Senior Manager, Culinary Insights

Position Overview

The Menu & Innovation Consumer Insights Senior Manager is a strategic leader responsible for shaping the future of the brand’s food and beverage portfolio through deep consumer understanding. This role blends research expertise, culinary curiosity, and business acumen to guide menu strategy, innovation pipelines, and long-term growth opportunities. The Senior Manager ensures that guest needs, behaviors, and emerging trends directly inform product development and brand experience decisions. This position will have 2 direct reports. This role is required to be in the Greater Boston Area, with an expectation to be in Panera’s Newton office 3 days per week.

Scope of Responsibilities

• Consumer Insights Leadership
  • Lead the end‑to‑end insights agenda for menu strategy, culinary innovation, and new product development.
  • Translate complex consumer, category, and competitive insights into clear, actionable recommendations for cross‑functional partners.
  • Build and manage a learning roadmap that integrates qualitative, quantitative, syndicated, and behavioral data sources.
• Menu & Innovation Strategy
  • Oversee concept testing and sensory testing and ensuring methodologies translate into higher sales and traffic.
  • Partner closely with Culinary and Marketing to shape the long‑term menu vision and innovation pipeline.
  • Identify whitespace opportunities, emerging food trends, and unmet guest needs to fuel future product concepts.
  • Evaluate menu performance and guest satisfaction to inform optimization, renovation, and rationalization decisions.
• Cross‑Functional Collaboration
  • Work hand‑in‑hand with culinary to translate insights into product briefs, prototypes, and optimizing products.
  • Present insights and strategic recommendations to culinary and marketing leadership with clarity and influence.
• Research Excellence & Methodology
  • Most of our testing is conducted in‑house, requiring team members to be fully capable of executing the work themselves and collaborating effectively throughout the process.
  • Design and oversee custom research using a mix of qualitative and quantitative.
  • Leverage advanced analytics, segmentation, and need‑state frameworks to deepen understanding of guest motivations.
  • Manage external research partners, ensuring high‑quality deliverables and efficient use of budget.

Qualifications

• Experience & Expertise
  • 4 to 7+ years of consumer insights, focusing on menu/product development and innovation—ideally within the restaurant industry.
  • Proven track record of influencing product development and innovation decisions.
  • Have managed direct reports.
  • Strong understanding of culinary trends, guest behavior, and the restaurant competitive landscape.
  • Experience leading complex research programs and synthesizing insights into strategic direction.
• Skills & Competencies
  • Comfort working in a very fast‑paced, iterative environment.
  • Exceptional storytelling and communication skills.
  • Ability to translate data into compelling narratives and business recommendations.
  • Strong cross‑functional leadership and relationship‑building abilities.
  • Analytical rigor paired with creative, guest‑centric thinking.
• Performance & Success Measures
  • A menu rooted in deep guest understanding that translates into improved performance.
  • A robust innovation pipeline aligned with RISE strategy.
  • Clear, influential insights that shape decisions across culinary and marketing

Competitive Pay: $136,383 - $163,660 annually

The actual pay offered will be determined by multiple factors, including but not limited to the candidate’s relevant experience, job-related knowledge, skills, and geographical location. Individual compensation decisions are dependent upon the facts and circumstances of each position and candidate.