Director of Operations
New Restaurant Group overseeing JAY’S, RIVIERA, and NAKED TACO and other deals coming to fruition
Location: FORT LAUDERDALE/MIAMI
Reports To: Ownership / Managing Partners
Position Type: Full-Time, Senior Leadership
Compensation: Competitive salary, performance-based bonus, and benefits package
About the Role
A newly formed hospitality group overseeing JAY’S, RIVIERA, and NAKED TACO is seeking an experienced, hands-on Director of Operations to lead day-to-day operations, brand standards, financial performance, leadership development, and guest experience across multiple restaurant concepts.
This role is ideal for a seasoned restaurant operator with a strong background in fine dining, elevated hospitality, high-volume service, and multi-unit management. The Director of Operations will work directly with ownership, executive chefs, general managers, and service leaders to ensure each concept operates with consistency, profitability, discipline, and a distinctive guest experience.
The ideal candidate understands both the art and business of hospitality: refined service, strong food and beverage standards, financial accountability, leadership development, operational systems, and the ability to scale a restaurant group without losing brand identity.
Key Responsibilities1. Strategic Leadership & Brand Vision
The Director of Operations will be responsible for upholding and advancing the vision of each restaurant while supporting the broader goals of the restaurant group.
Responsibilities include:
- Ensure service, food quality, ambiance, music, uniforms, cleanliness, and overall aesthetic standards align with each brand’s identity.
- Partner with ownership, executive chefs, beverage leaders, and general managers on concept refinement, menu rollouts, seasonal updates, programming, and guest experience initiatives.
- Maintain consistency across all locations while allowing each concept to retain its individual personality and market position.
- Support growth initiatives, including new restaurant openings, expansion planning, operational buildouts, staffing models, vendor relationships, and launch timelines.
- Serve as the senior operating leader responsible for translating ownership’s vision into clear systems, standards, and measurable results.
2. Financial & Business Management
The Director of Operations will have strong financial accountability across the group, with responsibility for improving profitability while protecting guest experience and brand value.
Responsibilities include:
- Review, monitor, forecast, and manage restaurant-level P&L performance.
- Work with general managers and department heads to drive revenue, manage expenses, and improve operating margins.
- Maintain disciplined food, beverage, labor, and controllable cost management.
- Analyze sales trends, average check, labor productivity, guest counts, table turns, reservation patterns, and revenue-per-available-seat-hour.
- Partner with ownership on budgeting, forecasting, capital expenditures, facility maintenance, and major vendor negotiations.
- Identify opportunities to improve profitability without compromising service quality, product standards, or hospitality.
3. Guest Relations & Service Excellence
The Director of Operations will lead the group’s service culture and ensure every restaurant delivers a consistently memorable guest experience.
Responsibilities include:
- Establish and refine hospitality standards, including steps of service, greeting protocols, table maintenance, seating pace, reservation flow, guest recovery, and VIP recognition.
- Develop systems for cultivating regulars, VIPs, local tastemakers, private dining clients, and high-value guests.
- Monitor guest feedback, online reviews, reservation notes, guest complaints, and service trends.
- Create clear guest recovery protocols and ensure managers are trained to resolve issues quickly and professionally.
- Conduct regular floor observations and service audits to ensure hospitality standards are being executed in real time.
- Ensure the guest experience feels polished, personal, warm, and consistent across all concepts.
4. Human Resources, Leadership & Talent Development
The Director of Operations will be responsible for building strong leadership teams and creating a culture of accountability, professionalism, and hospitality.
Responsibilities include:
- Recruit, hire, train, mentor, and hold accountable general managers, assistant general managers, executive chefs, service directors, bar managers, and other key leaders.
- Develop management training programs for both front-of-house and back-of-house leadership.
- Build staff training systems focused on hospitality, service etiquette, menu knowledge, wine and spirits, food standards, cleanliness, and professionalism.
- Establish performance expectations, management scorecards, and KPIs for each location.
- Conduct regular leadership meetings, one-on-ones, performance reviews, and succession planning.
- Partner with ownership and HR/payroll resources on hiring practices, onboarding, compliance, employee relations, disciplinary standards, and retention strategies.
- Foster a culture of excellence, urgency, respect, communication, and accountability.
5. Operations, Systems & Compliance
The Director of Operations will oversee the operating infrastructure of the restaurant group and ensure each location runs efficiently, safely, and consistently.
