Marketing Director

Great biscuits sell themselves, up to a point. We're looking for a Marketing Director to handle the rest.

The Role

Biscuit Belly is growing quickly through new store openings and conversions of Maple Street Biscuit Company locations. Your first six months are hands-on: learn both brands from the inside and lead marketing for our conversions and openings. Over your first year, you'll learn our brand messaging, study our guests and competitors, and build the strategy for how Biscuit Belly wins its next stage of growth.

This is two jobs in one. You'll set the strategy, and you'll do the work. Some days that means building next year's plan and budget. Other days it means writing the email, shooting content on your phone, or handing out biscuits at a grand opening. Today, marketing is a team of three – you and two others. You'll work closely with our operators, who know their guests better than anyone.

Our budget is small. We don't outspend anyone, so we have to out-think them. If your best work has needed big media buys and a full agency roster, this probably isn't the job for you. If you'd rather figure out how to pack a new restaurant with a school partnership, a local creator, and a good story for the local news, we should talk.

You'll report to our co-founder and have a seat at the table with our leadership team. We'll expect you to know what marketing does to traffic, sales, and restaurant profit, and to back up your calls with numbers. You'll own marketing decisions for Biscuit Belly, and the role grows as we do.

What You'll Do

Conversions & Openings

Your first six months will be busy. We're converting Maple Street restaurants into Biscuit Belly stores and opening in new markets. Each one needs a crowd on opening day and regulars who are still showing up a year later.

• Lead marketing for every conversion and new opening, from pre-opening buzz and grand openings through the first year, and help regulars at converting restaurants make the switch
• Get every new location live and correct on Google, Yelp, Apple Maps, social, and our website, with pre-opening paid social running before the doors open
• Lead franchise openings through opening day, including ad account setup, then stay on as a trusted resource for franchise partners
• Build and own the opening playbook so each one runs more smoothly than the last

Brand Strategy & Guest Insight

Once you know us from the inside, the brand strategy is yours.

• Spend time in our restaurants and with our guests before recommending changes, and stay close to competitors and breakfast and brunch trends so we change course when the market does
• Audit our current messaging, marketing processes, and tools, and recommend what to keep, fix, or retire
• Build a multi-year marketing strategy: who our core guests are, how we position against other breakfast and brunch brands, how we win in new markets, and what job each channel does
• Protect and evolve the voice, positioning, and look of Biscuit Belly, keep Maple Street consistent while its restaurants convert, and own the brand book, brand standards, and approval process
• Keep every guest touchpoint on-brand and accurate, from our websites and online ordering to menu boards, signage, merch, and uniforms
• Set the voice and calendar for brand social, and work with our PR agency on openings, conversions, and brand news
• Partner with Franchise Development on marketing that helps us find and sign new franchise partners

Plan, Budget & Traffic

We want marketing that pays for itself, the numbers to prove it, and time set aside to plan instead of only executing.

• Build the annual marketing plan and budget across every channel (digital, social, email, PR, local, and out-of-home), tied to company goals and the LTO and opening calendars, and keep our marketing tech simple and connected
• Build and own one marketing scorecard that tracks traffic, check average, campaign results, and loyalty activity
• Know how LTOs, discounts, and promos hit food cost, check average, and restaurant margin, and build the business case before big spends: expected traffic, sales, and margin impact, then what actually happened
• Own the LTO calendar with Operations, from planning through a review of what each one delivered
• Grow guest counts and check average through the channels we own (loyalty, email, our app, social), paid media on Meta, Google, and Yelp, third-party delivery, and local marketing
• Win without a big media budget: build partnerships with local creators, influencers, schools, and community groups, and use events, sampling, and earned media to get people talking
• Equip company and franchise operators with local marketing guides and clear local marketing standards, and move quickly when a market shifts
• Test ideas in a few restaurants before rolling them out, and report monthly on what marketing spend delivered in traffic, sales, and profit
• Make loyalty our data engine: bring Punchh loyalty, POS, online ordering, and email data together, and use it for guest segments, win-back campaigns, and smarter offers and LTOs

Team & Partners

You'll lead a small team and work as part of it. No layers, no big agency roster: you'll coach, set direction, and do the work alongside your team.

• Lead and coach a team of two: one focused on social media and LTOs, one on loyalty and creative
• Make sure the team is learning, growing, and hitting clear milestones, with set goals, scorecards, and regular 1:1s
• Look ahead at what the team needs next and grow people from within when we can
• Jump in on the work itself: write the email, build the promo, brief the photographer, post the content, and work the grand opening
• Manage our vendor partners (PR, print and signage, freelance creative): in-house and freelance first, agencies only where they clearly pay off, and every partner held to measurable results
• Partner with Operations, Training, and P&C on openings, menu launches, and employer branding

What You Bring

• 6–8 years of marketing experience, including leading people or agency partners
• A real understanding of restaurants and restaurant guests
• A track record of both setting a marketing strategy and personally executing it with a small team
• A brand refresh or repositioning you led or helped lead, with results you can point to
• Experience supporting remote, multi-state operators, franchise partners, or field teams, and moving quickly when their markets need it
• Comfort turning sales and campaign data into decisions
• Real financial acumen: you've built and managed a marketing budget, can read a restaurant P&L, and can show the return on what you spent
• Proof you've driven results on a lean budget with creative, non-traditional tactics

++Bonus points for franchise marketing, multi-brand or acquisition experience, new restaurant opening or conversion marketing, and loyalty, CRM, app, or delivery experience.

How You'll Lead Through Our Values

Boldly Authentic

You back big ideas with real insight, and you'd rather be real than trendy.

Relentless Hospitality

You're generous with our guests. You give people a reason to walk in the door, then make sure the experience inside is worth coming back for.

Chase Big. Keep It Fun.

You grow a brand on a lean budget and bring some mischief to it.

The Details

• Base salary: $95,000–$135,000, based on experience
• Benefits including health insurance, voluntary vision & dental, and voluntary short-term and long-term disability
• Starting with 20 days of PTO
• Based in or within driving distance of Louisville, KY, with travel about 20% of the time
• Hybrid on-site + remote available

Biscuit Belly is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other status protected by law. Reasonable accommodations are available to qualified applicants with disabilities throughout the hiring process. Contact P&C to request one.