Our Purpose is to change the way the world eats and to deliver on that purpose Our Goal is to be a great place to work where you can learn, grow, and develop both personally and professionally.
Marketing Intern – Research & Insights
Job Description
Department: Marketing
Reports To: Chief Marketing Officer
Location: Remote position
Classification: Non-Exempt
Position Summary:
Urban Plates is seeking to better understand the factors impacting both employee satisfaction and customer experience as part of its effort to maintain brand consistency and scale sustainably. As the company expands, it faces business challenges related to efficiency, workforce engagement, and evolving consumer expectations around health, transparency, and a shifting dining landscape. From an internal perspective, Urban Plates is looking to gather employee insights to address concerns around workplace culture, communication, and alignment with the company’s mission of clean, high-integrity food. On the consumer side, the brand aims to capture feedback on service quality, menu preferences, and overall dining satisfaction to ensure it remains competitive in the fast-casual restaurant space. Urban Plates hopes to identify actionable improvements that support their above-average retention rates, loyalty, and consistent execution across all locations.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
For this project, the intern will utilize mixed methods research; a combination of both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies. Two primarily quantitative driven surveys will be administered. Qualitative questions will round out the surveys to give a comprehensive understanding of respondent’s feedback. Additional research methods may be adopted if the collected data deems it necessary.
Phase 1: Climate Survey
- SurveyMonkey (through Urban Plates team access) will be used to program the survey. The survey will be administered to the staff of all 22 Urban Plates locations, and will be available in English and Spanish. The survey will be open over the course of 3 weeks to allow staff ample time to respond and to ensure a high response rate (~99%).
Phase 2: Brand Survey
- SurveyMonkey (through Urban Plates team access) will be used to program the survey. Existing Urban Plates email program participants will receive a link to the survey to complete in exchange for an Urban Plates voucher valued up to $15. Survey will remain open for one week. However, it is anticipated that a majority of the sample is to respond within the first 72 hours of administration.
Phase 3: Implications for Urban Plates
- Actionable insights and recommendations, per the deliverables, will be provided based on the findings of the climate survey and brand survey research.
May perform similar and incidental duties as required.
Job QualificationsEducation: Graduate-level college degree in Research, Data Analytics, or Applied Psychology preferred
Experience: 1-2 years of work experience in a research role, plus 1-2 years of food service or hospitality industry experience preferred.
Knowledge: Proficient with Google Suite and/or Microsoft Office software. Survey Monkey and SPSS or a comparable statistical software. Must be familiar with the Urban Plates brand and have first-hand experience with the restaurant, menu, and food.
Language Skills: Excellent oral, written and communication skills required.
Other Skills: Excellent creative writing, understands strategy, time management, organization, and attention to detail. Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to work collaboratively with others.
Other Abilities: Ability to work well under time constraints and prioritize work in order to meet commitments/deadlines. Ability to study the offerings and benefits of other companies, compile data, and compare/contrast differences between offerings. Ability to demonstrate a high level of self-motivation and drive. Ability to handle multiple priorities.
Physical DemandsRequires sitting for extended periods. Requires time in front of a computer screen for extended periods of time. Requires speaking on the telephone. Occasional lifting of equipment that may weigh up to 20 lbs.
Urban Plates LLC is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
Skills Required
- Graduate-level college degree in Research, Data Analytics, or Applied Psychology
- 1-2 years of work experience in a research role
- 1-2 years of food service or hospitality industry experience
- Proficiency with Google Suite and/or Microsoft Office
- Experience with SurveyMonkey
- Experience with SPSS or comparable statistical software
- Familiarity with the Urban Plates brand, restaurant, menu, and food
- Excellent oral, written, and communication skills
- Creative writing, strategic thinking, time management, organization, and attention to detail
- Strong interpersonal and collaborative skills
- Ability to prioritize work, meet deadlines, manage multiple priorities, and work independently
What We Do
Urban Plates is a chef-driven fast-casual restaurant chain focused on making craveable, wholesome, and clean food accessible. It prepares scratch-made plates, salads, sandwiches, and bowls, using locally, sustainably, and ethically sourced ingredients. Customers can dine in, order meals to go, or use delivery and catering services. The company began with a single Del Mar, California restaurant and serves health-conscious meals.