Responsibilities include:
- Create, implement, and maintain standard operating procedures across service, culinary, bar, reservations, purchasing, inventory, cash handling, scheduling, opening duties, closing duties, and manager logs.
- Conduct regular operational audits, restaurant walkthroughs, and quality assurance checks.
- Ensure seamless communication and coordination between front-of-house and back-of-house teams.
- Maintain high standards for sanitation, food safety, workplace safety, licensing, labor compliance, and regulatory requirements.
- Oversee facilities, repairs, preventative maintenance, cleanliness standards, and vendor performance.
- Support the implementation and optimization of restaurant technology, including POS systems, inventory platforms, labor scheduling tools, reservation systems, CRM/VIP tracking, and reporting dashboards.
- Ensure managers are using data effectively to make decisions and improve performance.
Ideal Candidate Profile
The ideal candidate is a polished, experienced, and highly accountable restaurant leader who is equally comfortable on the dining room floor, in the kitchen, reviewing financials, developing managers, and working directly with ownership.
This person should bring:
- Strong multi-unit restaurant operations experience.
- A background in fine dining, upscale dining, luxury hospitality, or high-volume premium concepts.
- Excellent financial acumen and experience managing P&Ls.
- Strong leadership presence and the ability to hold teams accountable.
- A deep understanding of hospitality, service standards, food and beverage operations, and guest experience.
- Experience building systems, opening restaurants, developing managers, and improving underperforming operations.
- Strong communication skills and the ability to work closely with ownership, chefs, managers, vendors, and staff.
- A hands-on leadership style with high standards and a solutions-oriented mindset.
Required Qualifications
- Minimum 7–10 years of progressive restaurant leadership experience.
- Minimum 3–5 years in a senior multi-unit leadership role, such as Director of Operations, Regional Director, Area Director, or equivalent.
- Proven experience managing restaurant P&Ls, budgets, labor costs, food and beverage costs, and controllable expenses.
- Strong understanding of fine dining or elevated hospitality standards.
- Experience leading general managers, executive chefs, service teams, and bar teams.
- Knowledge of POS, reservation, inventory, payroll, scheduling, and reporting systems.
- Ability to work nights, weekends, holidays, and peak business periods as needed.
- Strong organizational, problem-solving, and communication skills.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience opening new restaurant concepts or scaling a restaurant group.
- Familiarity with systems such as Toast, Resy, SevenRooms, OpenTable, MarginEdge, Restaurant365, Craftable, HotSchedules, 7shifts, or similar platforms.
- Beverage program knowledge, including wine, spirits, cocktails, and inventory controls.
- Experience with private dining, events, VIP programming, and brand partnerships.
- Experience working directly with founders, owners, or managing partners.
Key Success Metrics
Success in this role will be measured by:
- Restaurant-level profitability and P&L performance.
- Food, beverage, labor, and controllable cost management.
- Guest satisfaction, online reputation, and repeat guest growth.
- Consistency of service and brand standards.
- Leadership team development and retention.
- Staff training completion and performance improvement.
- Health, safety, sanitation, and compliance scores.
- Operational audit results.
- Successful execution of new initiatives, menu rollouts, events, and openings.
- Improved communication and accountability across all locations.
Leadership Expectations
This is a senior leadership role for someone who leads from the front. The Director of Operations is expected to be highly visible in the restaurants, present during key service periods, and actively engaged with managers, chefs, staff, and guests.
The right candidate will bring structure without bureaucracy, standards without ego, and accountability without compromising hospitality. This person must be able to protect the identity of each concept while building a stronger, more disciplined, and more profitable restaurant group.
About the Restaurant Group
This new hospitality entity will oversee the operations and growth of JAY’S, RIVIERA, and NAKED TACO, bringing together distinct restaurant concepts under one unified leadership structure. The group is focused on delivering memorable hospitality, strong culinary and beverage programs, disciplined operations, and long-term growth.
How to Apply
Qualified candidates should submit a resume and brief cover letter outlining their multi-unit restaurant leadership experience, financial management background, and approach to building high-performing hospitality teams.
Pay: $125,000.00 - $190,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Dental insurance
- Employee discount
- Flexible spending account
- Health insurance
- Paid time off
- Professional development assistance
Work Location: In person
