Senior Manager, Culinary & Commercialization in at JERSEY MIKES FRANCHISE SYSTEMS LLC

Company Description

Jersey Mike’s is a fast-casual sub sandwich franchise with over 3,300 locations nationwide, offering fresh sliced subs, with freshly baked bread. Established in 1956, the company is committed to providing delicious food made with premium ingredients and giving back to the communities it serves. Jersey Mike’s was ranked #1 in 2026 America’s top franchises by Entrepreneur Magazine and earned recognition in Nation’s Restaurant News, highlighting its rapid growth and dedication. With a history of philanthropy, the brand gives back through initiatives like its Annual Day of Giving and has raised millions for local charities. Jersey Mike’s is driven by its commitment to quality, community, and making a difference.

Position Summary

Jersey Mike’s is seeking an experienced leader to own menu innovation end to end: from ideation through commercialization to system-wide scale across 3,000+ franchise locations. As Senior Manager, Culinary & Commercialization, you will own the company’s menu strategy in support of the corporate growth strategy, run the ideation process in partnership with Marketing, lead supplier-driven product development, and manage a disciplined stage-gate process from concept through national rollout.

We are looking for someone who can connect technical food science with strategic business acumen. This person will need to roll up their sleeves to project-manage the process, partnering cross-functionally to get products from R&D into thousands of restaurants.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the menu innovation strategy and annual roadmap (new items, LTOs, platform development) in support of company strategy and growth targets
• Leverage Marketing-owned consumer insights, frontline/franchisee input, and industry and culinary trends to identify customer need states and menu gaps
• Build and manage the innovation funnel: concept development, screening, and prioritization

• Lead R&D through supplier partners: briefs, specifications, bench builds, iterations, and sensory validation
• Partner with Quality Assurance on product specifications, food safety, & nutritional review as part of gate approvals
• Support supplier scale-up and manufacturing readiness: trial production runs, process-capability assessment, and scale-up risk identification to de-risk launch
• Apply technical knowledge of food science, ingredient functionality, and manufacturing constraints to develop products that are operationally executable in a high-volume restaurant environment

• Design, own, and run the end-to-end stage-gate process from ideation to scale; accountable for on-time, on-quality delivery of the pipeline
• Manage defined gates for cross-functional stakeholder approvals (Marketing, Operations, Supply Chain, IT, Finance), preparing gate materials and driving decisions to schedule

• Design & manage in-store market tests in partnership with Ops to convert learnings into go / no-go recommendations
• Own rollout readiness, partnering cross-functionally to ensure the proper training materials, operational procedures, supply chain lead times & inventory, marketing plans, and system communication for national launches
• Own post-launch performance scorecards to generate learnings & inform future activations

Qualifications

Required

• 6+ years in product development, R&D, and/or commercialization
• Demonstrated track record of taking products from R&D through commercialization to commercial scale, including hands-on experience running or working within a stage-gate product development process
• Strong cross-functional stakeholder management
• Strong project management skills; organized, deadline-driven, and comfortable owning a multi-workstream pipeline
• Strategic business acumen: comfortable with product costing, margin analysis, and business-case development
• Degree in Food Science, Food Technology, Nutrition, Culinary Science, or equivalent technical R&D experience
• Willingness to travel and work hands-on in restaurants, test markets, and supplier facilities, as needed

Preferred

• Experience within CPG, restaurant, or food manufacturing / supplier environments (e.g., protein, bakery, etc.)
• Experience in franchise or multi-unit restaurant systems
• Supplier-side R&D experience and familiarity with co-manufacturing / co-development models.
• Experience managing LTO pipelines and restaurant menu calendars.