Franchise Growth Lead in Woking

The role of KFC CEE Franchise Growth Lead is both a tactical and operational role that covers the oversight of KFC CEE Franchisees by owning the executional areas of Customer Experience Improvement, People & Culture, Sales & Profit Growth and Compliance through the implementation of the World Class Operations (WCO) framework. Success will be measured through the continuous improvement and upholding of WCO KPIs (including but not limited to OSAT – taste, speed, accuracy & B2B across all sales channels, ROCC, RGM certified, SSSG/TG, 4W EBITDA…). KFC CEE is a business with more than 1000 stores, 20 franchisees and 1.8 bio USD with the ambition to double in size by 2030.

Responsibilities

• Work with cross‑functional teams to define Franchise strategy at Market level.
• Foster strong partner relationships with Franchisees that cultivate an open exchange of ideas and information sharing, helping develop future programs that add value to franchise support.
• Build strong relationships across all facets of the organization to provide leadership for Franchisee Operations Leads.
• Provide operational support to Franchise principal Operators from guidance on strategic direction to day‑to‑day operations.
• Develop a culture of high‑performing, heart‑led leadership to unleash Franchisee capability and growth.

Franchisee Governance (60%)

• Develop rhythm and routine for communication, change and performance management: KFC CEE Business Reviews process, cross‑functional communication meetings, market visits, know‑how calls and webinars, newsletters, recognition programs.
• Be responsible for layout approval of new and remodeled restaurants, and for operational handover of new store openings.
• Own the performance management cycle from risk to notification to escalation to exit.
• Lead cross‑functionally the onboarding of new partners and/or the opening of new markets.

Support

• Act as key point of contact and advocate for Franchisees.
• Partner with franchisees to problem‑solve operational challenges, providing coaching, mentoring and best‑practice guidance to develop short‑ and long‑term action plans effective at driving strong results.
• Assess partners against World Class Ops Capability and co‑author plans to address KPI improvement in Customer Satisfaction (OSAT – Taste, Speed & Accuracy), Food Safety & Operating Standards, Sales & Transaction Growth, 4‑wall Profit, and adoption of new KFC programs.
• Formulate specific implementation plans and evaluate the effectiveness of actions/programs implemented.

Advocacy

• Create trust and credibility‑based relationships with all stakeholders.
• Develop an empathy‑based understanding of Franchisee challenges to be their voice within the organization, leveraging negotiation and conflict‑management skills with Principal Operators and Head of Operations to deliver business goals and priorities.
• Update KFC Leadership on all relevant developments, recognizing progress when made.

Projects & Change Management

• Work collaboratively with REX (Restaurant Excellence) Lead to support change‑management plans for projects and/or change initiatives.
• Evaluate the impact of planned organizational change, identify risks and develop risk‑mitigation tactics.
• Anticipate and manage resistance to change.
• Own document and tracking/governance for all in‑market initiatives.

Restaurant Visits (20%)

• Combine restaurant visits with franchise operational reviews to provide coaching, identify commercial opportunities.
• Conduct unannounced visits to build a clear understanding of guest experience in market.
• Always recognize restaurant teams for their contributions.
• Utilize visits to follow up and validate implementation of agreed systems, tools and processes with franchise operations and HR teams.
• Visit restaurants for the launch, support and communication of key strategic cross‑functional projects across the BU, or when required by the LT team for franchise business reviews.

Communication & Know‑How Building (15%)

• Elevate operator capability to best‑in‑class levels through know‑how cascading.
• Work collaboratively with HRBP/Field training to provide Franchisees with exhaustive training material.
• Play a central role in best‑practice sharing across the entire Operations Community.
• Develop capability‑building programs when needed.
• Lead through motivation to create excitement for all initiatives at the RSCs and field levels (Founders Week activations, Ops summit/conferences).
• Develop proposals for stakeholders outlining project structure, approach and work plan.
• Communicate results/recommendations to project sponsors.

Analytics, Insights & Commercials (5%)

• Deep dive into operational performance to define key insights and root causes for continuous improvement.
• Provide business‑driving context and impact analytics for each initiative and influence financial planning to prioritize Operations initiatives.
• Participate in cross‑functional squads and CoE activities as needed.

In CEE

• Direct report: KFC CEE Franchise Business Coach.
• Reports to KFC CEE COO.
• Works directly with KFC CEE REX, FSQA, HRBP/Field training, Development, DigiTech.
• Supports cross‑functional initiatives and squads with KFC CEE SCM, FIT, Marketing.

In Yum! (KFC Pan‑Europe and Global, PH Europe and TB Europe)

• External: KFC CEE Franchisee Principal Operators and Ops Leaders, vendors ad‑hoc.

Education & Qualifications

• Operations strategy, business degree, or equivalent experience.
• Fluency in English (written and spoken) is required. Speaking a CEE language would be advantageous.

Experience

• 8–10 years of experience in Operations, preferably within QSR, Retail or Food Service.
• Experience in Central and Eastern Europe marketplace is a plus.