Franchise Food-Safety Recovery Leader

The mandate

A national ingredient recall revealed delayed lot visibility, inconsistent cold-chain records and restaurants marked remediated before franchisees completed verified disposal and sanitation. Digital channels reopened locations from commercial schedules while quality holds remained ambiguous. The operations chief resigned after the board rejected market-level assurance. The interim takes executive command of restaurant and franchise recovery while quality, regulators and local authorities retain product-release and public-health decisions.

The appointment starts within two weeks and runs twelve months through regulator closure, two menu launches and a permanent search beginning after month three. The first twenty days complete affected-lot and restaurant status, protect guests and stop unsupported reopening. Months two through seven rebuild supplier, distribution, field, equipment and franchise evidence. The final phase proves the model through an unannounced recall, peak demand and successor-led market reviews.

Handover is complete when the permanent leader has chaired eight network reviews, every restaurant state reconciles to quality evidence, two menu launches meet readiness gates and an unannounced recall closes within target. The successor inherits supplier and product risk, franchise cure commitments, equipment constraints, field capacity, digital-control dependencies, customer remedies and a ninety-day plan owned by permanent market directors and franchise partners.

The interim may suspend restaurant or menu operations, redirect approved supply, change field routines, require retraining, withhold operational reopening and settle customer remedies inside policy. Terminating franchise agreements, changing validated controls, approving product release, dismissing market executives, changing menu strategy or committing above CAD10 million requires quality, legal, chief-executive or board approval. Franchise ownership does not diminish authorised food-safety stop rights.

Brand repositioning, franchise expansion, new-kitchen design, regulator negotiation and investigation of individual culpability are excluded. The interim will not substitute checklists for observation, relabel quarantined stock, reopen against quality authority or improve compliance by removing difficult franchisees from sampling. Work concerns dependable control across the existing network and an honest handover, not permanent centralisation of restaurant management.

Why this seat is open

The recall exposed fragmented authority among supply, quality, field operations and franchisees, and the board lost confidence in executive closure reporting. The network cannot wait for a conventional search before restoring customer trust. It needs a franchise operator who can enforce common evidence, respect independent quality decisions and leave local ownership stronger after the crisis.

What you will own

• Reconcile supplier lot, distribution, restaurant receipt, hold, disposal, sanitation, quality and reopening evidence across franchisees, channels, substitute ingredients and delivery-only kitchens.
• Decide operational suspension and restart within delegation against authorised product and site status across each trading channel.
• Reset franchise field visits, escalation, training, equipment and corrective-action routines around observed evidence.
• Align digital ordering, menu activation and promotion gates with verified restaurant and ingredient readiness.
• Close customer, regulator and franchise cure commitments through sampled restaurant journeys.
• Run an unannounced recall plus equipment, cold-chain, staffing and digital-reopening scenarios.
• Induct the permanent leader and transfer supplier, franchise, quality and market risks.

Candidate qualifications

• Has held executive authority across a large franchised food-service or distributed regulated consumer network during recall, sanitation failure and regulator scrutiny.
• Can evidence recall recovery that joined supplier lots, distribution, restaurant action and customer communication.
• Understands food safety, cold chain, franchise contracts, field assurance, equipment and digital-ordering dependencies.
• Has enforced stop decisions across independent operators while preserving quality and regulator authority.
• Can distinguish checklist completion from observed control and attributable product disposition.
• Has handed a visible network crisis to permanent leadership after unannounced recall testing.

Non-negotiables

• Can start onsite in Toronto within two weeks and visit restaurant markets weekly.
• Will not release product, reinterpret food-safety requirements or override regulators and quality officers.
• Brings direct franchised restaurant operating authority; packaged-food or brand marketing alone is insufficient.
• Will preserve closed, held, incompletely remediated and excluded restaurants in performance evidence.

1. 49 words maximum. Which recall status most seriously overstated completed restaurant remediation in a network you led?
2. 49 words maximum. Confirm your earliest Toronto start date and the largest franchise network you commanded.
3. 49 words maximum. How have you prevented commercial systems from reopening a location before quality acceptance?