Operations Director - Food Brand (Franchise Scale-Up)

COREcruitment; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

A fast-growing street-food brand in the UK seeks an experienced Operations Director to lead their upcoming national expansion. You will be instrumental in transforming the business into a professionally structured franchise operation while maintaining the brand's creative spirit. A competitive salary of up to £110,000 plus bonuses is offered, alongside significant career progression opportunities.

Benefits

Performance bonus

LTIP options

Qualifications

• Head of Operations level or above in QSR / Casual Dining.
• Strong understanding of franchise operations.
• Experience scaling a brand from around 10 sites.

Responsibilities

• Build the full franchise operating framework.
• Lead day-to-day operations across the network.
• Develop and support Area Managers and Store Managers.

Skills

Franchise operations

Operational leadership

Commercial acumen

Data-driven decision making

Team development

Job description

Travel: UK-wide

A fast-growing, culturally rich street-food brand is gearing up for major national expansion and is looking for an experienced Operations Director to help lead the next stage of its journey.

This is one of the UK’s most exciting modern street-food success stories. It is a vibrant, youth-focused, design-led concept inspired by contemporary Asian flavours. With bold dishes, playful branding and a loyal customer base, the brand has quickly become a go-to destination for people who want authentic, city-inspired dining.

The business already operates multiple high-performing company-owned sites and is now building a franchise model. The goal is to open more than 25 new locations in the next two years and grow to over 100 sites nationwide.

The Opportunity

As Operations Director, you will play a crucial role in taking the business from a founder-led organisation to a professionally structured franchise operation. You will build systems, support teams, strengthen culture and inject operational rigour while protecting the creativity and energy that make the brand special.

You will lead nationwide performance, work closely with franchise partners and oversee a pipeline of 10 to 15 openings in the next two years.

What You’ll Do

Franchise Operations

• Build the full franchise operating framework, including manuals, training, onboarding and audit processes.
• Support franchise partner recruitment, onboarding and ongoing performance.
• Develop strong and commercially focused relationships with franchisees.

Operational Leadership

• Lead day-to-day operations across the entire network.
• Introduce KPIs covering labour, service speed, food quality, customer experience and profitability.
• Oversee operational readiness for all new openings, from planning to post-launch stabilisation.
• Strengthen supply chain performance and cost control as the network expands.

People and Culture

• Lead and develop Area Managers, Store Managers and the franchise support team.
• Build a culture that combines hospitality, creativity and high performance.
• Work with HR on recruitment, training, development and retention.

Commercial and Strategic

• Share P&L accountability with senior leadership.
• Identify opportunities to improve performance and implement action plans.
• Introduce scalable systems and technology to support growth and consistency.

About You

• Head of Operations level or above in QSR / Casual Dining
• Strong understanding of franchise operations, ideally with experience on both the franchisor and franchisee side.
• Experience scaling a brand from around 10 sites to significantly more.
• Hands‑on involvement with new openings and supporting stores through early trading.
• Commercially sharp, data‑driven and operationally disciplined.
• Comfortable building structure, processes and teams from the ground up.
• Calm, pragmatic and energised by fast‑paced growth environments.
• A genuine interest in modern Asian food, culture and hospitality is a bonus.

What Success Looks Like

• A consistent and profitable nationwide network.
• 10 to 15 successful openings within 24 months.
• Strong operational metrics and reporting embedded across the estate.
• A high-performing operations team in place and developing.
• A brand widely recognised for operational excellence and franchise readiness.

What’s on Offer

• Up to £110,000 base salary + bonus and LTIP options
• Performance bonus linked to openings and network performance
• Hybrid working from a London headquarters
• Clear progression opportunities, with potential to grow into Group COO or Managing Director as the business scales