As Director of Menu Strategy and Calendar Innovation, you will own Swig's rolling twelve-month menu calendar and lead the Research and Development team that brings it to life. This role sets category and daypart growth strategy, writes the briefs that direct product development, and manages the launch, working closely with Operations, Supply Chain, and Finance.
You own the calendar twelve months out and the vision beyond that. Every month should be planned to beat the same month last year.
How You'll Make an Impact:- Own the rolling twelve-month menu calendar, including LTOs, seasonal drinks, core menu priorities, and market tests.
- Manage a beat last year calendar, knowing how every month performed, where the wins and the losses were, and what has to be true well in advance to outperform it.
- Guide a two-year vision for where the menu is headed, including the platforms and occasions.
- Set category and daypart growth strategy across beverages, energy, treats, and snacks, sizing each opportunity and concentrating investment where the growth is.
- Own menu architecture and mix through innovation, renovation, and deletions, keeping in mind throughput and operations.
- Lead the Research and Development team and create insights-driven briefs that direct their work, covering occasion, consumer, flavor trends, operational constraint, target economics, and what a win looks like.
- Review and direct concepts against the brief, owning the go or no-go decision at every gate from ideation through launch.
- Own the consumer research in every menu decision, running screeners, concept tests, and in-market research.
- Own the performance read on every launch, measuring incrementality, participation, and cannibalization.
- Develop and manage the innovation budget, own food cost and the margin impact of every menu decision, and partner with Finance on pricing and forecasting.
- Conduct a postmortem on every launch and carry what you learn into the next brief.
- Partner cross-functionally with Operations, Supply Chain, Finance, and Marketing from ideation through execution to surface risk early and adjust scope, staging, or phasing.
What You'll Bring to the Role:- Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Product Development, or a related field preferred.
- 7+ years in menu strategy, menu innovation, category management, or brand marketing at a multi-unit restaurant company required. QSR strongly preferred, drive-thru or beverage-led a significant advantage.
- Demonstrated ownership of a menu or promotional calendar, including LTOs, from concept through launch.
- Experience directing culinary or technical talent, whether or not they reported to you.
- Strong analytical skills and comfort working directly in POS, loyalty, and transaction data, with the ability to turn numbers into decisions.
- Experience running consumer research and using it to change a decision.
- Ability to lead through influence across Operations, Supply Chain, Finance, and franchise partners, with the executive presence to present recommendations to senior leadership.
- Track record scaling a tested concept from a handful of locations to a full system.
