Vice President of Menu Innovation

Tropical Smoothie Cafe; Atlanta (GA); On-site; USD 191,000 - 225,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company in the restaurant sector seeks a visionary Vice President of Menu Innovation to guide the menu evolution and enhance guest experiences across its extensive cafe network. This vital executive role directly supports growth strategies and fosters collaboration across multiple teams, ensuring innovative and differentiated offerings are delivered successfully.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of Marketing experience, preferably in restaurant chains.
• Ability to synthesize and communicate key ideas effectively.
• Strong analytical skills to extract relevant insights.

Responsibilities

• Develop and lead a culinary innovation roadmap aligned with business goals.
• Own the full menu strategy and lifecycle, including core menu optimization.
• Lead cross-functional teams to operationalize new menu items.

Skills

Written and verbal communication

Critical thinking

Problem-solving

Organization

Data analysis

Education

College/University degree in Marketing

Business Management or a related field

Job description

Join to apply for the Vice President of Menu Innovation role at Tropical Smoothie Cafe

Summary Of Responsibilities

We are seeking a visionary, strategic, and highly creative Vice President of Menu Innovation to lead the evolution of our menu and guest experience. This role will drive the innovation pipeline, from ideation through commercialization, and lead the development of our national marketing calendar and LTO strategy working closely with the VP of Brand Communications. The VP will serve as the connective tissue across culinary, marketing, operations, supply chain, and culinary partners to bring bold, differentiated menu offerings to life across our 1,500+ cafe network. This position is vital to supporting the growth strategy and reports directly to the Chief Marketing Officer.

Key Responsibilities

1. Develop and lead a 3–5 year culinary innovation roadmap aligned with business goals and brand positioning.
2. Own the full menu strategy and lifecycle—including core menu optimization, category expansion, daypart growth, and strategic sourcing initiatives.
3. Lead vision, development, testing, and execution of Limited Time Offer (LTO) platforms and new product introductions that drive traffic and incremental sales.
4. Build and own the culinary-led marketing calendar in partnership with brand marketing and operations to balance innovation and operational complexity.
5. Serve as the resident expert on our design target, leading insightful research to ensure new innovation is strategically aligned with the design target’s needs.
6. Lead cross-functional teams (culinary, insights, supply chain, operations, franchisees) to test, validate, and operationalize new menu items with excellence.
7. Create system-wide communication regarding menu strategy, pipeline and promotional calendar efforts for franchisee webinars, local market meetings, weekly Brand Updates, as well as internal cross-functional communications.
8. Leverage insights, culinary trends, and flavor exploration to inform pipeline development and ensure brand differentiation.
9. Lead and mentor a high-performing culinary and product development team, fostering a culture of creativity, agility, and collaboration.

Educational Requirements

College/University degree in Marketing, Business Management, or a related field.

KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS/ABILITIES:

• 12+ years of Marketing experience, preferably with a restaurant chain, preferably in QSR or fast casual spaces.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills – ability to understand, synthesize and communicate key ideas is key to the success of this position.
• Strong critical thinker with ability to analyze data and extract relevant insights.
• Excellent organization, communication, program and process management skills.
• Strong problem-solving abilities and analytic ability; able to analyze significant amounts of information with attention to detail to make recommendations.
• Results-oriented with a personality geared towards collaboration and influence.

Seniority level

• Executive

Employment type

• Full-time

Job function

• Product Management and Marketing
• Restaurants

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