Fractional VP of Operations - Franchise Growt

CAM Employees LLC•Nashville, TN

1d•$72,000 - $96,000

About The Position

Ugly Bagel is an emerging fast-casual restaurant brand headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, with three established locations in Middle Tennessee and a national franchise expansion strategy underway. The company is building its corporate leadership team to support the transition from a regional restaurant brand to a scalable national franchise organization. The Fractional VP of Operations will work directly with the CEO, culinary leadership, and the existing restaurant operations team to strengthen current operations and build the operating systems, leadership infrastructure, and franchise support platform needed for growth. This is a hands-on fractional executive engagement, not a traditional consulting assignment. The role initially has a six-month engagement with defined objectives and may potentially transition into a full-time Vice President or Chief Operating Officer position as the business expands. The role focuses on restaurant and franchise operations. Real estate site selection, lease negotiations, construction management, and restaurant development project management are not primary responsibilities. The position requires travel to Nashville and other operating markets as needed.

Requirements

10 or more years of progressive restaurant operations experience, including senior leadership responsibility.
Demonstrated experience operating or supporting multiunit restaurant businesses.
Significant experience within franchised restaurant systems.
Proven ability to develop scalable operating procedures, training systems, and operational standards.
Strong understanding of restaurant-level financial performance, including labor, food costs, prime costs, and operational profitability.
Experience developing restaurant leadership teams and performance accountability systems.
Ability to build operational processes and infrastructure within an entrepreneurial or growth-stage organization.
Excellent communication, organizational, leadership, and analytical skills.
Willingness to travel to Nashville and other operating markets as needed.
Ability to balance strategic leadership with hands-on execution.

Nice To Haves

Experience helping an emerging restaurant franchise brand grow from a small initial footprint into a regional or national organization.
Previous Director, VP of Operations, Head of Operations, or COO experience within quick-service or fast-casual restaurants.
Experience developing or expanding franchise operations and field support departments.
Experience building franchise training programs, operations manuals, and restaurant certification systems.
Familiarity with smaller-footprint, high-throughput restaurant concepts.
Experience supporting franchise openings and multiunit operators.
Interest in potentially transitioning into a full-time senior operations leadership position as the company expands.

Responsibilities

Develop and implement operating systems and infrastructure to support national franchise expansion.
Establish standardized franchise operating procedures, policies, performance expectations, and brand-standard monitoring systems.
Evaluate and enhance operations manuals, training resources, and franchise support materials.
Build scalable processes for franchisee onboarding, training, certification, communication, reporting, and ongoing operational support.
Develop franchisee performance management frameworks and infrastructure for multiunit franchise operators.
Collaborate with franchise development leadership on the transition from signed agreements to successful restaurant openings.
Partner with restaurant leadership to evaluate and improve operating performance.
Develop operational KPIs, reporting systems, and benchmarks for labor productivity, food costs, prime costs, guest satisfaction, service standards, and efficiency.
Identify opportunities to improve restaurant-level profitability and consistency, and support operational improvement plans and accountability systems.
Implement repeatable restaurant evaluation, audit, and performance review processes while preserving product quality, culture, and guest experience.
Design scalable restaurant training and operational onboarding programs, including standards for franchise owners, general managers, and restaurant teams.
Develop operational certification and readiness standards for new franchise locations.
Work with culinary and operations leadership to standardize food preparation, product quality, service expectations, and execution.
Establish ongoing franchisee coaching, operational assistance, and performance-support processes.
Partner with the CEO to define operational structures for different stages of franchise growth and evaluate management structures.
Develop clear roles, responsibilities, accountability systems, leadership development, and succession planning within restaurant and franchise operations.
Identify future operational staffing needs and help build a scalable national franchise support team.
Collaborate with culinary, marketing, franchise development, training, supply chain, and company leadership on operational consistency, local-store initiatives, franchise launch readiness, and franchisee readiness.
Evaluate existing operations, leadership structures, systems, training materials, and franchise resources; identify strengths and gaps; and establish a phased development roadmap.
Implement standardized procedures and performance reporting, develop a franchisee onboarding and training framework, establish KPIs and accountability systems, and present an operational readiness plan for anticipated franchise openings.
Establish a scalable franchise operations and support platform, support initial franchise openings, strengthen restaurant-level financial and operational performance, and define future staffing needs and leadership responsibilities.