Restaurant Operations Manager

Position Overview

The Operations Manager carries a dual mandate. In corporate stores, this is a direct people leadership role, hiring, developing, and holding accountable the store management teams that represent SRG every day. Across licensed locations, the same individual must achieve brand compliance and performance improvement through influence, coaching, and relationship rather than formal authority. This combination of direct and influence-based leadership defines the role and requires both operational credibility and genuine emotional intelligence.

Reporting to the Director of Operations, the role works cross-functionally with Business Development, Supply Chain, Finance, People, and Marketing, and requires regular travel across the US.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Corporate Store Leadership

• Directly manage corporate store management teams: set expectations, conduct regular one-to-ones, manage performance, and develop individuals at all levels.
• Drive store-level KPIs including COGS, labor ratios, waste, customer satisfaction, and audit scores; hold managers accountable with clarity and consistency.
• Lead corporate store teams through change including menu updates, system rollouts, and operational pivots, with clear communication and on-the-ground presence.
• Partner with the HR function on hiring, onboarding, and where necessary disciplinary or exit processes for corporate store employees.

Licensed and Franchise Partner Management

• Serve as the primary contact for a portfolio of licensed locations, providing responsive, expert support across operations, supply, and brand matters.
• Build trust-based relationships with operators; influence brand standard adherence and performance improvement through coaching, data-sharing, and commercial logic.
• Manage the full onboarding journey for new partners from initial set-up through to post-opening review, ensuring a smooth and brand-consistent launch.
• Maintain a regular cadence of structured partner reviews; identify underperformance early and agree remediation plans where required.

Training, Auditing and Brand Standards

• Design and deliver training programs for corporate and partner teams covering operations, food safety, brand standards, and product knowledge.
• Conduct structured operational audits across the network; produce clear, actionable reports and track improvement trends over time.
• Maintain up-to-date SOPs, training guides, and reference materials; ensure all locations meet ServSafe and relevant food safety requirements.

Operational Performance and Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Monitor and report on financial and operational performance across both corporate and partner locations; surface risks and opportunities to the Director of Operations.
• Collaborate with Supply Chain on demand forecasting, inventory management, and partner procurement set-up.
• Contribute operationally to new location openings, business development due diligence, and cross-functional improvement projects.

Qualifications

Education

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience preferred; relevant hospitality or operations qualification accepted.
• ServSafe Manager Food Safety Certification required within 30 days of employment.
• Valid driving license; willingness and ability to travel regularly across the US.

Experience

• Three to five years of multi-unit operations management in a fast-casual, QSR, or branded food service environment.
• Proven experience directly managing store-level teams: recruiting, developing, and performance-managing people at a manager level.
• Demonstrated ability to manage franchisee, licensee, or independent operator relationships, delivering compliance and performance through influence rather than authority.
• Comfortable with P&L and operational data; able to connect financial performance to operational behavior and build improvement plans accordingly.

Skills and Competencies

• Direct Leadership: sets clear expectations, coaches for performance, and creates team environments where people take ownership.
• Influence Without Authority: earns credibility with independent operators through expertise, follow-through, and constructive challenge.
• Operational Excellence: strong working knowledge of food service operations including labor, COGS, food safety, and customer experience.
• Communication: adapts style across audiences from store crew to senior leadership to independent business owners; produces clear written outputs.
• Commercial Acumen: understands unit economics; brings solutions alongside problems; manages priorities under pressure in a scaling business.

Desirable Attributes

• Genuine affinity for SAMBAZON's mission and the health-and-wellness food service category.
• Experience contributing to franchise or licensing system design and roll-out.
• Familiarity with Voice of the Guest or equivalent customer feedback platforms.
• Experience with workforce management platforms such as ADP, PayCom, or equivalent.

Working Conditions

This is a field-intensive role; most working time is spent visiting stores and partner locations. Travel across the US by air and road is a core requirement. The role involves working in fast-paced food service environments and requires flexibility to cover evenings, weekends, or holidays around peak periods, new openings, and partner onboarding.