Director of Operations

Director of Operations — Full-Service Pizza & Restaurant Group

Location: Metro Detroit, MI — on-site, with regular travel across the footprint

Reports To: Chief Executive Officer

Direct Reports: 2 Area Coaches + Operations & Loss Prevention Manager (3 direct / ~892 team members across 14 full-service restaurants)

Employment Type: Full-Time, Exempt

Compensation: $135,000 – $175,000 base + bonus, commensurate with experience

The Role

Our client is an iconic, legacy full-service restaurant brand with deep roots in the local market. Their 14 full-service restaurants are where the brand lives — and the company is in the midst of an operating turnaround, with a mandate to restore four-wall profitability and guest experience before pursuing further growth.

The Director of Operations owns the performance of those 14 restaurants and roughly 892 team members. You’ll lead the two Area Coaches who run the east and west territories, plus the Operations & Loss Prevention Manager who protects the business. Today those coaches report to the CEO; this role exists to put one operator between the restaurants and the executive team.

The job has three parts, and all three are real:

Run the business. Sales, four-wall profit, guest experience, and standards across 14 full-service restaurants — dining room, bar, kitchen, and catering.

Rebuild how labor is deployed. The current labor model exists but isn’t yet right — fixing it is a named deliverable of this role, not a background hope.

Install the operating discipline underneath both — and hold it there after the enthusiasm wears off.

This is a full-service job. Dining rooms, bars, servers, and table turns are the work, not a side note to a throughput problem.

What You’ll Own

Restaurant P&L. Sales and four-wall EBITDA across 14 restaurants. Comparable sales, food and labor to model, and a plan that closes the gap between the best and worst-performing locations.

The Area Coach team. Develop and hold accountable two coaches carrying seven restaurants each. Set their cadence, review their store visits, and calibrate how they assess GMs.

The labor model. Validate and rebuild staffing matrices by position, section, and daypart. Drive forecast accuracy and hold schedules to model — without sacrificing service scores.

Talent readiness. Every management seat filled, every key role with a named successor. Hiring runs against a plan, not a resignation.

Speed to execution. Every initiative has an owner and a date. Course-correct mid-week instead of discovering issues at period end.

Performance management. Documented coaching and recognition trails, written and inspected goals, and coaches who diagnose before they coach.

A predictable weekly rhythm. Orders, counts, schedules, and one-on-ones land on the same day every week.

Guest experience. From the door to the check — wait management, ticket times, table turns, bar execution, and service recovery.

Loss prevention. Lead the Operations & Loss Prevention Manager on discounts, voids, comps, cash and bar handling, and inventory variance.

Standards across formats. Own the brand and operating standard across the carry-out side of the business as well, on a dotted line.

How You’ll Be Measured

Comparable sales and four-wall EBITDA, by unit

Labor cost and hours to model; forecast accuracy; on-time schedule posting

Cost of goods and inventory variance

Guest-experience and product-quality scores, by store

Discount, void, and comp rate; loss-prevention exceptions closed

Management turnover, vacancy days, and successor coverage

Rollout speed in the field

Required Qualifications

8+ years in multi-unit restaurant operations, including 3+ years leading multi-unit leaders (Area/District Managers, Area Coaches, or equivalent)

Full-service depth — experience running dining rooms with a bar, servers, and table service at volume (a purely QSR or fast-casual background is not a fit)

P&L ownership with a track record of improving four-wall profitability, not just holding it

Experience developing people through other leaders — managers promoted, bench built, successors ready

Performance-management mechanics: written goals, documented coaching/recognition, consistent escalation with HR

Restaurant data fluency: POS reporting, labor forecasting, guest-feedback platforms, BI dashboards

Compliance knowledge: wage-and-hour and tipped-employee rules, food safety, alcohol service regulation

Willingness to be in the restaurants regularly, including nights and weekends

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent operating experience