Overview

The Food Excellence Consultant is a key member of the Restaurant Excellence Consulting team, dedicated to supporting Operators in elevating food and service standards across restaurants. This role exists to strengthen quality, speed, and consistency, ensuring a food-safe, customer-centered experience that builds brand trust and drives operational performance. As a trusted expert, the Food Excellence Consultant partners with Operators to determine root causes of Food Safety, Food Quality, and Production Throughput opportunities and offers solutions and resources to help restaurant leadership close gaps in those opportunities.

Responsibilities

Diagnose

• Provide the lens of food safety to Restaurants to assess , identify , and resolve food safety risks.
• Partner with Operators to identify root causes of customer experience and food quality challenges using holistic assessmentmodels.
• Analyze current space and equipment utilization to uncover optimization opportunities.
• Analyze food production processes and decision-making using data, video, and real time observations.
• Diagnose gaps between food safety/quality self-assessment tools and 3rd party audit findings.
• Identify opportunities for continuous improvement in restaurant and BTR (Beyond the Restaurant) for Food Safety andQuality.

Engage

• Consult with Operators on food production process optimization.
• Facilitate food tasting sessions and troubleshooting to address quality concerns.
• Collaborate with Operators and teams to understand their goals and opportunities, make supporting recommendationsusing available resources/data and facilitate associated goals setting.
• Partner with Operators during in - person visits for high-risk locations to support operational improvements.
• Educate Operators on the application of Lean Principles to optimize systems and processes.
• Collaborate with Restaurant Design, Facilities Management, Engineering and other Support Center partners to provideoperational reality.
• Provide guidance and resources for building a culture of food excellence, including best practices for food safety andquality.

Recommend

• Advise on food production optimization to balance quality, speed, and cost .
• Recommend best practices for food production throughput and operational requirements.
• Deliver expert recommendations for optimizing food safety, quality, and production systems, both virtually and in person.
• This includes the scoping of projects of minor leasehold improvements to unlock key recommendations needed by theOperator and/or their restaurant.
• Provide actionable insights and best practices for improvement based on 3rd party audits and self - assessments.
• Offer resources and recommendations for continuous improvement, including operating requirements and best practices.
• Share troubleshooting resources and best practices for all food products, ensuring consistent excellence.
• Consult on leadership structure, accountability, and training to support sustained operational improvements.
• Represent Restaurant Excellence Consulting as a member of an Area Leadership Team, contributing to strategic planningand execution of customer experience initiatives for an Area representing $1-2 Billion in annual revenues and up to 250 CFAlocations.

Required Qualifications (Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities)

• Strong analytical skills with the ability to diagnoseoperational challenges and identify root causes.
• Proven ability to consult, influence, and build relationships .
• Ability to present expert level content to large audiences
• Excellent communication and facilitation skills, including the ability to educate and coach others.
• Ability to develop and implement action plans with measurable goals.
• Commitment to upholding food safety standards and fostering a culture of excellence.

Preferred Qualifications (Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities)

• Demonstrated expertise in food safety, foodquality, and restaurant operations.
• Experience in optimizing food productionsystems and processes.
• Experience in leading training, accountability, and performance improvement initiatives.
• Ability to represent the Restaurant Excellence Consulting function within cross-functional teams and strategic planning groups.
• Knowledge of CFA restaurant operations. The new consultant will spend up to three months working as a team member in a restaurant

Required Years of Experience7 Preferred Years of Experience10 Travel Requirements60% Required Level of EducationBachelor's degree or equivalent experience Preferred Level of EducationBachelor's Degree Preferred Major/ConcentrationEngineering, Food Science, Business (MBA) Relocation Assistance ProvidedNo