Operations Director

The Company

Our client is a premium bar & restaurant concept who operate high volume complex restaurants across the Midlands and North of England. The business is Private Equity backed by investors who have supported a measured and considered growth strategy, ensuring that each site has the right fit and continues to capture the DNA that makes the brand so special.

The brand was awarded a place in the Best 100 Companies, the culture is people rich, not corporate and has a genuine family feel. They live and breathe their values which include authentic, welcoming, passionate, daring and community and incorporate that into everyday life.

The business is gearing up for the next evolution and as a result, looking for an Operations Director who will form an integral part of the leadership team.

The Role

A Board level role, the Operations Director will report to the MD, and work shoulder to shoulder with the leadership team including Finance, Property, People, Marketing and Food. This is a collaborative and dynamic leadership team with a wealth of hospitality and brand experience.

This is an exceptional opportunity for a high performing Ops Director to be part of something special. As OD, you must be able to lead from the front and inspire a team of talented individuals of which mostly have been organically grown to date. As the business grows, there is the need to balance internal and external talent whilst building strong successions plans for the future.

Your key responsibilities will include:

• Develop and implement a winning strategic vision and plan – growing real long term value whilst building a business that is ready for growth.
• Lead the development and implementation of the plan in co-ordination with other key group functions, taking accountability and owning all things operations
• Lead the existing team to deliver beyond expectation, driving continual improvement in the quest to be the best every time
• You will be fully P&L accountable for the restaurants, working collaboratively across the teams to ensure sales, margin and EBITDA targets are exceeded and agreed milestones met
• Able to bring structure, systems and rigour to a rapidly growing environment, to lay the foundations for growth and future-proof the business
• Able to deliver results with an entrepreneurial mind set, you will be accountable for timely and accurate reporting
• Through direction and collaboration, you will drive the development of our people and teams, ensuring great recognition, development and succession plans are in place at every level
• Responsible for all new openings, orchestrating and leading operations and openings team to mobilise new restaurants on time, on budget and with well-trained team.

The Candidate

• Must be proven at this level and able to hit the ground running
• You will ideally have experience of growing a business and building a team to support that growth
• You must be a natural inspirer of people and a motivator. Good at recognising and developing talent and putting in place development plans to improve individual performance where appropriate.
• Must be comfortable getting close to the business but equally able to be strategic, contribute to brand proposition and the future growth
• Private equity experience will be of huge advantage
• Food credibility is ideal but more importantly an appreciation for a premium product delivered with exceptional service

This is an incredible opportunity – if interested or indeed know of anyone in your network you think is perfect for this, please reach out to me.