VP, Operations Full Time

The Vice President of Operations drives franchise (and company-owned, where applicable) operational excellence by working cross-functionally with business unit leaders, supply chain, finance, legal, information technology, centers of excellence, and the category team to deliver sales targets, brand health, and profitability. The Vice President of Operations leads a team that provides ongoing support for franchisees, the development, and oversight of brand operational standards and policies, and the maximization of the guest experience to deliver traffic, sales, and profitability improvement for the brand.

The Vice President of Operations (VPO) works with the brand’s Chief Brand Officer and the Vice President of Marketing, along with other senior leaders across the organization, to define objectives for the brand and drive business and commercial performance along with operational priorities. The VPO translates the group’s objectives into centralized operational priorities and plans to drive topline sales and commercial brand value for franchisees. The VP of Operations has oversight for the implementation of franchising operations strategy, operations standards/services/systems, brand training, and operations technology. The role oversees franchisee support and consulting, enforcement of brand standards, the implementation of performance leadership tools and reports, and franchised business planning. This role is the key leader liaison with Category Operations and Training. They lead field operations, franchise group management, support, compliance, franchising, and development strategy. Additionally, they are accountable for brand operational performance/KPIs and commercialization.

Essential Functions

• Leads the development of the operations strategy and tactics for the brand.
• Leads and manages the brand Ops Services and Franchise Field Operations to support franchisees in their effort to deliver operations excellence and drive business performance.
• Leverages data and insights to improve the guest experience and implements processes to deliver a better guest experience across all sales channels driving commercial value to the system.
• Collaborates with the category leadership team and aligns with One Focus Way to enable the execution of initiatives to support brand health and drive growth and profitable sales for franchisees and Focus Brands organization.
• Develops scalable plans and drives the effective implementation/launch of new/enhanced products, procedures, and standards to ensure the maximization of sales and profitability for franchisees.
• Leads the development, documentation, and ongoing evaluation of operational standards, policies, and procedures to ensure alignment with brand standards, safety standards, and legal requirements and leads the effort, in partnership with the legal department, to timely resolve violations of the franchise agreement that risk brand integrity.
• Leverages resources across the matrix organization to simplify and standardize operational execution.
• Uses data and analytics to understand guest satisfaction to drive profitability.
• Leads the field team tasked with day-to-day franchise management.
• Maintains oversight of the operational and financial performance of company-owned locations as applicable.
• Partners with finance, business unit leaders, and operational teams to define necessary budget, resourcing, and logistics management necessary to support planned location openings, new market entries, projected sales, and new product/innovation implementations.
• Partners with business unit operational teams to track and manage compliance processes to ensure trackability and accountability of operational procedures, remodel requirements, quality standards, and training and certification requirements.
• Provides input and recommendations on new franchise applications to advance the selection of qualified franchisee partners and provides ongoing monitoring to ensure an effective onboarding experience for new franchisees.
• Reviews franchise profit and loss statements, quality reports, customer feedback, and visit reports to identify trends and implementation of best practices to enhance operational support and support training.
• Leverages profit and loss statements to help franchisees drive sales.
• Uses data and insights to identify strengths and opportunities across the brand to drive performance and deploy resources to leverage best practices.
• Works with finance and brand leadership to plan annual initiatives and budgets and manages cost control initiatives related to operations execution.
• Collaborates with the Vice President of Marketing to ensure seamless implementation of marketing initiatives to maximize sales and profits.
• Hires, trains and manages operations support teams and in partnership with the location category leaders, establishes goals and monitors and tracks the performance of the brand operations team.
• Implements a culture of accountability and performance management across the operations team and across the franchised business to ensure continuous improvement of the guest experience, adherence to brand standards, and maximization of sales and profitability for franchisees and Focus Brands.
• Collaborates with Brands’ Franchise Advisory Council (FAC) to gather insights and recommendations to develop initiatives to drive Brand performance.
• Partners with Supply Chain to ensure consistent resourcing of products across the Brands.

Education

• Bachelor’s Degree, required
• Master’s Degree, Business Administration, preferred

Work Experience

• 15+ years relevant work experience (e.g, Operations, Restaurants, Retail, Consulting)
• Quick service, multi-unit franchise operations, and/or hospitality industry experience required.
• 8+ years of managerial experience
• Demonstrated success influencing diverse stakeholders and leading teams that include non-direct reports in cross-functional settings

Skills

• Planning, organizing and follow up skills, with the ability to prioritize, delegate and manage multiple projects with sensitive deadlines and changing environment.
• Communication skills that effectively communicate sophisticated concepts, insights and recommendations in a compelling manner to various audiences (written, verbal and presentations).
• Ability to quickly build trust and partnerships across various stakeholder groups.
• Strategic decision making and planning with strong business and financial acumen.
• Talent management and development skills that creates a highly effective and motivated team.
• Ability to identify best practices and opportunities for improvement; able to lead the change necessary to increase effectiveness.
• Possesses a high degree of drive with a proven track record of achieving results.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint.
• Ability to travel up to 30% of the time.

CertificationsTravel Requirement

• May be required to travel up to 50% of the time