Chicken Ayres, LLC – A Zaxby’s Franchise
Location: Kentuckiana Area
Salary: $80,000 base salary plus performance-based bonus potential
Position Type: Full-time
Chicken Ayres is seeking an experienced District Manager to lead a group of high-volume restaurants throughout the Kentuckiana area.
This is not a role for someone who simply visits stores, identifies problems, and sends reports. We need a hands-on multi-unit leader who can develop General Managers, establish clear expectations, hold teams accountable, and create systems that continue working when they are not physically present.
Our District Manager will be responsible for the operational and financial performance of their assigned restaurants, with bonus potential tied directly to the results of the stores they oversee.
At Chicken Ayres, our purpose is to serve great food, elevate our people, support our community, and drive growth through meaningful connections. Our five core values—Community, Teamwork, Passion, Elevate, and Growth—guide how we lead, communicate, and make decisions.
- Build capable, confident General Managers who take full ownership of their restaurants.
- Conduct meaningful weekly one-on-one coaching conversations.
- Help GMs develop their Assistant Managers and shift leadership teams.
- Identify performance gaps and create clear, time-bound improvement plans.
- Recognize when a leader needs coaching, additional training, or stronger accountability.
- Establish clear expectations and follow through consistently.
- Address missed deadlines, incomplete work, poor execution, and repeated excuses directly.
- Ensure commitments made during meetings result in measurable action.
- Hold leaders accountable without taking over their responsibilities.
- Maintain high standards while communicating honestly, directly, and fairly.
Our Elevate value calls leaders to raise the standard of communication, remove unnecessary emotion, and remain open and honest.
- Oversee sales, labor, food cost, staffing, training, guest experience, speed of service, and operational execution.
- Review restaurant financial statements and identify practical opportunities for improvement.
- Ensure schedules, inventory controls, training systems, checklists, and operating routines are completed accurately and on time.
- Use store visits to coach leaders and validate execution—not to become the person completing the work.
- Create specific action plans for underperforming restaurants and follow through until results improve.
- Protect brand standards, food safety, cleanliness, and hospitality expectations.
- Reduce dependence on “hero managers” who attempt to do everything themselves.
- Help GMs delegate responsibilities clearly across their management teams.
- Ensure managers understand what they own and how their performance will be measured.
- Build stores that operate consistently without constant intervention from above-store leadership.
- Develop internal candidates for future General Manager and multi-unit leadership opportunities.
- Model enthusiasm, gratitude, professionalism, and respect.
- Build an environment where every guest and team member matters.
- Encourage leaders to learn from failure rather than hide mistakes or shift blame.
- Support local schools, organizations, first responders, and community partnerships.
- Create a culture where high standards and genuine care for people exist together.
Our values emphasize leveraging each person’s strengths, coaching toward a higher standard, and creating a great experience for both guests and team members.
A successful District Manager at Chicken Ayres:
- Develops GMs who solve problems instead of escalating every issue.
- Creates clear ownership throughout each restaurant’s leadership team.
- Improves operational and financial performance without relying on constant pressure or personal heroics.
- Addresses difficult issues early, directly, and fairly.
- Builds consistency across multiple restaurants.
- Produces measurable improvement in staffing, training, labor, food cost, guest experience, and execution.
- Creates a pipeline of leaders who are ready for greater responsibility.
- Maintains standards even when the District Manager is not in the building.
- At least three years of successful multi-unit restaurant leadership experience preferred.
- Experience directly supervising and developing General Managers.
- Strong understanding of restaurant financials, including sales, labor, food cost, profitability, and controllable expenses.
- Proven ability to improve underperforming restaurants.
- Strong coaching, communication, organization, and conflict-resolution skills.
- Willingness to have direct and sometimes difficult performance conversations.
- Ability to balance people development with operational accountability.
- Comfortable using performance data, scorecards, restaurant reports, and financial statements.
- Ability to travel regularly between assigned restaurant locations.
- Valid driver’s license and reliable transportation.
- Availability that reflects the realities of restaurant operations, including occasional nights and weekends.
You may be a strong fit if you:
- Believe accountability and employee development should work together.
- Can coach a promising leader without lowering the standard.
- Know the difference between helping a manager and rescuing them.
- Are willing to inspect what you expect.
- Remain calm, factual, and direct during difficult conversations.
- Enjoy teaching leaders how to think critically and make better decisions.
- Are motivated by building strong teams rather than being the person who saves every shift.
- View discomfort and failure as necessary parts of meaningful growth.
Chicken Ayres defines Growth as pursuing personal and professional goals, accepting necessary discomfort, and using failure as the foundation for the next milestone.
- $80,000 annual base salary
- Performance-based bonus potential tied to the assigned restaurants
- Paid time off
- Professional development and advancement opportunities
- Additional benefits discussed during the interview process
