The Company

Hero Brands is a highly successful, family-owned multifaceted business, responding to emerging consumer trends and building fast-casual brands of the future. With a network of experienced multi-unit franchise operators, they can move at pace and quickly launch brands to a global consumer audience. All their brands have been chosen and developed to offer quality and innovation to a diverse and discerning global audience.

Headquartered in East Kilbride, the Food & Beverage division of Hero Brands currently operates across 4 main brands with the portfolio set to continue to expand over the next 12 months. The most well-known brand is German Doner Kebab (GDK) which has restaurants thriving in the UK, Europe, Middle East and is targeting rapid expansion across numerous new territories.

The UK trading operation is owned and managed by United Brands Ltd, the master franchise holder for GDK in the UK, and has seen significant growth over the years. They have recently opened its 125th restaurant and now employ more than 4,000 people across the UK. The business has recently announced its continued growth plans to open another 30 new restaurants this year in the UK alone, and a greater GDK vision of over 500 sites in the next 10 years.

Outside of the UK, German Doner Kebab has moved into Sweden, Canada, the US and the Middle East. GDK is now also expanding into Saudi Arabia and throughout other parts of Europe as it continues to grow at a rapid rate.

GDK products are made from quality ingredients that are exclusive to Doner Kebab Restaurants, making the "Doner Kebab" a truly unique taste experience for their customers. With a strong modern brand, the promotion of quality and fresh ingredients that appeal to a broad market, "Doner Kebab" continues to grow and succeed. Maintaining the authenticity and originality of their kebabs is one of the main objectives of the business and is the reason that they continue to retain their market position at the very top of the kebab industry.

The Opportunity

Having established themselves as one of the most exiting new food brands in the UK, GDK is now looking to take the next step in their growth phase, to take them from 130 restaurants to 500 restaurants in the UK and globally GDK has ambition to grow to >5,000 restaurants globally.

There is a new Senior Management Team in place who firmly believes that growing sales profitably for both GDK and their franchise partners will be key to delivering these targets. To support this, they have identified the need for senior FP&A resource to support them in analysing all aspects of GDK performance and working closely with them to steer the business on this growth plan.

This is the first dedicated FP&A resource for GDK and presents a real opportunity for someone to shape the role and build influence around the business. There is also the potential for an FP&A team to be created in future years.

The Role

Job Title:                     FP&A Leader 

Reports to:                  Finance Director

Location:                     East Kilbride, Scotland

Main Duties and Responsibilities

• Analysis of restaurant sales performance to provide insight to the leadership team to continue to drive profitable growth for GDK
• Liaise with stakeholders to provide meaningful analysis for business decisions
• Analysis of restaurant profit and loss accounts to support the profitability of their franchise partners
• Implement processes to evaluate new products, menu changes or supply chain developments
• As the senior finance resource for German Doner Kebab, you will be expected to play a key role in the management of team meetings, sharing insights, and showing strong business acumen
• Evaluate opportunities for international development as they arise
• Co-ordinate and deliver the yearly budgeting processes and regular re-forecasting for the business
• Monitor actuals against budget / reforecast to help identify trends, opportunities and risks within the business, to help inform future forecasts and to challenge and drive accountability within functions and divisions
• Analysis of both financial and non-financial information, identifying patterns, trends and opportunities for business growth or cost reduction
• Developing relationships around the business to develop the role and profile of the FP&A / finance department
• Cashflow forecasting is also likely to be required from this role
• Any other ad-hoc duties as required

The Individual

The position requires a confident individual with a keen eye for detail, with strong analytical skills and the ability to liaise with stakeholders across all levels of the business. It is important that the individual will be able to take full ownership of their duties. It is also preferable that the individual will have worked in an F&B or FMCG business where they will have worked closely with the operations team to support high levels of growth.

A summary of the key candidate requirements are as follows:

Experience

• Qualified Accountant (CA/ACA or equivalent)
• Ability to perform the essential functions of the job typically acquired through related experience
• Experience of problem solving and implementing process improvements, particularly in relation to internal reporting (e.g. efficient design of Excel reports)
• Ideally, experience within Food and Beverage or consumer goods environments
• Strong budget and forecasting background

Skills, Knowledge & Abilities

• Strong analytical skills – ability to research, compile, analyse and interpret large data sets efficiently to provide insightful, accurate analysis of complex financial data
• Strong financial modelling skills including advance Excel skills
• As the role is dynamic, a can-do attitude and strong organisational skills, with the ability to work to deadlines and prioritise work-load to deliver high quality work is essential
• Excellent communication skills and the confidence to get out into the business to articulate financial matters to a non-financial audience, and build effective working relationships across the business
• Ability to take the initiative and drive the continual improvement of processes, practices and analysis
• Strong presentation skills and the ability to use PowerPoint or similar products to develop high quality reports appropriate for a range of audiences
• Commercial curiosity and acumen – involved in understanding, analysing and questioning commercial areas and new strategic opportunities across the group
• Pragmatic and solutions driven - with the ability to combine being ‘in the detail’ with stepping back to see the ‘bigger picture’

Other Key Characteristics & Behaviours

• Strategic thinker, adaptable, tenacious and resilient
• Organisational skills – personal efficiency, time management skills and the ability to prioritise competing demands
• Self-motivated, organised and a natural ‘roll your sleeves up and get on with it’ person
• Committed individual, displaying drive, ambition, and professionalism
• Role model: demonstrate the values and culture of the organisation
• Remains calm when under pressure
• Adopts a solution driven focus to problems
• A proven relationship builder
• Strong team player

Remuneration & Recruitment

An attractive financial package is available to the successful individual and will be commensurate with the background and experience required for the role.

For more information on remuneration please contact Jonathan Donnelly at Rutherford Cross.