Chief Executive Officer - Fast-Casual Restaurant Brand at SI Professional Search LLC Chief Executive Officer - Fast-Casual Restaurant Brand at SI Professional Search LLC in West New York, New Jersey Posted in 1 day ago.

Type:

full-time Chief Executive Officer SI Professional Search has been retained to identify the next Chief Executive Officer for a distinctive, high-growth, multi-unit fast-casual restaurant brand headquartered in New York City. The company has built a highly differentiated consumer proposition around food quality, hospitality, atmosphere, design, and customer experience. As the organization enters its next stage of growth, it is seeking a CEO capable of significantly expanding the business while protecting the qualities that have made the brand distinctive. This is not simply a restaurant operations role. The CEO will need to combine strong multi-unit operating discipline with a strong understanding of brand, customer behavior, hospitality, and consumer experience. The mandate is to build a larger and more sophisticated organization without allowing growth, systems, or standardization to diminish the customer experience. That tension between scale and brand preservation is central to the position.

Compensation Base Salary:

$275,000-$325,000

Annual Bonus:

40%-50% of base salary

Equity:

Included as part of the overall compensation package Final compensation will be determined based on experience, qualifications, and overall fit for the role.

Key Responsibilities The CEO will:

Lead the company's overall growth strategy in partnership with the Board and senior leadership team. Serve as the senior steward of the brand and customer experience. Develop a deep understanding of the company's customers, including what drives loyalty, frequency, and brand affinity. Lead disciplined expansion into new locations and geographic markets. Build a repeatable model for growth while preserving the individuality and customer experience of each location. Drive operational excellence across the restaurant portfolio, including labor, food quality, service, safety, and restaurant-level profitability. Balance unit growth with comparable-store performance, customer loyalty, brand strength, and sustainable profitability. Own overall company performance, including revenue growth, restaurant-level economics, EBITDA, cash flow, and return on invested capital. Partner with finance leadership on planning, forecasting, reporting, and capital allocation. Build, develop, and retain a leadership team capable of supporting a substantially larger organization. Strengthen field leadership, talent development, succession planning, and organizational accountability. Remain highly visible in restaurants and connected to employees and customers. Partner closely with marketing and creative leadership to maintain brand differentiation as the company grows. Use customer data, loyalty, digital ordering, and technology to improve customer understanding, frequency, and engagement. Work effectively with the founder, Board, and other key stakeholders. These responsibilities track directly to the brand/customer, growth, restaurant operations, people, financial performance, and digital/customer-engagement mandate in the position specification.

Candidate Profile:

Fast-casual restaurant leadership experience is required.

Strong candidates will bring:

Significant CEO, President, COO, or comparable senior operating leadership experience. Meaningful leadership experience within the fast-casual restaurant sector . Experience scaling a multi-unit restaurant organization. A track record of opening new locations and entering new geographic markets. Strong understanding of consumer behavior, brand positioning, hospitality, and customer experience. Demonstrated ability to introduce operating discipline without over-standardizing a differentiated brand. Strong command of restaurant-level economics, P&L management, EBITDA, and capital allocation. Experience building senior leadership teams and organizational infrastructure to support rapid growth. The ability to operate comfortably across both strategic and highly detailed operating issues. Experience working effectively with founders, investors, and/or Boards of Directors. Strong people leadership and a track record of developing high-performing teams. A hands-on leadership style with meaningful engagement at the restaurant and field level. The underlying profile calls for someone who is simultaneously brand-oriented and financially sophisticated, creative and disciplined, analytical and intuitive, and strategic while willing to operate in the details . What Will Differentiate the Right Candidate The strongest candidate will not simply have experience opening restaurants or improving margins. This individual will have demonstrated an ability to scale a differentiated consumer experience without making it generic . They will understand where consistency creates value, where standardization can damage a brand, and how customer behavior, hospitality, operations, unit economics, marketing, and growth strategy fit together. The role requires someone comfortable moving from a restaurant-level operating discussion to consumer and brand strategy to financial performance and Board-level capital decisions.