Senior Real Estate Manager

Senior Manager of Real Estate , Your role will be based primarily at the Soul Restaurants Canada Inc. office, The Madison Centre, Suite 2001, 4950 Yonge Street, Toronto, Ontario, M2N 6K1 . While you may occasionally be required to work from home or in the field, and outside of normal business hours, regular in-person presence at the office is an essential requirement of this role.

PURPOSE OF THE POSITION:

As a senior member of the Development and Construction team, you will oversee and maximize the Company’s Real Estate Portfolio through real estate acquisition/development for new builds, relocations and lease renewals across Ontario and/or British Columbia for the KFC, Taco Bell, Starbucks and Burger King brands.

SCOPE AND MAGNITUDE:

Soul Restaurants has over 240 Restaurants and Cafes throughout Canada with the majority being in Ontario. The Senior Manager, Real Estate will have accountability for managing the real estate portfolio for Soul Foods Group and will work with Soul’s key stakeholders, brand partners and external partners to co-ordinate and deliver the company’s aggressive growth objectives.

POSITION FUNCTIONS:

• Portfolio & Lease Management : Ensure strong governance and integrity of lease data and documentation, maintaining accuracy, audit readiness and confidence in portfolio information throughout the lease lifecycle; Lead all lease renewals across the portfolio to secure favourable leasing terms well in advance of lease expiry/option due dates;
• Property Administration : Manage the property administration process including monthly rent roll updates, landlord invoices, landlord disputes and other lease administrative tasks
• Contract Administration : Draft, review and/or negotiate real estate and lease related agreements with the support of external legal counsel ensuring favourable terms and risk mitigation; Provide support to Facilities, Construction and operations teams with lease interpretations and liaising with Landlord’s Property Management teams for successful resolutions of issues
• Site Acquisition Strategy : Identify opportunities to optimise and implement processes to improve time and cost efficiency of the real estate process
• Vendor & Project Coordination : Collaborate with construction, design, and operations teams to execute capital projects and ensure restaurants are opened on time
• Stakeholder Relations : Network, consult and manage both internal Soul Foods Group stakeholders and external parties including KFC, Starbucks, Taco Bell and Burger King franchisor representatives. Building relationships, providing insight into our development growth plans
• Financial Oversight : Support development of Annual Operating Plans, assist with creation of financial proformas for all Capital projects, tracking financial obligations, reconcile accounts and analyze market trends to optimize financial returns.

POSITION IMPACT:

• Directly impact the value and growth plans of the Soul Foods Group businesses by meeting annual Development commitments in line with Soul Foods Group annual operating plans. Facilitate strong processes to ensure flow of communication between all external and internal stakeholders to ensure projects are delivered on time and on budget and the real estate portfolio is managed effectively

Working Relationships: List positions or external contacts with whom this position interacts regularly.

• Development Functional Team
• Finance, Operations and key Functional Teams
• External partners (landlord, property managers) and vendors as required
• Restaurant and Cafe Employees
• Franchisor Development and Design teams

Specialised or Technical Knowledge/Skills

Education

• College Diploma or University-level education with a specialization in real estate, legal, construction or urban planning

Experience

• Minimum 5 years of development experience within a national multi-site organization with geographically dispersed operations
• Overall familiarity and working experience with all phases of the real estate development process, including site acquisitions, design development, leasing, construction, and property/asset management
• Strong attention to detail
• Highly effective communication and negotiation skills
• Proficiency in PowerPoint and Excel with ability to put together presentations that describe the real estate project, create and organize charts/economic proformas
• Flexibility to travel and hold a valid Driver’s License
• Data oriented with a proven ability to analyze, interpret and synthesize data to make recommendations to drive the business
• Ability to coach and develop direct reports
• Established/strong relationships within the landlord community