Director, Menu and Calendar

KFC•Plano, TX

1d•$164,500 - $174,240•Onsite

About The Position

The Director of Menu Strategy, Planning, and Integration owns the strategy and end-to-end commercial planning for national and test market calendars and the consumer menu experience, including menu merchandising, design, and the guest journey. This leader is seasoned in solving complex business challenges, motivating their teams to deliver results and translating insights and data into actionable strategies that drive transactions and ignite fans of the brand, and bring bold, culture-moving ideas to life. Additionally, the role will be responsible for driving growth of the KFC US Beverage category, inclusive of developing a 3 year growth strategy, product innovation plans and new product launches, and leading the Beverage Franchisee Subcommittee and vendor relationships.

Requirements

You will be required to attend the Plano, TX office 3 days a week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Education: BA or BS Degree; MBA preferred
Experience: Minimum 10-15+ years of relevant experience including 3-5 years on well-establish CPG product or in QSR/Restaurant industry preferred.
6+ Years in a management/leadership role
Relevant experience on well-established CPG products or in QSR/Restaurant industry.
Skills: Strategy Development: Ability to resource and gather relevant information to build comprehensive situation analysis
Provide thought leadership and original thinking for specific initiatives
Provide clear framework and development of objectives/strategies/tactics
Influence with sound rationale
Develop work/action plan grounded in business opportunity
Marketing Planning: Develop creative strategy by identify Marketing objectives and tactics that build on consumer insights
Deliver on overall business objectives/strategies
Identify new innovations and reapplications
Product Positioning: Identify key selling points and reason to believe
Develop concept idea with understanding and articulation of cultural and/or consumer insights
Navigate concept results to identify most insightful and successful idea
Ability To Create A Creative Innovation Brief: Develop and understand key cultural and consumer insights to form foundation of brief
Understand and identify business challenge, product design, emotional benefits, reason to believe, marketing idea
Understanding of integrated marketing channels and assets
Provide effective strategic creative feedback
Business/Commercial Acumen: A clear commercial orientation
A healthy balance between rational left-brain behavior and intuitive right-brain creativity
A strong grasp of key business and industry drivers and a track record of capitalizing on identified consumer trends and insights to develop creative / breakthrough business-building strategies, products and programs
Strong intuition, ability to “connect the dots” and deal with ambiguity while possessing clear financial savvy and using fact-based arguments to support proposals / recommendations
Ability to prioritize issues and opportunities and allocate resources accordingly
Leading/Influencing: Proven leadership ability with the capability to motivate, manage and develop others (both direct and indirect)
Ability to provide clear direction and business solutions to maximize individual and broader team performance
Ability to engage, motivate and inspire others and create a climate where people want to do their very best
Strong presence and able to lead by example
Be respected owing to the value you add, versus the organization you control
Mindset & Attributes: Highly strategic and creative thinker and storyteller
In addition to being a collaborative team player, able to build and sustain relationships across all functions and through all levels in an organization to ensure seamless integration and flawless execution of business plans
Strong cultural sensitivity and a track record of building relationships
Able to champion ideas and influence and motivate key stakeholders by infecting them with a shared sense of purpose and passion
A good listener who can connect easily with others
Highly flexible, change champion

Nice To Haves

MBA preferred
Minimum 10-15+ years of relevant experience including 3-5 years on well-establish CPG product or in QSR/Restaurant industry preferred.

Responsibilities

Diagnosis and Strategy: Set a bold, insight-backed vision for growth and strategically prioritize initiatives, grounded in consumer, category, and business performance data.
Lead development of the Annual Growth Plan / Strategic Plan for Beverage Category to increase category mix and drive attachment and sales.
Lead with business-planning expertise, aligning opportunity size, investment, and expected returns.
Co-create a data-driven, consumer-led strategy in partnership with Consumer Insights and Analytics and Finance teams.
Leverage consumer trends, insights, and diagnosis to define and continuously refine a consistent two-year plan.
Inspire and influence cross-functional leaders, the LT, and franchise partners to align on vision, priorities, and executional tradeoffs.
Calendar Planning, Analysis, and Integration: Strategically lead direct reports and cross-functional stakeholders to plan and execute national and test product calendars in collaboration with Product Marketing, Digital Marketing, and cross-functional teams (Finance, Operations, FIT, and Supply Chain).
Partner with the Franchise Marketing Subcommittee and FZ Calendar Squad to ensure alignment, readiness, and executional consistency.
Menu Strategy, Merchandising and Consumer Journey: Lead menu strategy, merchandising and price architecture across physical and digital menu channels, delivering profitable sales and transaction growth
Lead direct reports end-to-end consumer menu experience, inclusive of menu merchandising, design and consumer journey
Beverage Category Product Marketing: Lead a bold vision to drive Beverage Category and Innovation initiatives that drives the overall brand and business goals
Deliver Annual Growth Plan / Strategic Plan for Beverage Category and an 18-month rolling pipeline of Beverage Innovation
Leverage consumer trends, insights, and diagnosis to define and refine a consistent 2-year plan.
Coach high-performing team to deliver with excellence through critical stage gates: Discover: Accountable to direct and coach team responsible for product innovation and renovation, lead creation, improvement, and consumer validation of products based on market trends, menu gaps, and consumer needs.
Coach and lead team on development of product concept writing, product naming, product positioning, product placement, pricing strategy, and packaging strategy.
Design: Direct team with accountability for Cross-Functional Collaboration to build best in class program designs to build profitable and sales driving product launches and/or sustain plans.
Own program design, test market design & sell in, calendar planning, program integration, merchandising strategy, channel management, execution & timelines.
Deploy: Direct team with accountability for Cross-Functional Collaboration to ensure smooth product rollouts.
Own program execution, window execution, performance tracking.