Restaurant Experience Manager

Inspire•Atlanta, GA

15d

About The Position

The Restaurant Experience Manager improves the restaurant experience by identifying, testing, and implementing equipment, smallwares, design elements, and operating procedures that strengthen speed, accuracy, quality, ease of execution, and overall guest experience. The role connects operational process design with practical restaurant execution so equipment decisions and layout recommendations support consistent brand standards, easier team routines, and better outcomes for guests in new and existing locations. The Manager works cross-functionally with Operations, Culinary, Equipment, Construction, Design, Training, Facilities, and field teams to turn restaurant pain points into process improvements, testable solutions, and scalable procedures. The position reports to the Senior Director of Restaurant Experience and includes travel of up to 25% for site visits, field support, testing, pilots, and industry events.

Requirements

At least 5 years of experience in restaurant operations, equipment, design, field support, process improvement, or a related field.
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent field experience.
Strong understanding of restaurant workflows, kitchen layouts, operational procedures, and execution standards.
Experience evaluating equipment, smallwares, layout changes, or process improvements in a restaurant environment.
Ability to translate field observations and guest-experience opportunities into clear operational recommendations.
Knowledge of health and safety regulations, foodservice equipment specifications, and industry best practices.
Strong problem-solving, project management, documentation, and communication skills.
Ability to collaborate with internal teams, external vendors, operators, and field leaders.
Willingness to travel for site visits, field support, testing, pilots, and industry events; travel is up to 25%.

Nice To Haves

Experience managing direct reports.

Responsibilities

Identify operational friction points affecting guest experience, including bottlenecks in service speed, order accuracy, product quality, team movement, communication, and handoff routines.
Develop and improve restaurant processes and procedures to make execution easier, more repeatable, and more guest-focused across the system.
Partner with Operations and Training to turn process improvements into practical tools, standards, checklists, and field-ready procedures.
Use field feedback, operational observations, guest-impact measures, and pilot learnings to prioritize improvements that support consistency and guest satisfaction.
Evaluate whether equipment, smallwares, and layout changes improve team member and guest experiences before recommending broader rollout.
Lead testing, evaluation, and selection of restaurant equipment and smallwares that improve efficiency, product quality, consistency, and ease of execution.
Build pilot plans defining the guest-experience problem, procedures being tested, success measures, field feedback needs, and rollout readiness criteria.
Partner with vendors to ensure equipment meets performance, safety, durability, maintainability, and usability standards.
Create equipment and smallware specifications, operating procedures, documentation, and training support for field teams.
Assess equipment and smallware solutions for their impact on labor flow, speed, accuracy, food quality, cleaning routines, and service consistency.
Review restaurant layout designs for alignment with operational best practices, brand standards, and guest-experience priorities.
Collaborate with Design, Construction, Operations, and field teams to improve workstations, kitchen flow, storage, staging, guest handoff points, and team travel paths.
Recommend spatial planning, equipment placement, and ergonomic improvements that reduce complexity and support consistent procedures.
Ensure design decisions support speed, accuracy, food quality, team safety, cleanliness, accessibility, and a smooth guest journey.
Translate design decisions into operating implications so field teams understand how layouts should support execution.
Provide field teams with guidance on equipment, layouts, workflows, and procedure improvements.
Conduct site visits to observe operational routines, identify root causes of guest-experience gaps, and recommend practical improvements.
Document field learnings and turn them into repeatable recommendations for Operations, Training, Design, and Construction teams.
Support rollout planning by identifying risks, procedure changes, training needs, operational dependencies, and field adoption barriers.
Track whether implemented changes deliver intended operational and guest-experience improvements, and recommend adjustments when results are inconsistent.
Collaborate with Operations, Facilities, Construction, Culinary, Training, and Design on strategic initiatives.
Apply a guest-first operational perspective to equipment, design, and process decisions.
Stay current on industry trends, innovations, and emerging technologies in restaurant equipment, layout, and operational process design.