JOB DESCRIPTIONHEAD – CLOUD KITCHEN BUSINESS & OPERATIONS

Location: Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Department: Cloud Kitchen / Food Business

Function: Business Operations & P&L;

Reporting To: Managing Director / Group Leadership

Employment Type: Full-Time

Experience: 10–15+ Years

Industry Preference: Cloud Kitchens, QSR, Food & Beverage, Restaurant Chains, Delivery Food Business, Hospitality or FMCG/Food Operations

1. POSITION PURPOSE

The Head – Cloud Kitchen Business & Operations will be the overall business leader responsible for building, managing and scaling the company's cloud-kitchen vertical. The position will have end-to-end ownership of the business, including P&L;, revenue growth, kitchen operations, food quality, procurement, supply chain, delivery operations, customer experience, people, technology, cost management and business expansion.

The candidate will be expected to function as the key pillar of growth for the cloud-kitchen business, transforming the operation into a scalable, profitable and process-driven business.

This is a business leadership role, not limited to kitchen management.

1. KEY RESPONSIBILITIESA. BUSINESS & P&L; OWNERSHIP

- Take complete ownership of the Cloud Kitchen business P&L.;
- Develop annual and monthly revenue, profitability and growth plans.
- Own Revenue, Gross Margin, Contribution Margin, EBITDA and operating costs.
- Develop strategies to improve profitability at kitchen and brand level.
- Monitor food cost, labour cost, delivery cost, wastage, discounts and overheads.
- Establish kitchen-level profitability benchmarks.
- Identify loss-making locations, products and channels and implement corrective action.
- Drive revenue growth through new products, brands, locations and delivery channels.
- Prepare business forecasts, budgets and monthly performance reviews for management.
- Ensure sustainable growth without compromising food quality or customer experience.

B. END-TO-END CLOUD KITCHEN OPERATIONS
- Oversee the complete operation of all cloud kitchens.
- Establish standard operating procedures across all locations.
- Ensure smooth coordination between kitchen, procurement, inventory, delivery and customer service teams.
- Monitor daily kitchen productivity and operational efficiency.
- Establish SOPs for opening, production, dispatch, closing and hygiene.
- Drive operational excellence and standardisation across locations.
- Ensure kitchens operate within defined cost and productivity parameters.
- Conduct regular operational audits and performance reviews.

C. MENU, PRODUCT & FOOD QUALITY
- Work closely with chefs and culinary teams to develop commercially viable menus.
- Analyse product-wise sales, food cost and profitability.
- Identify high-performing and low-performing products.
- Drive menu engineering and product rationalisation.
- Ensure consistency in taste, portion size, presentation and quality.
- Develop processes for recipe standardisation and portion control.
- Introduce new products based on customer demand and market trends.
- Ensure compliance with food safety and hygiene standards.

D. REVENUE & BUSINESS GROWTH
- Develop strategies to achieve aggressive but sustainable revenue growth.
- Drive sales through online ordering, aggregators, direct ordering and other channels.
- Identify new business opportunities and revenue streams.
- Develop strategies for customer acquisition and repeat orders.
- Work with the marketing team on campaigns, offers and brand positioning.
- Analyse sales by location, brand, product, day, time and channel.
- Develop strategies to increase Average Order Value (AOV) and customer retention.
- Identify opportunities for new kitchen locations and market expansion.

E. DELIVERY & LAST-MILE OPERATIONS
- Ensure efficient and timely order fulfilment and dispatch.




- Monitor delivery turnaround time and customer complaints.
- Work with delivery partners and internal delivery teams to improve service levels.
- Analyse delivery costs and optimise delivery routes and operations.
- Establish KPIs for order preparation, dispatch and delivery.
- Reduce order cancellations, delays, incorrect orders and customer complaints.
- Integrate technology and operational processes to improve last-mile efficiency.

F. PROCUREMENT & SUPPLY CHAIN
- Lead procurement strategy for food, packaging and operational materials.
- Develop and manage vendor relationships.
- Negotiate pricing, payment terms and supply agreements.
- Establish approved vendor and alternate vendor systems.
- Ensure uninterrupted supply of critical ingredients.
- Control purchase cost and minimise procurement leakage.
- Implement inventory planning and stock control systems.
- Reduce wastage, pilferage, expiry and excess inventory.

G. COST CONTROL & OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY The candidate will be expected to aggressively manage the major cost drivers of the business:
- Food Cost
- Labour Cost
- Packaging Cost
- Delivery Cost
- Rent & Occupancy
- Utilities
- Maintenance
- Wastage
- Procurement Cost
- Marketing Cost
- Technology Cost
- Other Operating Expenses

Develop systems to continuously improve cost per order, cost per kitchen and contribution per order.

1. PEOPLE & LEADERSHIP

- Build and lead the complete cloud-kitchen leadership team.
- Develop the organisation structure for kitchen operations.
- Recruit, train and retain high-performing operational talent.
- Establish clear KRAs and KPIs for all key positions.
- Develop kitchen managers and operational leaders.
- Implement performance management systems.
- Drive productivity and accountability across the organisation.
- Create a culture of ownership, discipline, customer focus and operational excellence.
- Develop succession plans for critical positions.

