Chief Executive Officer - QSR

We are seeking an experienced and visionary Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to lead a rapidly expanding QSR chain in India, backed by a major Private Equity firm. The CEO will be responsible for driving strategic growth, operational excellence, brand expansion, and profitability across formats and geographies.

This role requires a leader with deep QSR/restaurant/retail expertise, strong financial acumen, a track record in scaling multi-outlet businesses, and experience steering organisations through aggressive expansion and transformation.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Strategic Leadership & Vision:

- Set and execute the long-term strategy to take the company from 500 Cr to its next phase of scale.

- Work closely with the Board and PE partner to define growth priorities, investment areas, and value-creation roadmaps.

- Drive new market expansion, format evolution, and technology-led transformation.

2. Operational Excellence:

- Ensure world-class operations across all outlets - product consistency, speed of service, hygiene, quality, and customer experience.

- Strengthen SOPs, supply chain efficiency, and cost leadership across the network.

- Build robust systems for daily operations, central kitchen efficiency, and multi-city execution.

3. P&L Ownership & Financial Management:

- Full ownership of P&L, revenue growth, profitability, margins, and operational KPIs.

- Lead budgeting, forecasting, store-level economics, and unit-level profitability improvement.

- Implement cost-optimisation initiatives without compromising brand standards.

4. Network Expansion & New Store Rollout:

- Oversee the rollout of new outlets, including site selection, feasibility studies, and capex optimisation.

- Drive cluster-based expansion across priority geographies.

- Execute brand standardisation across formats (dine-in, express, delivery-heavy stores).

5. Brand, Marketing & Customer Experience:

- Strengthen the brands positioning in a competitive QSR market.

- Guide menu innovation, pricing, promotions, digital strategy, and CRM initiatives.

- Ensure customer experience stays at industry-leading levels.

6. Team Leadership & Culture:

- Build and lead a high-performance leadership team across operations, supply chain, HR, finance, marketing, and technology.

- Establish a culture of accountability, agility, and operational discipline across the organisation.

- Develop succession planning and talent capability-building at store, area, and regional levels.

7. Governance, Compliance & Board Management:

- Ensure strong corporate governance, reporting, risk management, and compliance with regulatory, food safety, and labour laws.

- Drive transparency and consistent communication with the Board and PE partner.

- Present performance dashboards, growth plans, and transformation initiatives regularly.

Ideal Candidate Profile:

- 18 to 25 years of total experience, with at least 8 to 10 years in leadership roles within QSR, food service, restaurants, or multi-outlet retail.

- Proven track record of scaling a multi-location business in India.

- Strong experience managing large P&Ls of 500 Cr or more.

- Deep understanding of Indian QSR operations, supply chain, real estate, and consumer behaviour.

- Experience collaborating with Private Equity investors is a strong advantage.

- Demonstrated capability in turnaround, scaling, or rapid expansion environments.

- Strong leadership, commercial acumen, and ability to inspire large teams.