Hartswater: Area Coach (Succession Pathway) posted by TradeOn

About the Role

The Area Coach (AC) is a critical role in driving business growth, customer satisfaction, and employee engagement within TradeOn’s Northern Cape region. As part of our structured succession pathway, you will embark on a 9-month training program at Hartswater before assuming full AC responsibilities. Your success depends on passing all required training modules and certification assessments.

Key Responsibilities

• Build People Capability:
• Leadership: Coaching and mentoring restaurant leaders to lead high-performing teams; role-model inclusive, values-led leadership and effective on-the-floor coaching.
• Succession & benching: Identifying and accelerating high-potential talent; maintaining a healthy pipeline of Team Leaders, RMs and RGMs.
• Engagement & retention: Partner with People Capability Leader (PCL) and operational leaders to design employee engagement plans (recognition and growth pathways) that improve retention.
• Performance management: Ensuring clear goals, timely feedback, and result management; closing skill gaps through targeted development and training certification.
• Wellbeing & compliance: Safeguarding safe staffing levels and balanced rosters; upholding safety, security and labour practice standards.

• Deliver a Consistent Customer Experience:
• Standardisation: Auditing and coaching CHAMPS (Cleanliness, Hospitality, Accuracy, Maintenance, Product Quality, Speed of Service), ROCC (Restaurant Operations Compliance Check), and CSL (Champs Standards Library) standards; ensuring brand-consistent service, quality and efficiencies across all restaurants.
• Operational routines: Driving daily/weekly operational routines (CHAMPS checks, shift huddles, line checks, food safety, cash controls) and closing gaps with action plans.
• Optimizing financial performance: Managing of food, staffing or staff resources, and overhead costs proactively, ensuring agreed service times, effective deployment profitability.
• Risk & compliance: Ensuring H&S, food safety, security and cash handling compliance; reducing loss, waste and operational variance.
• Continuous improvement: Sharing best practices; leading root-cause problem solving with operational leaders to drive sustainable improvements.

• Grow the Brand, Sales & Profits:
• Strategic Brand Activation: Driving initiatives that translate to the broader brand strategy and embedding them for local success within your region.
• Sales building: Guiding store marketing, delivering optimisation, product & promo execution; ensuring visibility and operational readiness.
• Commercial discipline: Reviewing P&Ls with Operational Leaders(RGMs, RM and SS); driving cost/productivity initiatives and margin improvement.
• Initiative leadership: Piloting, embedding and sustaining new ways of working; tracking post-initiative KPIs and scaling what works.
• Cross-functional collaboration: Partner with PCL, Operational Leaders, Training Facilitators and fellow ACs to deliver impactful training and culture initiatives.

Requirements

• Diploma/degree in supply chain, hospitality and/or related field (Advantageous)
• Minimum 5 years management experience in leading large teams, across multiple locations, with a strong understanding of the complexity that comes with it in Quick Service Restaurant (QSR), and/or FMCG/retail industry
• Proven track record managing 5+ high-volume restaurants/stores achieving operational KPIs and team development goals
• Passion for coaching, mentoring, and succession planning to foster growth and leadership within your teams
• Strong commercial acumen; advanced Excel; GAAP/POS proficiency; data-driven decision-making

Qualifications

• Valid drivers license and willingness to work weekends and travel extensively to restaurants within your designated area.

Salary & Benefits

• Salary details not specified in the original job description.