Damon Smith Email & Phone Number

Burlington, On, Ca

Montego Bay, Saint James, Jamaica

International

Toronto, Canada Area

Head of Food & Beverage [Racing, Casino, Hotel and Entertainment Venue]

Western Ontario & Canada

International / Toronto

Reported to the President, International; accountable for all Culinary development, Quality Assurance & Operations, covering 43 Markets around the world.- Provided Master Franchisees with Culinary Innovation, QA and Operations Support for over 40 international Markets including Canada- Involved with Supply Chain to ensure all food products are consistently available in Markets- Worked with food suppliers to provide guidance on matching the Quiznos customized Sauces, Breads and Proteins for all International Markets.- Approved all Food Product & Menu Innovation to ensure the Brand Quality was upheld-Provided Quality Assurance Support to all Markets and assisted in the development of QA programs with Master franchisee's. Conducted QA audits with vendors - Previously Oversaw the Toronto Market as a Franchise Business Consultant, consisting of 27 stores and was offered the position of director Of Operations but the company needed my support internationally. -Raised Eco Sure (Health and Safety audits) by 15% within my region to 95% by coaching and working with the teams within the stores.- Provided Solid Business Financial Planning advice by reviewing all P&L's, Food Costs ect, and providing weekly / Monthly action plans- Provided Operational Support to all New openings and Franchisee transfers.- Provided On the Job training to improve guest interaction by the staff with the focus on speed of service and excellent customer engagement. - Focused on hands on coaching and training Franchisee's on Local Store marketing and gained great traction on Catering and school lunch orders.

Toronto, Canada Area

Reported to the Zone VP of Canada, accountable for 12 high volume stores across Toronto, grossing over $25M in revenue.- Created and maintaining a diverse, high-performing store management team through consistent selection, development and motivation.- Provided coaching, mentoring and overall direction of accountabilities to meet District and Regional goals.- Raised the conversion over 30% within 2 Months of taking the district over.- Fostered a selling culture throughout the District thereby ensuring a positive customer experience through training and coaching of the management team. Ensuring that all stores are providing sales associate coaching on every shift to meet and exceed their transaction target goals.- Partnered with Loss Prevention to ensure adherence to policies and procedures. Proactively identified trends that support achieving District and Store shrink goals resulting in Lower Overall shrink percentage within the district.- Trained and developed two Senior Store Managers to take over a District Manager position within the organization.- Actively searched for great talent as part of the district succession planning and opened 8 new stores.- Strong ability to take a visual floor set guide and develop the store teams on what "right looks like" and how to re merchandise the store based on what the store has in stock while keeping within the lifestyles of the collection

Reporting to the Director of Operations, accountable for training and operations for 14 Corporate and Franchised restaurants across Toronto and Newfoundland, grossing over $38M in revenue. Managed 14 General Managers with a total staff of approximately 700.- Created an environment that supported the company brand and direction through effective communication, removal of barriers and implementation of tools that supported the highest level of restaurant operations and consistency across the region.- Grew Newfoundland revenue 22% by shifting focus from “back operations” to frontline “Guest Experience”.- Increased guest experience scores for entire region by 30-40% to well above the Company average through the introduction of a series of measures including: a “Focus of the Week” program, training, coaching and mentoring. These measures ensured all managers and associates were guest focused, and equipped to create the perfect guest experience every time.- Led the seamless launch of two new locations and provided complete operational training. Exceeded sales targets from Day 1, minimized wastage through effective management practices and ensured lower labour costs. Actively recruited teams that were energetic, driven and focused on enhancing operational execution and growing the business.- Raised performance of all locations within the region: 2 locations won the countrywide Missing Items contest and 1 location won the Presidents Club Award for outstanding performance across a range of measures including: Guest Experience, Steritech scores, H&S, and Missing Items.- Conducted training and development needs assessments to identify performance gaps and implemented training of Health and Safety, resulting in a 92% food safety score by Steritech.- Coached and developed General Managers on monthly P&L’s and business plans, and reduced complaints and missing items to below 0.3%.

Dallas/Fort Worth Area, Usa

As part of the Executive team, accountable for developing close partnerships with Caribbean Governments to ensure that the full benefits of FreemanGroup’s extensive training programs were effectively delivered. Senior Management contact for Project Directors and Trainers.- Developed and nurtured strong relationships with Government clients, recognizing cultural differences, building trust and generating public support for Government spending through conducting effective press conferences.- Led a benchmarking exercise to compare the performance of a number of Islands. Consulted with clients e.g. Cayman Islands Department of Tourism, to assess training needs and designed and facilitated customized behavioural and technical training programs that resulted in significantly higher standards of service. Behavioural benchmarks rose 30% and technical, 20%.- Managed multiple projects including; assessing client needs, preparing project overviews, critical paths and set-up arrangements with clients. Monitored and controlled all agreed project costs and maintained regular communication with both clients and project teams to review progress, schedules, problems/concerns resulting in smooth, well executed projects.- Customized and designed performance manuals (SOP’s) for Restaurants, Hotels, Airlines and Government employees, ensuring consistency of standards across the Islands.- Ensured all Mystery Shopper/measurement services were implemented in accordance with company standards and delivered as agreed in client contract.

Reporting to the VP of Purchasing & Culinary, accountable for transforming the business from a delivery-based operation to a “dine-in guest experience”. Following success of this transformation, promoted to dual role as Concept Developer / Training Manager responsible for new product development & purchasing.- Developed and implemented/facilitated an 8-week franchise program focused on building a true business partnership with franchisees. Transformed the delivery focused operation into a “guest experience” concept resulting in significant improvements in customer service skills, increased synergies and consistency of approach across the brand.- Led product development with the executive team and held pre-launch training sessions in a structured manner which resulted in lower inconsistency issues.- Developed and worked with food suppliers on all of the new menu items for the new Restaurant concept - Formulated food and service training outlines and determined instructional methods, using group instruction, demonstrations and one-on-one training.

A series of positions, rapidly progressing to General Manager before promotion to Corporate Manager of Training. Reporting to the Concept Director, accountable for recruiting and providing in-store training for new restaurant openings. Responsible for the development and delivery of technical, behavioural and management training programs and materials.- Drove performance improvement by conducting training and development needs assessments to identify performance gaps and implemented effective training solutions.- Pioneered a highly successful Canyon Creek training program as part of two new restaurant openings. The restaurants opened one month ahead of schedule with higher than average levels of service for the brand. Program was subsequently rolled out across the country. - Designed and delivered “Train the Trainer” courses to new and existing managers thereby improving managers training skills, achieving more cost effective training, lower turnover and higher revenues per cheque.

London, United Kingdom

Instructional Techniques & Design, Training & Development

Activities and Societies: TrainingFoundations Workshop Certification - Train the Trainer Promises Pillars Certification – Behavioural.

Haccp Cert, Qa

Activities and Societies: Food Safety / QA

Effective Communication, Effective Team Building, Training & Development

Activities and Societies: CommunicationEffective Communication, Effective Team Building

Professional Cookery, Hospitality

Activities and Societies: CulinaryProfessional Cookery / Professional Chef’s Papers Food and Beverage Management Royal Institute of Public.