Director of Accounting

The Tabletop Group; New York (NY); On-site; USD 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

A high-growth fast-casual restaurant brand is seeking an experienced Controller to oversee financial operations and drive profitability. This strategic role involves managing budgeting, forecasting, and reporting, alongside core accounting responsibilities. Candidates should have extensive restaurant finance experience, strong financial modeling skills, and a bachelor's degree. The position supports a transformative growth phase and requires a hands-on leader with exceptional communication skills.

Qualifications

• 8-12 years of progressive finance and accounting experience.
• Experience in multi-unit restaurant settings.
• Ability to create operator-friendly reporting.

Responsibilities

• Manage enterprise planning and budgeting processes.
• Develop and maintain financial models for store economics.
• Oversee accounting functions and ensure GAAP compliance.

Skills

Financial modeling

Advanced Excel proficiency

KPI development

Leadership

Stakeholder management

Operational decision-making

Education

Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or related field

CPA and/or MBA

Tools

Power BI

Tableau

Job description

Our client is a high-growth fast-casual restaurant brand renowned for innovative, fresh menu offerings and strong guest loyalty. With more than 50 locations across the U.S.—roughly balanced between corporate-owned units and a successful licensed/franchise network—the company is in an exciting expansion and optimization phase.

We are exclusively retained to identify a Controller. This is a strategic, hands‑on role reporting to the CEO or equivalent, responsible for building a best‑in‑class planning engine while also owning core accounting operations and financial reporting. You will partner closely with Operations to drive profitability across corporate and licensed locations by delivering timely, accurate financial data and KPI dashboards that enable field leaders to make the best operational decisions.

Key Responsibilities

FP&A leadership

• Manage the enterprise planning process, including annual budgeting, rolling forecasts, weekly and monthly reporting, and variance analysis linked to operational drivers.
• Develop and maintain models for unit economics, new store development, remodel returns, licensing and royalty structures, and growth initiatives.
• Lead long‑range planning, scenario modeling, and sensitivity analysis to guide expansion pace, capital requirements, and profit drivers.
• Create executive dashboards and insights for key restaurant metrics, including sales, traffic, labor, food cost, controllables, AUV, contribution margin, and store-level EBITDA.
• Collaborate with Operations to translate insights into actionable improvements in margin, labor modeling, productivity, and cost control.

Field decision support and KPI cadence

• Establish and maintain a weekly and monthly KPI reporting cadence for field operations, ensuring leaders have timely, accurate, easy to interpret scorecards.
• Produce and distribute store and region level performance reporting covering sales, traffic, labor, food and beverage cost, controllables, productivity, AUV, contribution margin, and store level EBITDA.
• Partner with Operations to define KPI targets, leading indicators, and standard operating reviews that connect actions to results.
• Build tools and dashboards that enable operators to quickly see performance and take corrective action, including labor deployment, scheduling efficiency, waste reduction, and controllables management.
• Ensure data definitions and reporting logic are consistent across corporate and licensed locations so field teams trust the numbers.

Accounting and financial operations

• Oversee core accounting functions, including month‑end and year‑end close, general ledger, accounts payable and receivable, payroll, reconciliations, and preparation of GAAP‑compliant financial statements.
• Maintain strong internal controls and ensure timely, accurate reporting to leadership and stakeholders.
• Manage tax and regulatory compliance in coordination with external partners.
• Support licensed and corporate financial administration, including royalty tracking, collections, licensee financial reviews, compliance, and onboarding support.
• Lead and develop a lean, high‑performing finance and accounting team with high standards for accuracy and efficiency.
• Evaluate and enhance systems and processes across ERP, reporting, and restaurant tools to support efficient scaling.

Strategic support

• Prepare board‑ready reporting packages and presentations.
• Support strategic initiatives, including potential mergers and acquisitions, capital raises, and licensing expansion.

Qualifications & Experience

• Eight to twelve or more years of progressive finance and accounting experience, with significant responsibility for budgeting, forecasting, and financial reporting.
• Multi‑unit restaurant experience is required. Experience in fast casual, QSR, or casual dining is preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to build operator friendly reporting that drives field adoption and improves decision making.
• Experience in a mixed corporate‑owned and franchised or licensed environment is strongly preferred.
• Strong financial modeling skills and advanced Excel proficiency are required. Experience with BI tools such as Power BI or Tableau is preferred.
• A solid GAAP foundation and experience managing close and reporting processes are required. CPA is a plus but not required if you have proven controllership‑level experience.
• A strong operator mindset is essential. You can translate financial insights into actionable steps for leaders.
• A bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field is required. CPA and/or MBA are preferred.
• Exceptional leadership, communication, and stakeholder management abilities; ability to translate financial insights into actionable business strategies.
• High integrity, detail‑oriented, and comfortable in a fast‑paced, entrepreneurial culture.

This is a confidential, executive‑level search. If you are a results‑oriented finance executive with relevant restaurant multi‑unit and franchising experience, and you're ready to lead finance during a transformative growth phase, we invite you to apply in confidence.