Direct team of 45 direct and indirect reports across 5 locations. Oversee store operations, manage human resources functions including recruiting, interviewing, training, and evaluating staff. Perform bi-weekly district wide financial audits, ensure execution of merchandising schematics, policies, and procedures, and support brand vision and objectives. Collaborate with staff, suppliers, senior leadership, and other stakeholders to drive process improvements, control costs, and manage inventory to deliver against revenue objectives.HIGHLIGHTS:• Spearheaded divisional expense reduction initiative resulting in cost savings of over $35K annually.• Serve as Division IT Specialist, managing implementation of division IT initiatives including coordinating software/hardware installs, system maintenance, and coordinating with Corporate IT to determine division specific needs.• Managed several division-wide IT projects including roll-out of new operating system, implementation of mobile applications to streamline daily workflows, and upgrades for Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) terminals and register display hardware.• Implemented continuous improvement strategies to optimize performance and productivity, resulting in 12% increase in mystery shop scores across multiple categories.• Achieved top scores in the division for inventory loss results, and top 10% nationally.• Develop and maintain KPI reports to monitor weekly, monthly, and annual performance results.

Established as a project lead for expansion into full-service catering and weekly pop-up operations. Responsible for creating and managing all operations as well as ensuring all front and back-of-house catering and pop-up operations maintain the standards of the organization.• Promoted from Assistant Kitchen Manager to Manager and Executive Catering Chef during second year of Masters in Business Administration program.• Responsible for identifying competitive landscape for new business ventures and developing strategies to ensure organizational success. Developed new concepts to capture market share for new pop-up venture as supplementary income for catering operations, resulting in positive first quarter cash flow and consistently increasing sales.• Perform week and month end reconciliation of accounts payable and receivable, produce weekly Profit and Loss reports for ownership and present current standing of the business in a clear and concise manner.• Personally responsible for conveying company culture to new hires and placing them in positions that build off of their noted strengths. Ensured all staff receives appropriate training and delivers regular spot-coaching to proactively address issues.• Exceeded organizations projections for food and labor cost – 25% and 28% respectively – leading to a bottom line increase of over 10%.

• Promoted from Line Cook to Assistant Kitchen Manager during second year of college. Responsible for managing back-of-house operations and ensuring all direct reports maintain proper cleanliness, pace, and quality of product. Commended for delivering clear direction during service hours in a constantly changing environment. • Act as representative on the New Menu Development team with upper management and the restaurant owner to drive creative control over new menu options. Provide pricing analyses and customer feedback derived from frequently conducted qualitative assessments.• Manage task assignment, recruiting, training, coaching, performance feedback, and corrective action for more than 22 staff members during tenure. Personally responsible for conveying company culture to new hires and placing them in positions the build off of their noted strengths. Ensured all staff received appropriate training and delivered regular spot-coaching to proactively address issues.• Revised inventory management system to address increasing food costs. Analyzed waste logs to identify and categorize high-loss items and secured approval from Manager to restructure inventory. Designed new innovative model for reducing waste, trained staff on stocking procedures, and implemented new profit maximizing menu pricing technique. Model cut cost by over 6.67% beyond company standards immediately following implementation.• Act as liaison with various distributors and responsible for establishing and maintaining positive business relations throughout the fiscal year. Negotiate with distributors and leverage amiable relationship for profit-maximizing options for all parties involved.• Responsible for daily management, ordering and forecasting for produce counts in alignment with inventory and food cost goals to ensure proper levels of product remained in supply.