Real Estate & Expansion Manager - Food & Beverage Industry

Key Responsibilities:

1. Property Evaluation & Feasibility

- Work closely with the BD / sourcing team to evaluate potential locations across high street, office, transit, and residential adjacencies

Assess properties on:

- Footfall quality & catchment logic

- Visibility, access, frontage, signage potential

- Power, water, drainage, fire & statutory feasibility

- Build quick go / no-go recommendations with clear reasoning

2. Commercial & Documentation Support

Support BD team in:

- Understanding commercial terms (rent, escalation, lock-in, CAM, deposits)

- Flagging risk clauses and execution bottlenecks

- Coordinate with legal and landlords to ensure timely execution of agreements

- Ensure site handover readiness as per agreed timelines

3. End-to-End Project Execution

- Own the site from handover to launch

- Coordinate with:

- Design

- Projects & vendors

- Operations

- SCM & equipment teams

Drive timelines for:

- Civil works

- Electrical & plumbing

- Equipment installation

- Final readiness & handover to Ops

- Ensure projects are delivered:

- Within approved CAPEX

- As per standard layouts

- Without last-minute firefighting

4. Expansion Discipline & Scale Readiness

- Track multiple sites in parallel (10-20+ live projects)

- Maintain project trackers, milestone dashboards, and escalation logs

- Flag delays early and course-correct proactively

Help institutionalise:

- Site readiness checklists

- Standard BOQs

- Learnings from failed / delayed sites

Must Haves

4-8 years' experience in:

- Retail / QSR / cafe / convenience formats

- Real estate execution or expansion roles

- Strong experience working with:

- Business Development teams

- Vendors, landlords, and internal stakeholders

- Proven ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously

- Strong on-ground execution mindset

Good to Have:

- Experience in kiosks, compact retail, or rapid rollout formats

- Exposure to high-growth brands or multi-city expansion

- Comfort working in ambiguous, fast-changing environments

Skills & Traits:

- High ownership, low ego

- Detail-oriented but not slow

- Comfortable on site and in review meetings

- Clear written and verbal communication

- Bias for action and accountability