Franchise Business Consultant (IHOP)

Dine Brands Global

About The Position

Based in Pasadena, California, Dine Brands Global, Inc. (NYSE: DIN), through its subsidiaries, franchises restaurants under Applebee's Neighborhood Grill + Bar®, IHOP® and Fuzzy's Taco Shop® brands. With over 3,500 restaurants combined in 18 countries and 354 franchisees as of December 31, 2023, Dine Brands is one of the largest full-service restaurant companies in the world. For more information on Dine Brands, visit the Company's website located at www.dinebrands.com. Job Location Type Field - The Franchise Business Consultant (FBC) serves as the primary link between IHOP and the franchise community with broad accountability to each constituency. The FBC applies leadership, influence, and functional expertise to create meaningful, productive partnerships with each assigned franchise point of contact. Through these partnerships, the FBC will provide analysis, recommendations, counsel, coaching, and assistance to the franchise owners / operators to impact and improve the sales, traffic, and operating standards of the business. The FBC will leverage relationships to ensure the achievement of the short and long-term goals of IHOP and its shareholders. The FBC must develop and maintain a strong sense of ownership of their assigned territory and provide leadership and constant protection of the IHOP Brand.

Requirements

Minimum of 5+ years in a field operations-oriented leadership role within the food service industry or comparable multi-unit retail industry.
ServSafe or similarly approved training or any other state-required compliance training, if applicable.
Proven ability to deliver results, effectively influencing decisions through strong negotiation skills.
Demonstrated ability and experience to consult with and influence business owners.
Advanced knowledge of consultative approaches and experience guiding leaders to make better business decisions.
Ability to plan and set priorities to achieve business objectives.
Outstanding accountability and focus skills.
Strong business and analytical acumen skills (basic financial skills, use of competitive data, etc.).
Ability to communicate and present effectively to various audiences.
Excellent time management and organizational skills.
Basic Microsoft Office Suite.
Ability to travel up to 60% of the time.

Responsibilities

Oversee the operational performance of 40+ restaurants within a district comprised of one or multiple franchisees.
Partner with the franchisee and support team peers across various departments to diagnose barriers that impact performance and assist with developing and implementing business plans and tactics to maximize improvement (operations, marketing, training etc.) to ensure brand standards are attained and maintained by their franchisees and restaurants.
Provide coaching and training as needed in restaurants assigned and provide franchisees restaurant and business guidance to address issues and concerns related to improving all facets of service, sales, traffic and profitability.
Champion brand initiatives and rollouts to ensure 100% adoption among the franchisees and restaurants assigned.
Collect and maintain an active working knowledge of the key business metrics for their assigned franchisee's portfolio of restaurants and use these metrics to analyze issues and opportunities for each restaurant and the franchisee’s business as a whole; providing recommendations and tactics to franchisees and their operators on how to improve any deficient areas of the business.
Ensure franchisee compliance with all Standard Operating Procedures, Operations Assessment Reports, Food Safety Evaluations and develop corrective action plans, milestones, and timetables where appropriate and implement tactics accordingly to ensure minimum operating standards are attained and maintained.
Remain actively involved with any restaurant or franchise group that routinely delivers a customer experience inconsistent with the IHOP vision and or brand standards, supporting the definition and execution of a work plan to improve and ensure brand standards compliance.
Assist franchisee with assessing execution to brand standards and bench strength at all levels to achieve short and long-term business needs.
Lead IHOP franchisees in developing and maintaining an annual business plan in coordination with all field support departments.
Assist franchisees with developing and maintaining a capital plan sufficient to meet all development and remodel obligations.
Gain and maintain knowledge and proficiency in IHOP operational tools, standards, and systems.
Employ effective interpersonal and negotiation skills to effectively drive business objectives, improve franchisees sales, traffic, profitability and manage change.
Fully understand the purpose and benefits of new programs and decisions to effectively influence franchisees and obtain requisite buy-in; provide feedback when programs or communication are inadequate.
Actively share and assist franchisees in adopting best practices.