Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

Tea Retail - QSR - Franchise Expansion - Business Growth

Industry: Tea / Food & Beverage / QSR / Retail / Franchise Business

Experience: 15+ Years

Position: Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

Reporting To: Promoters / Board of Directors

Role Overview:

We are looking for a dynamic, entrepreneurial, and growth-oriented Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to conceptualize, establish, and scale a branded tea retail and franchise business across India.

The role involves building a large-scale, affordable, high-volume tea retail network, with a strong focus on business strategy, brand positioning, retail outlet setup, franchise expansion, revenue growth, and end-to-end P&L ownership.

The ideal candidate should have proven experience in building and scaling consumer-facing retail, beverage, QSR, or franchise-led businesses, with a strong track record of establishing profitable and scalable business models.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Business Strategy & Setup:

- Develop and execute the overall business strategy, growth roadmap, and expansion plans.

- Conceptualize and establish the retail business model, including store formats, product offerings, pricing, and target markets.

- Identify new business opportunities, geographic markets, and revenue streams.

- Build scalable business infrastructure, operating frameworks, and organisational capabilities.

2. Retail Outlet & Franchise Expansion:

- Lead the end-to-end setup, launch, and expansion of company-owned and franchise-operated outlets.

- Develop franchise business models, commercial structures, and partner acquisition strategies.

- Drive franchise partner identification, onboarding, training, and network development.

- Identify high-potential outlet locations and oversee store setup, launch, and operational stabilization.

- Establish standardized outlet formats, SOPs, and performance benchmarks.

- Drive profitable multi-city expansion and franchise network growth.

3. Brand Building & Market Positioning:

- Develop and execute strategies for brand positioning, market visibility, and consumer engagement.

- Establish a strong and differentiated brand identity in the tea retail segment.

- Drive marketing initiatives, customer acquisition, and brand awareness.

- Build customer loyalty, repeat consumption, and consistent customer experience.

- Monitor market trends and competitive positioning to identify growth opportunities.

4. Revenue Growth & P&L Ownership:

- Take complete ownership of business P&L, revenue, EBITDA, profitability, and ROI.

- Drive revenue growth through outlet expansion, franchise development, and market penetration.

- Develop annual business plans, budgets, revenue forecasts, and profitability targets.

- Monitor outlet-level unit economics, operating margins, break-even timelines, and payback periods.

- Drive cost optimization and operational efficiencies across the business.

- Ensure sustainable profitability across company-owned and franchise outlets.

5. Retail Operations & Business Excellence:

- Establish standardized operating processes across the outlet network.

- Ensure consistent product quality, pricing, hygiene, customer service, and brand experience.

- Build efficient procurement, sourcing, inventory management, and supply chain systems.

- Implement POS, MIS, dashboards, and performance monitoring frameworks.

- Drive operational excellence and scalability across multiple locations.

6. Leadership & Organisation Building:

- Build and lead high-performing teams across business development, franchise expansion, operations, marketing, and finance.

- Establish accountability frameworks, KPIs, and performance-driven processes.

- Work closely with promoters and senior leadership on business strategy and expansion.

- Foster an entrepreneurial, execution-focused, and growth-oriented culture.

Key Requirements:

- 15+ years of professional experience, with significant exposure to business leadership, retail expansion, and franchise development.

- Proven experience in building, launching, or scaling retail, QSR, beverage, or franchise-led consumer businesses.

- Strong expertise in company-owned and franchise-operated outlet expansion.

- Demonstrated success in business strategy, new market development, brand positioning, and revenue growth.

- Strong understanding of franchise economics, outlet profitability, and end-to-end P&L management.

- Experience managing multi-location operations and building scalable business models.

- Strong commercial acumen, entrepreneurial mindset, and leadership capabilities.

- Ability to independently build and scale a business from an early stage.

Preferred Industry Background:

- Tea / Coffee / Beverage Retail Chains

- Quick Service Restaurants (QSR)

- Franchise-led Food & Beverage Businesses

- Multi-Outlet Consumer Retail Chains

- Mass-Market Food Retail Businesses

Ideal Candidate:

- An entrepreneurial business leader with proven experience in building and scaling a retail or franchise-led consumer business.

- The candidate should have demonstrated success in setting up outlets, expanding franchise networks, strengthening brand positioning, driving revenue growth, and independently managing business profitability.

- Preference will be given to professionals who have successfully built or significantly scaled a multi-location tea, beverage, QSR, or food retail business.