POSITION SUMMARY

The Product Manager will be a key player in the development of the product calendar with the overall goal of driving restaurant sales and traffic. This role is a challenging and strategic one, helping guide all steps of a product’s lifecycle – development, pricing, merchandising, market-testing, and launching.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

• Partner with Marketing leadership and cross-functional departments to help define a menu vision and product calendar to maximize sales and profit
• Manage product innovation, testing calendars, and product timelines while partnering with marketing leadership to develop and oversee short and long-term product strategies 
• Strategically build and plan different calendar layers such as Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Late Night, Snacking, Value, Beverage and LTO products in a unified effort to drive sales 
• Partner with team to drive continuous improvement of the innovation process and ways of working to increase initiative success rate 
• Develop Culinary and Merchandise briefs for internal and external partners, utilizing consumer insights and business priorities 
• Manage innovation through intimate category knowledge of trends 
• Competitive surveillance to proactively react to competitive activity 
• Lead business case development to support business recommendations that drive growth 
• Determine product viability through forecasting, pricing, financials, and market planning 
• Lead reporting on product tests and launches to drive longer-term product recommendations
• Lead ad hoc business analysis to enable meaningful insight into the business
• Understand operations of the kitchen and supply chain to better advocate for cross-functional execution and improved innovation process 

POSITION QUALIFICATIONS/CORE COMPETENCIES

• A minimum of six (6) Years experience in Producting and Marketing, Advertising, or a related field, ideally in the QSR &/or a highly promotional space
• Strong project management skills desired as hub-of-the-wheel position requires diligent note-taking, reporting, record-keeping
• Self-starter, entrepreneurial leader who performs well in a lean, fast-paced environment with a strong work ethic and brings a combination of high energy with a high sense of urgency.
• Strong communication skills; ability to speak and write effectively, adapting messages to a range of audiences.
• Creative problem solver; ability to think outside the box to create solutions and drive business strategy
• A clear commercial orientation and ability to think and act like a general manager
• Strong intuition, ability to “connect the dots” and manage through ambiguity
• The ability to set the strategy but not afraid to get hands dirty to make sure plans are executed properly
• BA / BS degree - B.A. or Masters in Marketing degree a plus.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

• Restaurant Support Center that is fast paced, high volume of activity and a deadline driven environment

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

• Sitting for extended periods of time, using telephone, typing and/or operating a computer and/or mouse
• Travels as needed approximately 25%

THE COMPANY RETAINS THE RIGHT TO CHANGE OR ASSIGN OTHER DUTIES TO THIS POSITION AS DEEMED APPROPRIATE WITH OR WITHOUT NOTICE.