1. TECHNOLOGY & DIGITAL OPERATIONS

- Drive technology adoption across the cloud-kitchen business.
- Work with technology teams to improve order management, inventory and kitchen operations.
- Ensure effective use of POS, KDS, inventory management and business analytics systems.
- Develop real-time dashboards for business performance.
- Use data and analytics to make operational and commercial decisions.
- Identify opportunities for automation and AI-enabled operational improvements.

1. CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

- Own overall customer experience across the cloud-kitchen business.
- Monitor ratings, reviews, complaints and repeat-order behaviour.
- Establish processes for handling customer complaints.
- Identify root causes of negative customer experiences.
- Improve order accuracy, packaging, delivery speed and food quality.
- Develop customer retention strategies.

1. COMPLIANCE & FOOD SAFETY

- Ensure compliance with applicable food safety, hygiene and operational requirements.
- Ensure appropriate statutory licences and certifications are maintained.
- Establish food safety and hygiene audit systems.
- Implement internal operational and safety audits.
- Ensure adherence to company policies and regulatory requirements.

1. BUSINESS EXPANSION

The candidate will play a key role in developing the company's expansion strategy.

Responsibilities include

- Identify recent markets and locations.
- Evaluate kitchen location feasibility.
- Prepare business cases for new kitchens.
- Develop expansion budgets and financial projections.




- Plan kitchen capacity based on expected demand.
- Develop hub-and-spoke or central-kitchen models where commercially viable.
- Establish a scalable operating model for rapid expansion.
- Support development of new food brands and concepts.

1. MANAGEMENT REPORTING

The Head will provide regular business reviews to the Managing Director / Group Leadership covering:

Financial

- Revenue
- Gross Margin
- Contribution Margin
- EBITDA
- Food Cost %
- Labour Cost %
- Marketing Cost %
- Delivery Cost
- Kitchen-level profitability

Operations
- Orders per day
- Average Order Value
- Order preparation time
- Delivery turnaround time
- Order accuracy
- Cancellation %
- Kitchen productivity
- Capacity utilisation

Customer
- Ratings
- Reviews
- Complaints
- Repeat customers
- Customer retention
- Customer acquisition cost

People
- Headcount
- Labour productivity
- Attrition
- Attendance
- Training
- Performance

1. KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS – KPIs

The candidate will be measured primarily on: 1. Revenue Growth

2. P&L; Performance

3. EBITDA / Contribution Improvement

4. Food Cost Optimisation

5. Labour Productivity

6. Order Volume Growth

7. Average Order Value

8. Customer Retention

9. Customer Ratings & Experience

10. Kitchen Productivity

11. Delivery Performance

12. Wastage Reduction

13. New Kitchen Launches

14. Operational Cost Reduction

15. Team Development & Leadership

1. IDEAL CANDIDATE PROFILE

The ideal candidate should have:
- 10–15+ years of relevant experience in Cloud Kitchens / QSR / Food & Beverage / Restaurant Operations / Hospitality / Food Delivery / FMCG.
- Strong exposure to multi-unit operations.
- Proven experience managing large operational teams.
- Strong commercial and financial understanding.
- Demonstrated experience in P&L; management.
- Strong knowledge of food cost and operational cost control.
- Experience with delivery and online food-ordering ecosystems.
- Robust understanding of customer acquisition and retention.
- Ability to build processes and scalable operating models.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving capability.
- Excellent leadership, negotiation and communication skills.
- Entrepreneurial mindset with strong ownership orientation.

1. LEADERSHIP EXPECTATION

This position requires a leader who can think and operate like a Business Head / CEO of the Cloud Kitchen vertical. The candidate must be capable of moving between:

Strategy → P&L; → Operations → People → Customer → Technology → Growth The successful candidate will be expected to build the business, not merely manage the business.

They must be comfortable working in a high-growth environment, taking ownership of numbers, solving operational challenges and creating systems that allow the business to scale.

1. CORE COMPETENCIES

- P&L; Management
- Business Strategy
- Revenue Growth
- Multi-Unit Operations
- Food & Kitchen Operations
- Cost Optimisation
- Supply Chain
- Procurement
- Delivery Operations
- Customer Experience
- Team Leadership
- Business Analytics
- Technology Adoption
- Process Excellence
- Vendor Management
- Expansion Strategy
- Crisis Management
- Commercial Acumen
- Entrepreneurial Leadership

ROLE SUMMARY The Head – Cloud Kitchen Business & Operations will be accountable for the complete business outcome of the Cloud Kitchen vertical, with primary responsibility for building revenue, improving profitability, strengthening operations and creating a scalable platform for long-term growth. The role carries end-to-end ownership of P&L; and operations and requires a high-ownership leader who can build the business from the ground up and take it to the next level.

Pay: ₹1,200,000.00 - ₹1,600,000.00 per year

Benefits

- Cell phone reimbursement
- Flexible schedule

Work Location: In person

📌 Head of Cloud Kitchens (Chennai)
🏢 Manju Groups
📍 Chennai