Cousins Maine Lobster | Franchise Development Specialist | portland, or

Job Overview

The Specialist of Development will report directly to the Head of Development and will lead the day-to-day coordination and management of company and franchise related matters for Development. They will support Cousins Maine Lobster brand growth by driving and refining the strategy, process, programs, and tools required to drive new franchise recruiting, support franchise development activities, and support new unit development. They will foster strong relationships with existing franchisees, new franchise candidates, and strategic development partners to drive long-term growth plans and pipeline development. They will act as a Brand Ambassador and liaison, managing all marketing and communications required to support brand development and growth internally and externally. Drives project management for cross-functional projects, development calendar, development budget, travel and special events to help realize strategic growth goals.

Duties

NEW FRANCHISEE RECRUITMENT

Supports Head of Development and Director of Franchise Development to execute new franchise recruiting programs and processes to support the recruitment, selection, and placement of new franchisees. Establishes and converts leads into new franchisees.

• This includes partnering with Legal to establish confidentiality agreements and disclosing all candidates.
• Provide support on driving the application, background check, and financial audit process for all candidates by engaging with the appropriate 3 party partners/vendors.
• Assists with the preparation of presentations and materials required for internal and external meetings and presentations.
• Partners with Leadership and Operations to gather feedback and assess candidate performance and fit.
• Assists with establishing franchise agreements for approved franchise candidates in partnership with Legal.
• Drives project planning and tracking in CRM tool that helps to coordinate efforts across the team to ensure realization of key functional plans and goals.
• Assists with the reporting and tracking for prospective franchise candidates to ensure candidate progression through the pipeline.

NEW UNIT DEVELOPMENT

Drives the execution of development processes for all new franchise and company food trucks and restaurants in accordance with our New Restaurant Development Guidelines.

• Partners with the Development leader and franchisees to facilitate the review, refinement, and approval of Franchisee new requests for growth.
• Drives cross-functional collaboration and planning required to support the ordering, design, fabrication and delivery of new food trucks and the planning required to support the planning, design, construction, opening preparations for new brick and mortar units. Helps to resolve and escalate open issues associated with development projects and franchisees.
• Manages the setup of new development projects in business reporting systems (e.g. Monday.com) and completes project updates for all development projects on a daily and weekly basis.
• Sets up and leads franchisee development calls. Maintains and evolves status reporting and tracking for all projects in the new unit development pipeline across food truck and brick and mortar asset types. Distributes notes and critical updates to franchisees and company teams.
• Acts as a key point of contact and business liaison for the Development team across all development channels. Helps to drive facilitation of new development opportunities, driving engagement between our development team and prospective development partners.
• Assists with general and project-specific development questions and issues.
• Provides support in reviewing and evolving development programs, policies and tools required to support new unit growth and the definition of these programs in the FDD.

FRANCHISE DEVELOPMENT

Responsible for day-to-day management, administration and coordination of franchise and company related matters by partnering closely with Leadership, Operations, Legal, and Franchisees to provide support to the following:

• Provide support to existing franchisees related to franchise agreement renewals.
• Supports the review and approval process of full and partial transfer of franchise rights from franchisees to new and/or existing franchisees.
• Support the review and approval of closure request.
• Support the facilitation of auditing franchise obligations (DA’s), Updates/refinements w/Ops, Legal, and Franchisees.
• Assists with Joint Capital Planning activities with franchisees to ensure long term brand growth & investment.
• Provide support with monthly scorecard to assess progress towards annual number of renewals, transfers, closures and associated revenue.

DEVELOPMENT MARKETING & PR

• Monitors and maintains development information on the brand website, marketing materials, public relations, and resources that heighten the awareness of the brand, development, franchising, and new growth opportunities.
• Follows up on development and franchising inquiries from brand email accounts and website, internal, and external sources.
• Creates marketing materials, drafts development related articles and press releases, and other brand related PR to help generate awareness of new initiatives and new development opportunities.
• Partners with Marketing, 3rd party creative firms, and agencies to support the development and evolution of marketing, PR and communications related to franchise recruiting and new development.
• Partners with Leadership, Franchise Development team members, and Legal to update and evolve important information provided in the FDD or other brand communications. Must develop an understanding of the franchise agreement and franchise disclosure document.

DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS

• Fosters the development of 3 party strategic relationships and facilitating relationships with franchise lead generation platforms, franchise recruiting consultants, industry organizations like IFA, Franchise Times.
• Actively engage with 3 party Lenders, Brokers, Developers, Retailers, U.S./State commerce agencies, Chambers, local business associations, etc. to help drive lead generation and new unit development.
• Attends select strategic partner meetings, industry conferences, and networking events to establish relationships and leverage key resources across the restaurant industry, franchising industry, and development community that can help to identify new franchise partnerships and opportunities.
• Helps to prepare presentations and communications required to support brand engagement in key industry events.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree with at least 1-3 years professional work experience or equivalent, preferably in a corporate environment with an emphasis in cross-functional project management and event management particularly affiliated with real estate & new unit development, franchising, legal, finance and/or restaurant operations and administrative support.
• This is a high energy role This candidate must be warm, outgoing and friendly, and enjoy engaging with internal and external business partners daily. Must have a track record of success driving collaboration cross-functionally to achieve results. Must have outstanding written and verbal communication and strong organizational skills with the ability to influence others, and drive prioritization and decisions. Must be highly analytical, strategic and demonstrate creative problem solving. Must be a self-starter, driven to achieve results.
• Knowledge of project management, real estate, new unit development and franchising related policies and procedures. Knowledge of law (real estate, franchise, contract, business), real estate and financial management/accounting preferred.
• Experience managing up and influencing functional leaders and teams, and a demonstrated track record of providing excellent service to external business partners and customers.
• Highly proficient in Microsoft Office (Outlook, Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Project, Visio, Microsoft Dynamics). Experience with graphic design tools (Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.) is desired. Experience with Geospatial planning tools is helpful.

If you are passionate and eager to make an impact, we encourage you to apply. Join us in our mission to foster growth and success within our organization.