Vice President, Restaurant Operations

Who We Are

At Fogo de Chão, we strive to give our guests an unforgettable dining experience of discovery while showcasing the Culinary Art of Churrasco. Our mission is to ignite fire and joy to care for our team, our guests and our communities.

Fogo is in a high-growth, execution-focused chapter, scaling our proven operating model across new markets on a trajectory to double in size while delivering consistent performance and excellence in every restaurant. We seek an operations leader who will execute the playbook with discipline, build a strong leadership bench, and deliver consistent guest experiences. This leader will drive same-store sales, gain market share, and translate performance into disciplined brand expansion. Operations are the heartbeat of Fogo.

What We Promise

We believe better futures start when we bring our best to the table every day to Feed a Purposeful Future: starting with our team members. We feed our teams with fulfilling job opportunities, making space around the table so everyone feels welcome. At Fogo, we’ll provide you with a fulfilling career with professional and personal growth opportunities at every level. Our values of teamwork, integrity, excellence, humility and Deixa Comigo (we’ve got you!) are more than just words, it’s how we do things every day. Our culture is the foundation on which everything at Fogo is built, and personal accountability is central to how we lead, execute, and deliver results.

Teamwork

We are inclusive team players who continually work shoulder to shoulder to achieve our goals together.

Integrity

We do what we say we're going to do and strive to do right by all at and beyond our table.

Excellence

We are passionate about hospitality and take pride in everything we do.

Humility

We are masters in our craft, yet have a genuine desire to serve and put others first.

Deixa Comigo

We've got you. We take chances, not orders, and use our tenacity, grit, and resolve to make experiences unforgettable. This is the Fogo way.

We promise our leaders a company where your voice matters, your impact is visible, and your growth is real. You will work alongside people who care deeply about what they build, take ownership without being asked, and understand that servant leadership starts closest to the guest: with the team members who welcome, serve, cook, carve, clean, and create the experience every day. In return, we ask that you bring the same fire to the operations function that our Gauchos bring to the grill: relentless craft, genuine care, and the courage to say what needs to be said.

What You'll Own

The Vice President of Restaurant Operations owns operational excellence across existing and new US restaurants and will be instrumental in Fogo’s trajectory to double in size. This seasoned, hands-on servant leader will execute the proven operating model with discipline, develop Regional and Area Directors as leaders of leaders, align field and support center teams, and drive KDRs across People, Operational Excellence, Revenue, and EBITDA. The role is accountable for brand consistency, same-store sales growth, a strong leadership bench, and disciplined expansion, grounded in the belief that Fogo’s strength begins with the frontline Team Members who deliver the Guest experience every day.

Operational Excellence & Standardization

• Establish and sustain a scalable operating model that drives consistent execution across all restaurants.
• Strengthen adherence to Fogo's Standards of Excellence, culinary standards, recipes, service expectations, food safety requirements, and operating procedures.
• Build standardized operating rhythms, scorecards, reporting, and accountability structures that improve restaurant-level execution.
• Reduce performance variability across markets by implementing clear operational expectations and follow-through mechanisms.
• Partner with field leaders to identify execution gaps and implement sustainable corrective actions.

Business Performance & Financial Discipline

• Drive a culture of ownership and accountability for restaurant-level financial performance.
• Ensure leaders understand and actively manage labor, food cost, controllable expenses, discounts, promotions, productivity, and profitability.
• Build financial acumen throughout the operations organization by improving leaders' ability to interpret P&Ls, performance metrics, and business trends.
• Simplify operational and financial reporting so leaders focus on actionable insights rather than excessive data.
• Establish consistent business review processes that translate performance data into action plans and measurable results.

Leadership Capability & Talent Development

• Develop leaders of leaders, particularly Regional and Area Directors, who can build high-performing teams and a strong pipeline of ready-now and ready-next operational leaders.

• Improve hiring quality, onboarding effectiveness, leadership development, and retention across all levels of the organization.

• Ensure leaders are equipped to coach performance, develop talent, and create high-performing teams.
• Strengthen succession planning processes to support growth and long-term organizational stability.
• Create clear leadership standards and expectations that promote accountability, consistency, and operational excellence.

Scalability & Growth

• Build the systems, processes, and leadership capability necessary to support existing and future restaurant growth.
• Partner with cross-functional teams to ensure new restaurants are launched and transitioned with consistent operational standards.
• Develop repeatable operational practices that allow the organization to scale efficiently while preserving the Fogo culture and guest experience.
• Ensure growth is supported by strong execution, talent readiness, operational discipline, and financial performance.

Leadership & Culture

Cultivate a high-performing operations culture centered on accountability, integrity, continuous improvement, and leadership readiness. Champion a servant-leader philosophy that recognizes Fogo's history, honors the frontline Team Members as the tip of the spear, and balances genuine compassion for Team Members with the operational discipline required to deliver results at scale. Ensure field leaders are ready to optimize Guest experience, grow SSS, and execute consistently in every restaurant.

• Lead, inspire, and develop a high-performing field operations team spanning regional, area, and restaurant-level leaders, with a clear mandate to build ready-now and ready-next leadership capability.

