Smashburger - Washington, DC
posted 4 months ago
The Director of Operations (DO) plays a crucial role in supporting the management teams of corporate and independently owned franchised restaurant locations across designated markets, including Philadelphia, South Jersey, and Virginia/DC. This position is primarily focused on enhancing restaurant sales and traffic while ensuring an exceptional experience for guests, employees, and franchisees alike. The DO is tasked with building and maintaining positive, long-term business relationships with franchisees, as well as assessing their performance against the Smashburger brand standards. In this role, the DO will manage the performance of multiple managers overseeing 5-20 restaurants in various markets, which may include both corporate and franchise locations. The DO must consistently visit these restaurants to identify areas for improvement and drive sales, guest traffic, and profitability. A significant aspect of the role involves fostering a strong organizational culture and managing the effectiveness of people-focused processes and systems. For corporate markets, the DO is responsible for hiring, developing, training, and retaining teams to continuously enhance processes and procedures. This includes delivering timely performance feedback to managers, engaging in talent reviews, coaching managers on individual development plans, and building talent pipelines through internal and external interviews. The DO will also monitor customer service platforms to ensure guest satisfaction and manage labor metrics to balance service and profitability while adhering to labor laws. In franchise markets, the DO will lead change by communicating corporate initiatives to encourage franchisee adoption and execution. This includes conducting operational standards reviews, providing support and resources to franchisees, and analyzing financial performance to recommend improvements. The DO will also partner with global quality management teams on audit programs and manage local store marketing efforts to drive guest traffic.