Operations Manager

Location: South West / Midlands – ideally Bristol to Birmingham corridor

Benefits: Mileage allowance, travel expenses, phone, laptop, holiday allowance and additional company benefits

The opportunity

We’re working with a rapidly growing, high-volume restaurant group that is looking to appoint an experienced Regional Operations Manager as part of its next phase of expansion.

This is a brilliant opportunity for a strong multi-site operator who enjoys fast-paced hospitality, developing people and being close enough to the operation to make a genuine impact.

The business is founder-led, highly ambitious and known for delivering consistently strong sales, standout guest experiences and an energetic, people-focused culture.

With a number of new openings planned over the next few years, this hire will play a key role in supporting growth, developing leadership talent and maintaining high operational standards across the estate.

The role

You’ll take responsibility for a growing portfolio of restaurants, including some high-volume locations and future new openings.

Your remit will include:

• Leading, coaching and developing General Managers across your region.
• Building strong management teams and creating clear succession plans.
• Supporting and leading new restaurant openings.
• Driving standards across food, service and guest experience.
• Delivering strong commercial performance across sales, labour, GP and profitability.
• Spending meaningful time in restaurants to understand what is happening beyond the numbers.
• Identifying operational or people issues early and taking decisive action.
• Supporting underperforming sites when required and helping teams get back on track.
• Working closely with the senior leadership and central support functions.
• Helping shape the operational structure as the business continues to grow.

What we’re looking for

We’re looking for someone who already understands multi-site restaurant leadership and can step into a high-volume environment with confidence.

You’ll ideally have:

• Proven Area Manager, Operations Manager or Regional Manager experience.
• A strong restaurant or casual dining background.
• Experience managing multiple high-volume sites.
• Exposure to restaurants taking £50k+ per week.
• Strong people leadership and coaching capability.
• A track record of developing General Managers and future leaders.
• Excellent commercial awareness across sales, labour, GP and profitability.
• Strong operational instincts and attention to detail.
• The ability to identify and resolve people and operational issues quickly.
• Experience working across larger towns or cities.
• Ideally, experience supporting or leading new openings.

A full-service restaurant background is important. This is not a remote, spreadsheet-led operations role and would be less suited to someone coming purely from QSR or counter-service environments.

The person

This role needs someone who understands that great operations are built around great people.

You’ll be comfortable walking into a restaurant and quickly getting a feel for the team, the culture and the standards.

You’ll know when to coach from a distance and when to get directly involved.

The right person will be:

• Hands‑on without micromanaging.
• Commercially driven but people-focused.
• Calm under pressure.
• Highly accountable.
• Detail‑oriented.
• Strong at building trust with both site teams and senior leadership.
• Honest and transparent in their communication.

Integrity is particularly important. The senior leadership team wants someone they can trust to give an accurate picture of what is happening across the region, even when the message is difficult.

The environment

This is genuinely high‑volume hospitality.

Individual restaurants can regularly deliver £70k–£100k+ weeks, with peak periods significantly higher.

The operation combines the pace of QSR with full restaurant service, meaning large teams, busy services and restaurants turning several times throughout the day.

You’ll need to be comfortable operating in an environment where pace, standards and guest expectations are all high.

Growth and progression

The group has an established growth plan and is targeting approximately 17 sites over the next few years, with further openings planned across major UK cities.

As the estate grows, so will the operational structure.

For the right person, there is genuine scope to grow into more senior operational leadership over time.

There may also be longer-term opportunities to support international, franchise or joint‑venture projects as the business develops.

Why consider it?

This is a strong opportunity for someone who wants to join a growing restaurant business at an important stage in its journey.

You’ll be joining a company with:

• A healthy new‑opening pipeline.
• Experienced senior leadership.
• A genuine focus on internal progression.
• A founder‑led culture.
• High levels of operational autonomy.
• Clear scope for future progression.

If you’re an experienced multi‑site restaurant operator who loves fast‑paced hospitality, developing people and helping grow a successful brand, this is a role worth exploring.