Area Operations Manager

Dil Foods; Bengaluru; On-site; INR 2,800,000 - 4,200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Ownership of city cluster

Direct line to City Head

Competitive pay with incentives

Job summary

Dil Foods is seeking an Area Operations Manager for cloud kitchens in Bengaluru. You will own day-to-day performance across 8–12 kitchens, ensure SOP compliance, optimize order-to-dispatch, and drive profitable outcomes for partners and Dil Foods.

You will report to the City Head, lead Kitchen Managers and field auditors, and travel within the city as needed to launch new kitchens and tune operations.

Qualifications

• Fluent English and local city language.
• Graduate in any stream; hotel mgmt or business degree is a plus.
• Experience leading and coaching managers.

Responsibilities

• Run cloud kitchen cluster to Dil Foods SOPs for prep, plating, packing and dispatch.
• Manage restaurant partners: onboarding, issues, payout queries, disputes with a consistent protocol.
• Monitor food cost, wastage, inventories and shelf life; ensure hygiene audits pass.
• Own platform performance: ratings, availability and listing issues; coordinate with marketing/tech.

Skills

Fluent English

Local language fluent

People leadership

Data-driven decisions

Dashboard reading

Education

Graduate in any stream

Hotel management or business degree (plus)

Tools

Excel

Google Sheets

Dashboards

Job description

Job Description – Area Operations Manager (Cloud Kitchens)

Oct 7, 2026 · @Dilfoods

Role overview

The Area Operations Manager (AOM) owns day-to-day performance of a cluster of 8–12 cloud kitchens in one city, most run by our full-filling restaurant partners (RPs) on Dil Foods brands. You make sure every kitchen cooks to SOP, delivers on time, stays profitable for the partner and for Dil Foods, and grows its platform ratings. You report to the City Head and lead Kitchen Managers and field auditors.

• Title: Area Operations Manager – Cloud Kitchens
• Reports to: City Head
• Team: Kitchen Managers and field auditors across the cluster; indirect reach to RP kitchen staff Also
• Location: Bangalore

Key responsibilities

Kitchen operations and SOP compliance

• Run every kitchen in the cluster to Dil Foods SOPs for prep, plating, packing and dispatch, including how DF's frozen base gravies are stored, thawed, reheated and portioned.
• Hold order-to-dispatch time, order accuracy and on-time delivery to target through lunch and dinner peaks.
• Audit kitchens regularly (in person and by checklist) and close every finding with a dated action.

Restaurant partner management

• Be the first escalation point for RPs: onboarding, daily issues, payout queries and disputes, with a clear, consistent stance on protocol.
• Keep partner profitability healthy and fair: track payout against RP cost, flag items where the economics break, and bring pricing and payout proposals to the City Head.
• Review partner performance monthly and act early on repeat quality or SLA misses, up to exit where needed.

Food cost, inventory and quality

• Keep food cost, wastage and gravy and perishable stock within limits: FEFO, expiry tracking, cold-chain and temperature logs.
• Make sure RPs procure perishables like dairy and vegetables to spec, and that gravy replenishment from DF matches actual demand.
• Clear FSSAI and internal hygiene audits with no repeat findings.

Platform performance

• Own ratings, complaint rates, item availability and delisting risk on the delivery platforms for every kitchen and brand.
• Work with the category, marketing and tech teams on menu changes, offers and listing issues; give them kitchen-level feedback.

People and reporting

• Hire, train and retain Kitchen Managers and auditors; coach them weekly on scorecards.
• Publish a weekly cluster report on KPIs, partner issues and actions to the City Head.
• Lead launches of new kitchens, brands and menus in the cluster, including opening-readiness checks.

Requirements

• 6–10 years in food-service operations, with at least 3 years managing multiple cloud kitchens, restaurants or QSR outlets across a city or cluster.
• Hands‑on with kitchen operations: SOPs, prep and portion control, food safety, FSSAI norms, cold‑chain and frozen‑food handling.
• Experience working with delivery platforms such as Swiggy and Zomato: ratings, listings, delisting, peak‑hour performance.
• Comfortable reading kitchen and partner numbers: food cost, wastage, payout against cost, and per‑order profit.
• Proven record of leading and coaching managers; confident handling franchise or partner relationships and disputes with a firm, fair stance.
• Fluent with Excel or Google Sheets and dashboards; able to run weekly reviews from data.
• Graduate in any stream; hotel management or business degree is a plus.
• Fluent in English and the local language of the city; willing to travel within the city daily.

Good to have, and what we offer

Good to have

• Experience in a multi‑brand cloud kitchen company, or with a partner‑led or franchise model.
• Exposure to opening new kitchens and cities, and to Lean or Six Sigma practices.
• Comfort with ops tools such as POS, inventory and aggregator dashboards.

What we offer

• Ownership of a full city cluster in a business growing across six cities.
• A direct line to the City Head and the central team on partner economics and menu decisions.
• Competitive pay with a performance incentive linked to cluster KPIs.