District Manager/Area Manager

Dunkin' | High Performance Hospitality; Lake Forest (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Dunkin is seeking a District Manager in Southern California to lead a multi-unit portfolio, drive profitable growth, and strengthen brand standards. The role emphasizes coaching GMs, optimizing P&L results, and elevating guest experience across high-volume stores, including drive-thru operations and staffing strategies.

The ideal candidate brings 5+ years in restaurant ops leadership, strong P&L literacy, and a proven track record in local store marketing.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of restaurant operations leadership experience in multi-unit settings.
• Ability to read and act on P&L statements and dashboards.
• Strong coaching style to lead General Managers and ADS.
• Experience managing local store marketing, product launches, labor scheduling, and brand standards.
• Knowledge of California restaurant operations, wage-and-hour rules, and health department readiness.

Responsibilities

• Own area-level P&L performance across assigned restaurants.
• Identify opportunities via visits, scorecards, guest feedback, and data analysis.
• Review performance with GMs and store teams; set and follow up on action plans.
• Drive sales growth through local marketing, promos, and daypart focus.
• Coordinate with franchisee leadership on maintenance, repairs, and safety priorities.
• Support manager hiring, promotions, discipline, and succession planning.

Skills

P&L analysis

Coaching leadership

Store ops management

Local marketing

Staffing planning

Food safety

Tools

POS systems

Back-office reporting

Scheduling software

Inventory management

eSupport systems

Job description

About the Role

The District Manager is the multi-unit operator responsible for delivering profitable growth, brand execution, and people development across an assigned portfolio of quick-service restaurants. This leader owns area-level profit and loss performance, identifies operating opportunities, reviews store performance with each restaurant team, and turns data into action plans that improve sales, service, staffing, food quality, and profitability. In a Southern California QSR environment, the DM must be equally comfortable coaching in the dining room, analyzing P&L results, solving drive-thru bottlenecks, and building a bench of managers who can execute during high-volume dayparts.

What You Will Own

• Own area-level P&L performance across assigned restaurants, including sales, labor, food cost, controllable expenses, waste, cash accountability, and profitability goals.
• Identify store-by-store opportunities through routine restaurant visits, P&L reviews, scorecards, guest feedback, speed-of-service data, staffing analysis, and brand audits.
• Review performance with General Managers and store teams, set clear action plans, and follow up consistently until operational gaps are closed.
• Drive sales growth through local store marketing, promotional execution, daypart focus, upselling, catering/community outreach where applicable, and one-mile trade-area activation.
• Hold restaurants accountable for food quality, freshness, cleanliness, hospitality, drive-thru speed, order accuracy, and guest satisfaction scores.
• Ensure stores execute Dunkin' and/or QSR brand standards, operational procedures, window readiness, seasonal launches, merchandising, and required store communications.
• Coach GMs and ADMs on labor scheduling, staffing levels, hiring discipline, training routines, performance management, and succession planning.
• Partner with franchisee leadership and support teams on maintenance issues, equipment uptime, eSupport tickets, remodel/readiness needs, and health/safety priorities.
• Support manager hiring, promotion, discipline, termination recommendations, and bench development in partnership with HR and senior operations leadership.
• Lead with urgency during staffing shortages, guest escalations, weather/traffic disruptions, equipment failures, inspections, or other store emergencies.

How Success Will Be Measured

• Area sales growth, comparable-store sales performance, and promotional execution.
• Restaurant-level profitability, labor control, food cost control, waste reduction, and cash/deposit accuracy.
• Drive-thru speed, service times, order accuracy, GSS/guest feedback, and complaint resolution trends.
• Food safety, cleanliness, brand audit, window readiness, and health department performance.
• Manager retention, bench strength, training completion, and readiness of GM/ADM successors.
• Consistent store visit cadence, action-plan follow-up, and visible leadership presence across the market.

What We Are Looking For

• 5+ years of restaurant operations leadership, with multi-unit QSR, coffee, bakery, drive-thru, or high-volume foodservice experience strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to read and act on P&L statements, labor reports, inventory trends, sales dashboards, and operational scorecards.
• Strong coaching style with the ability to lead through General Managers, build accountability, and improve performance without losing team engagement.
• Experience managing local store marketing, new product launches, labor scheduling, inventory controls, cash controls, and brand standards.
• Working knowledge of California restaurant operations, wage-and-hour sensitivity, food safety expectations, and health department readiness.
• Comfortable using POS, back-office reporting, scheduling, inventory, learning, and ticketing/eSupport systems.
• Valid driver's license, reliable transportation, acceptable driving record, and willingness to travel daily between restaurants.
• Bilingual English/Spanish is helpful in many Southern California restaurant teams, but not required.