Chief Operating Officer - Food & Beverages/Multi Office Restaurant Business

Position: Chief Operating Officer (COO) - F&B | IPO Readiness & Business Transformation Location: Mumbai Reporting To: Founder / Managing Director / CEO Experience: 18 - 25+ Years Industry: Food & Beverage / Restaurants / QSR / Hospitality About the Opportunity: Connections Consultancy has been mandated by a well-established and growing Indian restaurant chain to identify a seasoned Chief Operating Officer (COO) to lead the organization's next phase of growth, professionalization and business transformation. The company is at an important stage of its growth journey and is looking to build a scalable, professionally managed and institutionally governed organization, with a strong focus on IPO readiness and long-term value creation. The COO will play a critical role in strengthening the operating backbone of the organization while driving revenue growth, profitability, operational excellence, governance, process maturity and scalability. This is a high-impact leadership role requiring a combination of strong F&B operating experience, P&L ownership, business transformation capability and exposure to IPO / capital-market readiness. Role Overview: The COO will have end-to-end responsibility for the organization's operating performance and will work closely with the Founder / Promoter, CEO / MD, CFO and senior leadership team. The mandate is to build a highly scalable and professionally managed operating platform that can support significant expansion and meet the requirements of an institutionally governed, IPO-ready organization. The successful candidate will be expected to move beyond day-to-day operations and build the systems, processes, controls, governance mechanisms, leadership capability and performance culture required for the next stage of the company's growth. Key Responsibilities: - Own overall operating performance and P&L across the restaurant network. - Drive revenue growth, same-store sales, EBITDA and outlet-level profitability. - Develop annual operating plans, budgets, forecasts and performance targets in partnership with the leadership team. - Establish robust business dashboards and monthly / quarterly performance-review mechanisms. - Drive cost optimization, productivity improvement and margin expansion. - Ensure operational decisions are aligned with long-term shareholder value creation. - Partner closely with the Founder / Promoter, CFO and senior leadership in preparing the business for potential IPO / capital-market readiness. - Drive institutionalization of operating processes, policies, controls and governance frameworks. - Establish standardized processes, documentation and reporting systems across the organization. - Develop reliable and consistent MIS, operational dashboards, KPIs and management reporting. - Strengthen internal controls and operating discipline across the restaurant network. - Ensure clear accountability, ownership and audit trails across critical operational processes. - Support the development of processes and documentation required for due diligence and investor / advisor reviews. - Work closely with Finance, Legal, Company Secretarial and external advisors on operational aspects of IPO readiness. - Identify operational gaps that could impact governance, compliance, scalability or investor confidence and drive timely remediation. - Build an organization that is less promoter-dependent and capable of operating with institutional governance standards. - Lead operations across the existing restaurant network and ensure consistent performance across locations. - Establish standardized operating processes covering food quality, service, hygiene, productivity and customer experience. - Drive adherence to SOPs and operating standards through structured audits and performance reviews. - Improve outlet productivity, service efficiency, table turns and overall operational performance. - Build a scalable operating model capable of supporting rapid network expansion. - Lead the operational strategy for new store openings and geographic expansion. - Develop a structured playbook covering site readiness, manpower, training, supply chain, technology, SOPs and launch execution. - Ensure new outlets achieve targeted operational and financial performance within defined timelines. - Develop scalable systems to support expansion without compromising brand standards or profitability. - Build a strong customer-centric operating culture across the organization. - Ensure consistency in food quality, service delivery and customer experience. - Monitor customer feedback, ratings, complaints and service metrics. - Establish structured mechanisms for identifying and resolving recurring customer and operational issues. - Build and lead a strong operations leadership team capable of managing a growing network. - Develop a robust second line of leadership and succession pipeline. - Establish clear roles, KRAs, KPIs and accountability mechanisms. - Partner with HR to strengthen recruitment, training, retention and leadership development. - Build a performance-driven and professionally managed organization. - Drive food-cost optimization, inventory management and wastage reduction. - Strengthen procurement and vendor-management processes. - Improve supply-chain reliability, quality and cost efficiency. - Establish appropriate controls around inventory, procurement and operational leakage. - Identify opportunities for centralization and scale efficiencies. - Lead the standardization and digitization of critical operating processes. - Drive adoption of POS, ERP, inventory, workforce management, CRM and business intelligence systems. - Improve the quality and timeliness of operational data and reporting. - Use data and analytics to drive business decisions and improve operational efficiency. - Continuously identify opportunities for automation and process improvement. - Establish strong operational governance across all locations. - Ensure adherence to food safety, statutory, regulatory and company compliance requirements. - Implement structured operational audits and corrective-action mechanisms. - Identify operational risks and establish appropriate mitigation measures. - Ensure consistent implementation of company policies and controls across the network. Candidate Profile: - 18 - 25+ years of experience in F&B, restaurants, QSR, hospitality, Multi-Office or other large-scale consumer-facing businesses. - Strong experience managing multi-unit / multi-city operations. - At least 5+ years in a senior leadership position with significant P&L ownership. - Proven track record of driving revenue growth, profitability and operational transformation. - Experience managing large, geographically distributed teams. - Strong exposure to business scaling, organizational transformation and new store expansion. - Prior experience in IPO readiness, pre-IPO transformation, institutionalization, PE-backed businesses, public companies or capital-market preparation is strongly preferred. Education: - MBA / PGDM from a reputed institution preferred. - Bachelor's degree in Hotel Management, Hospitality, Business Administration or a related discipline. Ideal Candidate: - The ideal candidate will be a seasoned F&B business leader with strong operating and commercial credentials, who has successfully managed and scaled a sizeable restaurant network. - Beyond restaurant operations, the candidate should have the maturity and experience to institutionalize a promoter-led business and prepare it for the next stage of corporate evolution. - The individual should understand how to build systems, governance, controls, reporting mechanisms, leadership capability and operational discipline without losing the entrepreneurial speed and customer focus that drive the business. - Experience in IPO readiness, pre-IPO transformation or working with PE-backed / institutional busines