• Model Fogo de Chão leadership principles: Above the Line accountability (See It, Own It, Solve It, Do It), and clearly communicate strategy, KDRs, and expectations to the organization.

• Foster an environment of candor, humility, and ownership, where leaders are empowered to make decisions, held accountable for outcomes, and expected to serve the frontline teams who deliver the brand promise.

• Reinforce a culture of recognition, belonging, and shared purpose across all markets.

Operational Excellence

Oversee daily operations across all restaurant locations, ensuring brand standards, service quality, food safety, and Guest experience are consistently upheld. Drive the operational rhythms, SOPs, and performance disciplines that translate strategy into flawless restaurant-level execution, strengthen Guest loyalty, improve SSS, and create the consistency required to gain share across markets.

• Monitor performance metrics and implement strategies to improve sales, speed of service, profitability, Guest satisfaction, and same-store sales growth.

• Develop and enforce Fogo’s Standards of Excellence for front-of-house and heart-of-house operations, ensuring flawless execution at every touchpoint.

• Drive consistency across markets while remaining agile and adaptable to local Guest and market needs.

• Maintain food safety, sanitation, and compliance standards to the highest level across all locations.

• Ensure consistent participation in EcoSure and other compliance programs, with timely corrective action plans, root-cause follow-up, and sustained adherence to food safety, sanitation, and brand standards.

• Conduct focused restaurant visits, approximately 40-50% travel, and ensure Fogo Evaluation Plans are used to diagnose performance gaps, validate execution, coach leaders, and follow through on improvement commitments in-person.

Strategic Growth & Market Development

Serve as the post-NRO operational owner of Fogo's expansion strategy in close partnership with the Vice President of Restaurant Excellence, who is accountable for New Restaurant Openings (NROs). Once a restaurant transitions from NRO to Operations, this role is accountable for receiving trained and ready Team Members and leaders, stabilizing execution, sustaining brand standards, accelerating the performance ramp, and converting opening momentum into durable same-store sales growth and market share gains.

• Partner with the Vice President of Restaurant Excellence on NRO planning, readiness, and transition milestones, while clearly owning the post-handoff operating agenda: execution discipline, leader coaching, performance routines, Guest experience consistency, and continued growth after opening.

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including Restaurant Excellence, Real Estate, Marketing, HR, Supply Chain, and Finance, to align new market transitions and ongoing operations with company-wide growth objectives.

• Support annual strategic planning, budgeting, and the establishment of performance benchmarks for new and existing markets, linking SSS growth and four-wall performance to reinvestment in footprint expansion and brand-building priorities.

• Partner with Sales, Marketing, and field leaders to strengthen local sales-building routines, community relationships, OpenTable/yield optimization, group dining execution, and market-level revenue growth.

• Evaluate operational readiness at handoff and lead the post-NRO stabilization period, ensuring each new restaurant moves quickly from launch execution to sustained operating excellence, local market relevance, Guest loyalty, and profitable growth.

Guest Experience & Brand Integrity

At Fogo, the Guest is the center of everything, and the frontline Team is the tip of the spear in creating that experience. This leader is accountable for ensuring that every Guest who walks through our doors, in any market and at any location, experiences the warmth, quality, and hospitality that defines the Fogo brand, powered by ready leaders who know how to serve their Teams and create exceptional experiences consistently.

• Ensure consistent, high-quality service and Southern Brazilian hospitality across all restaurants and markets, with leaders prepared to translate brand standards into memorable Guest experiences.

• Reinforce operational systems and disciplines that directly elevate the overall Guest experience, from arrival to farewell.

• Lead the organization's response to Guest feedback, using data and field insights to diagnose root causes, drive systemic improvements, strengthen loyalty, and improve SSS.

Financial & Business Management

Lead with a strong understanding of restaurant-level economics and a disciplined approach to P&L ownership. This leader understands that financial performance and Guest experience are not in tension; they are both the result of excellent operations, ready leadership, and consistent execution that grows SSS and creates the revenue capacity to expand Fogo's footprint and build the brand.

• Own P&L performance at the restaurant and portfolio levels by seeing the business clearly, taking personal accountability for results, removing barriers with field leaders, and ensuring disciplined follow-through on actions that improve sales, profitability, and execution.

• Analyze financial and operational data to identify performance trends, drive improvement, reduce controllable costs, and focus leaders on the actions that improve SSS and four-wall profitability.

• Coach field leaders to translate performance data into clear business plans and gap action plans, with defined owners, timelines, follow-up routines, and measurable impact on People, Operational Excellence, Revenue, and EBITDA.

• Optimize labor deployment and scheduling practices to maximize productivity without compromising the Guest or Team Member experience.

• Identify and implement cost-saving measures and operational efficiencies that improve four-wall profitability across the portfolio and free capacity for reinvestment in Team Member development, brand growth, Guest experience, and brand-building initiatives.

• Partner with the VP of FP&A & Operational Finance as a peer to ensure field operations and financial planning are tightly aligned.

