Chief Executive Officer

About the OrganisationOur client is an icon of Victorian tourism and confectionary manufacturer, synonymous with providing unique and memorable experiences for kids and adult alike. This is coupled with their production and retailing of a vast array of artisan, innovative and delicious confectionary products for all to enjoy!The journey and success of the business over the last 12 years is impressive. They currently welcome over 1.5 million visitors a year across 3 sites with a 4 site currently under development. Unpinning this amazing success is a highly engaged and passionate group of 220 employees that live and breathe the values around providing unique and memorable customer experiences and producing incredible product.About the PositionAs CEO, you will have overall responsibility for driving the continued growth, success, profitability, and sustainability of the group. Specifically, this will include developing and executing business improvement strategies, leading, coaching and inspiring a hard-working group senior leadership team of 5, whilst building and maintaining strong relationships with key stakeholders, including suppliers, industry partners and the board.With a focus on driving service excellence and optimal efficiency, the ability to align complex service delivery environments, across multiple sites and multiple departments is key. (Retail, Restaurant, Production, Procurement, Operations, Admin, Marketing, Finance & Facilities Management). The broader workforce is a mix of full time and casual staff, operating 7 days a week in a fast paced environment, dealing with very large volumes of customers. An environment where no two days will be the same.You will take the lead in developing and driving business improvement, change management and channel/service expansion strategies, as the business transitions from a management regime lead by its current entrepreneurial owners to a more systemised way of operating.You must be a champion of customer service excellence, food safety, quality assurance, and sustainable sourcing practices as core pillars of the organisation. Your focus is to continue to build a strong, deep and skilled team, drive ever growing sales revenues from each venue and support brand-building initiatives to enhance the group's market positioning and customer loyalty.About the PersonYou will have proven experience as a General Manager/CEO within the hospitality and/or retail sectors with an entrepreneurial flair and passion for service excellence. Exposure/knowledge around manufacturing will be seen as beneficial but not essential.You must be comfortable working from board level down to the shop and production floor, a strategic thinker by nature and a natural problem-solver. Tried and tested experience in developing dedicated high performing managers into senior leaders is a big focus and so a substantial track record here will be highly regarded.Strong business acumen and commercial experience with a focus on financial management and stewardship. Experience in driving revenue growth, achieving financial targets and improving business operations is essential.Working across 4 geographically spread sites, this will be a busy role that will not be a standard Monday-Friday 9-5. Energy, dedication, passion and commitment will be key!Please feel free to reach out to Felix Wood - Partner via Linkedin for a confidential discussion or apply directly on the below link.