Chief Operations Officer (COO)

**Industry:** Café / Casual Dining / Multi\-Branch Hospitality **Reports to:** Founding Directors **Role Overview:** A fast\-growing, multi\-format café and food\-led hospitality business is looking for an **entrepreneurial, systems\-driven Chief Operating Officer** to lead its next phase of scale. The business currently operates **multiple flagship cafés and smaller\-format pastry/coffee outlets** , with further expansion planned through company\-owned and franchise\-led growth. This role will act as the **operational right hand to the founders** , replacing an outgoing strategic consultant and building the systems, people, and governance needed for scale. **Key Mandate:** The COO will lead all head office and operational functions, ensuring strong coordination between branch operations, people, supply chain, service standards, training systems, and expansion readiness. The ideal candidate is a **hands\-on systems builder** with strong restaurant, café, QSR, or chain hospitality experience. **Key Responsibilities** **1\) Head Office Management:** Ensure harmony, prioritisation, and high\-velocity coordination across all support and operational departments. **2\) Café Operations \& Guest Experience:** Own service flow, SOP execution, customer journey, and consistent in\-store standards across all branches. **3\) Strategy Execution, Governance \& Founder Alignment:** Translate founder vision into execution plans, leadership dashboards, and cross\-functional accountability. **4\) Product Quality \& Training Excellence:** Ensure food, pastry, and coffee consistency through strong training systems, audits, and branch capability development. **5\) Supply Chain, Procurement \& Inventory Control:** Drive supplier coordination, stock discipline, procurement controls, and cost\-efficient inventory systems. **6\) People Operations, HR \& Branch Leadership:** Lead staffing structures, branch manager accountability, performance culture, and people decision\-making. **7\) Financial Controls \& Administrative Discipline:** Strengthen branch paperwork, reporting compliance, reconciliations, and operational control processes. **8\) Franchise / Small Format Governance:** Build scalable SOPs and governance standards for smaller\-format and franchise\-led expansion models. **9\) New Branch Launches \& Scalability:** Lead pre\-opening readiness, launch planning, hiring, training deployment, and early\-stage branch stabilisation. **Ideal Profile** * 8–12\+ years in hospitality / chain restaurant operations * Strong experience in multi\-branch execution * Deep focus on service and quality * Capable of building SOPs, dashboards, and reporting rhythms * Strong people leader who can make tough decisions * Comfortable working closely with founders * Experience in scaling emerging brands preferred **Success will be defined by:** * Stronger service consistency * Tighter branch controls * Robust training systems * Improved supplier coordination * Better branch manager discipline * Scalable launch systems for new branches * Stronger founder reporting and execution cadence