What You'll Bring

We are looking for an operations leader with the technical depth of a best-in-class multi-unit operator and the leadership maturity expected of a Vice President. The right candidate will shape strategy, drive execution, advise senior leadership, build ready leaders for today and tomorrow, and recognize that the brand’s success begins with the frontline Team. This leader will strengthen operational consistency, develop leaders who think and act like owners, and build the systems, standards, and accountability needed to support sustainable growth. Humility, accountability, and a passion for developing people and delivering results are essential.

Experience & Background

• 10+ years of progressive, multi-unit restaurant operations experience, with demonstrated responsibility for a portfolio of 20+ locations across multiple markets.

• Proven experience scaling restaurant brands and executing new market development, including leading new restaurant opening programs from planning through execution and building leaders capable of sustaining performance after opening.

• Deep understanding of restaurant financials, including P&L ownership, labor management, food and beverage cost controls, and four-wall EBITDA performance.

• Experience in a high-growth, execution-focused, or private equity-backed restaurant environment where operational rigor, urgency, and scalability are essential.

• Natural leader with a commanding presence and a genuine servant-leader mentality; you lead from the floor, not from behind a desk, and you understand that the strongest leaders remove barriers for the frontline Teams closest to the Guest.

• Excellent communicator at all levels of the organization, with the ability to inspire field Teams, present to executive leadership, and build cross-functional trust.

• Strategic and tactical thinker, equally comfortable crafting a multi-year growth strategy and rolling up your sleeves to diagnose a store-level performance issue.

• Bilingual proficiency in English and Spanish is strongly preferred, given Fogo's diverse Team Member base and multi-market operations.

Education

• Preferred: Bachelor’s degree in hospitality management, Business Administration, or a related field.

• Minimum: High School Diploma or GED, with equivalent combination of education and progressive restaurant operations experience.

• Graduate degree is a plus but not required; equivalent leadership experience at scale will be valued equally.

Technical Capabilities

• Expert-level knowledge of restaurant operations across both front-of-house and back-of-house functions, including culinary execution, service standards, labor scheduling, and inventory management.

• Strong command of multi-unit P&L management, controllable cost analysis, and operational KPI reporting.

• Experience developing and deploying SOPs, training programs, leadership readiness systems, and operational playbooks at scale across diverse markets and teams.

• Proficiency in restaurant management systems, workforce platforms, and performance analytics tools.

• Ability to read, interpret, and act on financial and operational data to drive performance at the restaurant, regional, and enterprise level.

• Familiarity with food safety standards, health department compliance requirements, and sanitation regulations across multiple jurisdictions.

Personal Attributes That Reflect Our Values

We hire for values as deliberately as we hire for skills. The attributes below reflect Fogo’s values and the leadership capabilities required to scale our proven operating model with discipline.

• Deixa Comigo accountability and drive: Sees reality, owns outcomes, solves what is within their control, and follows through with urgency until results are achieved.

• Deep focus and radical simplification: Identifies the few operating priorities that matter most and converts complexity into clear standards, routines, measures, and actions field leaders can execute.

• Long-term consistency and pursuit of excellence: Sustains disciplined focus and high standards long enough to produce durable, systemwide results without accepting good enough.

• Exceptional operational depth and grounded humility: Knows restaurant operations at ground level, diagnoses issues beyond surface indicators, listens before leading, and treats every Team Member with dignity and respect.

• High conviction with integrity: Takes a clear position when evidence supports it, communicates transparently, and maintains resolve through challenge or ambiguity while honoring commitments.

• Constructive challenge and teamwork without ego: Tests assumptions and inherited practices, respects institutional knowledge, and collaborates across the enterprise to improve outcomes.

• Objective, data-centered judgment: Uses operating facts, financial data, and field insight to make decisions, course-correct quickly, and hold self and others accountable for results.

Vice President Leadership Presence

At the Vice President level, this leader translates enterprise direction into actionable priorities across large, complex, and strategically important operations. The VP leads through senior field management, aligns the organization around a focused operating agenda, builds succession depth, removes cross-functional barriers, and leads change with significant impact on People, Operational Excellence, Revenue, and EBITDA.

• Influence senior leaders and cross-functional partners with clear priorities, strong evidence, and high conviction on matters with significant organizational impact.

• Communicate strategy, KDRs, and performance expectations with clarity, confidence, candor, and respect for the frontline Teams who bring those expectations to life with Guests.

• Mediate and resolve highly sensitive issues, including Team Member relations, Guest escalations, and operational crises, without damaging relationships.

• Challenge assumptions constructively, simplify complexity, and remove process, organizational, or interpersonal barriers that impede cross-functional execution.

• Demonstrate strong executive presence in the field and in senior leadership forums, using objective, data-centered judgment to make decisions and course-correct.

• Model Above-the-Line Accountability: See It, Own It, Solve It, Do It in every decision and every interaction.

This position is fully on-site at our Addison, TX office.

Medical, Dental, and Vision insurance are available for full-time Team Members on the first of the month following their start date. Additionally, company-paid Life Insurance and Short-Term Disability are provided where allowed. We offer a comprehensive voluntary benefits package including Critical Illness, Hospital Indemnity, and Accident Coverage.

Fogo de Chão is an Equal Opportunity & E-Verify Employer