Head of Restaurants in London

This role exists for one reason: we want someone who runs our restaurants as if they own them. If you need a job description to stay motivated, this probably is not the right fit. If you thrive on accountability and want your earnings to reflect your impact — read on.

Company Description

Founded in 2016 by Gianluca and Claudio, Zia Lucia is one of London's most loved independent pizza groups. Built on a 48-hour fermented dough, we grew to multiple sites across London and Reading — surviving and growing through Covid, Brexit, and the energy crisis. We are now entering our next chapter: stabilising our existing estate and expanding across the UK.

We are not a corporate restaurant group. We are a founder-led brand built on genuine food, genuine warmth, and a genuine obsession with doing things properly. That is what makes us different — and that is exactly what this role is here to protect and grow.

Recognised as one of the FT1000 Fastest Growing European Companies in 2021, 2022 and 2023, included in the Top50 World Artisanal Pizza Chain in 2024 and 2025, and featured in esteemed publications like The Financial Times, TimeOut, and The Evening Standard (just to mention a few), Zia Lucia is celebrated as a standout in the food scene.

Role Description

As Head of Restaurants you will have full operational ownership of our restaurant estate. You will be the most senior person with their feet in our restaurants every day — responsible for the performance, culture, standards, and profitability of every site.

You will work directly with our General Managers (GMs) and report into the heart of the business. But your real accountability is to the guest and to the P&L.

This is not a corporate hospitality role. There is no large support function beneath you. You will need to be hands-on, present (during weekends) and willing to do whatever it takes to make our restaurants excellent — not from a desk, but from the floor.

What You Will Own

• Full P&L accountability across all Zia Lucia sites
• Operational standards — food quality, service, cleanliness, guest experience
• Coaching and developing our GMs to think and act like owners
• Labour scheduling and cost discipline across the estate
• Food cost, waste reduction, and supplier relationships
• Ensuring the 'Be Genuine' culture is lived consistently across every site, every shift
• Embedding a profit-share and owner-mentality model at restaurant level
• Supporting the development of our UK franchise operational model

Who We Are Looking For

• Someone who has operated 4–15 sites in an independent or founder-led restaurant group — not a large PLC or contract catering business
• Someone with genuine, personal P&L accountability in their background — not just oversight from above
• Deeply comfortable on the floor, in the kitchen, and in the numbers — simultaneously
• A natural coach who develops GMs rather than manages them
• Someone who understands that every micro decision made in a restaurant — every cover turned, every bottle of wine offered, every gram of food wasted — flows through to EBITDA at year end
• Comfortable with ambiguity and genuinely energised by a turnaround challenge
• Ideally a former owner-operator, or someone who has grown up in a founder-led group and carries that mentality in their bones

What This Role Is Not

We want to be direct. This role is not right for you if:

• You see the P&L as someone else's problem
• You are most comfortable behind a laptop reviewing reports
• You need a large team around you to operate effectively
• You have only ever worked in large corporate hospitality structures