Area Coach (Succession Pathway)

TradeOn; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 900,000 - 1,300,000; Full time

Job summary

TradeOn is seeking an Area Coach in Cape Town to develop restaurant leaders, drive brand standards, and grow sales across a portfolio of 5-8 stores. The role involves training, coaching, and ensuring safety and compliance while optimizing profitability.

The AC will rotate through a structured training phase in Northern Suburbs, Cape Town, before assuming full responsibilities across Western Cape. Frequent regional travel is required.

Qualifications

• Diploma/degree in supply chain, hospitality and/or related field.
• Minimum 5 years’ management experience leading large teams (180-350) across multiple locations.
• Proven track record managing 5+ high-volume branches achieving KPIs and development goals.
• Passion for coaching, mentoring, and succession planning to foster growth and leadership.
• Strong commercial acumen; advanced Excel; data-driven decision-making.
• Valid driver’s license and willingness to travel to restaurants within portfolio.

Responsibilities

• Build people capability by coaching and mentoring restaurant leaders to high performance.
• Deliver a consistent customer experience by standardising CHAMPS, ROCC, and Champs standards.
• Grow brand, sales and profits through strategic brand activation, store marketing, and cost optimization.

Skills

Leadership

Succession planning

Employee engagement

Performance management

Wellbeing & safety

Education

Diploma/degree in supply chain or hospitality

5+ years management experience

Job description

Area Coach (Restaurants) position available in Cape Town.

Overall Purpose of the Position:

The Area Coach (AC) is the primary people developer and performance leader for a portfolio of restaurants. The AC will be responsible for coaching and enabling Restaurant General Managers (RGMs) to build strong teams, deliver a brand-consistent customer experience, and achieve sustainable sales growth and profitability.

The AC will drive employee engagement and retention, embed operational routines and standards, and lead the local execution of TradeOn’s brand initiatives. The AC champions ORIGINALS culture to create a workplace where people feel confident, valued, and empowered to succeed.

This role forms part of a structured succession pathway, starting with a supervised training phase in the Northern Suburbs of Cape Town before assuming full AC responsibilities. Successful progression depends on passing all required training modules and certification assessments.

Initial Deployment: Northern Suburbs, Cape Town (Training Phase)

Portfolio: 5-8 Stores

Key Performance Areas (KPAs) & Responsibilities include, but not limited to:

• Build People Capability:
  • Leadership: Coaching and mentoring restaurant leaders to lead high-performing teams; role-model inclusive, values-led leadership and effective on-the-floor coaching.
  • Succession & benching: Identifying and accelerating high-potential talent; maintaining a healthy pipeline of Team Leaders, RMs and RGMs.
  • Engagement & retention: Partner with People Capability Leader (PCL) and operational leaders to design employee engagement plans (recognition and growth pathways) that improve retention.
  • Performance management: Ensuring clear goals, timely feedback, and result management; closing skill gaps through targeted development and training certification.
  • Wellbeing & compliance: Safeguarding safe staffing levels and balanced rosters; upholding safety, security and labour practice standards.
  • Performance Indicators: Employee Engagement Score, Bench Strength & Internal Promotions, Training Completion & Certification
• Deliver a Consistent Customer Experience:
  • Standardisation: Auditing and coaching CHAMPS (Cleanliness, Hospitality, Accuracy, Maintenance, Product Quality, Speed of Service), ROCC (Restaurant Operations Compliance Check), and CSL (Champs Standards Library) standards; ensuring brand-consistent service, quality and efficiencies across all restaurants.
  • Operational routines: Driving daily/weekly operational routines (CHAMPS checks, shift huddles, line checks, food safety, cash controls) and closing gaps with action plans.
  • Optimizing financial performance: Managing of food, staffing or staff resources, and overhead costs proactively, ensuring agreed service times, effective deployment profitability.
  • Risk & compliance: Ensuring H&S, food safety, security and cash handling compliance; reducing loss, waste and operational variance.
  • Continuous improvement: Sharing best practices; leading root-cause problem solving with operational leaders to drive sustainable improvements.
  • Performance Indicators: CHAMPS/ROCC Audits, Customer Complaint Resolution Rate, Operational Routine Compliance
• Grow the Brand, Sales & Profits:
  • Strategic Brand Activation: Driving initiatives that translate to the broader brand strategy and embedding them for local success within your region.
  • Sales building: Guiding store marketing, delivering optimisation, product & promo execution; ensuring visibility and operational readiness.
  • Commercial discipline: Reviewing P&Ls with Operational Leaders (RGMs, RM and SS); driving cost/productivity initiatives and margin improvement.
  • Initiative leadership: Piloting, embedding and sustaining new ways of working; tracking post-initiative KPIs and scaling what works.
  • Cross-functional collaboration: Partner with PCL, Operational Leaders, Training Facilitators and fellow ACs to deliver impactful training and culture initiatives.
  • Performance Indicators: Sales Growth vs Budget, Restaurant Profitability, Brand Initiatives Executed Success

Ideal Requirements:

• Diploma/degree in supply chain, hospitality and/or related field
• Minimum 5 years’ management experience in leading large teams, across multiple locations (180-350)
• Proven track record managing 5+ high-volume branches achieving operational KPIs and team development goals
• Passion for coaching, mentoring, and succession planning to foster growth and leadership within your teams
• Strong commercial acumen; advanced Excel; data-driven decision-making
• Valid driver’s license and willingness to work weekends and travel extensively to restaurants within your designated portfolio.

Key Personal Inherent Characteristics:

• Customer-Obsessed Leadership; Champion a customer-first culture by empowering teams to deliver consistent, high-quality service and proactively addressing feedback.
• Resilient & Results-Driven; Maintains focus and accountability under pressure; drives performance through structured problem-solving and clear priorities.
• Inclusive People Developer; Passionate about coaching and mentoring; fosters a culture of growth, recognition, and team pride across diverse teams.
• Operational Excellence Mindset; Executes with precision in fast-paced environments; ensures standards, routines, and compliance are consistently upheld.
• Strategic & Hands-On; Balances long‑term goals with daily execution; adapts plans, solves problems, and follows through with discipline.
• Credible Influencer & Collaborator; Builds trust across levels; partners effectively with RGMs, PCL, and support teams to embed culture and drive results.

Important Information for Candidates

• Initial Training: The successful candidate will undergo a structured training program in the Northern Suburbs, Cape Town.
• Passing Requirement: Progression to AC level requires passing all training assessments. Failure to do so may affect continued employment.
• Mobility Requirement: Frequent travel across all restaurants within portfolio.
• Succession Plan: Typically, 6–12 months depending on performance, readiness, and business needs. Post-training, placement may occur at any region within Western Cape based on business needs

Why Join Us

• Transparent career pathway from Trainee Area Coach to Area Coach.
• Structured training and certification support.
• Opportunities for multistore and regional leadership growth.