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 1 direct report.
Scope of Responsibilities
· Consumer Insights Leadership
o Lead the end‑to‑end insights agenda for menu strategy, culinary innovation, and new product development.
o Translate complex consumer, category, and competitive insights into clear, actionable recommendations for cross‑functional partners.
o Build and manage a learning roadmap that integrates qualitative, quantitative, syndicated, and behavioral data sources.
· Menu & Innovation Strategy
o Oversee and conduct concept testing and sensory testing and ensuring methodologies translate into higher sales and traffic.
o Partner closely with Culinary and Marketing to shape the long‑term menu vision and innovation pipeline.
o Identify whitespace opportunities, emerging food trends, and unmet guest needs to fuel future product concepts.
o Evaluate menu performance and guest satisfaction to inform optimization, renovation, and rationalization decisions.
· Cross‑Functional Collaboration
o Work hand‑in‑hand with culinary to translate insights into product briefs, prototypes, and optimizing products.
o Present insights and strategic recommendations to culinary and marketing leadership with clarity and influence.
· Research Excellence & Methodology
o Most of our testing is conducted in‑house, requiring you and your team member to be fully capable of executing the work themselves and collaborating effectively throughout the process.
o Design and oversee custom research using a mix of qualitative and quantitative.
o Leverage advanced analytics, segmentation, and need‑state frameworks to deepen understanding of guest motivations.
o Manage external research partners, ensuring high‑quality deliverables and efficient use of budget.
Qualifications
· Experience & Expertise
o 4 to 7+ years of consumer insights, focusing on menu/product development and innovation, sensory—ideally within the restaurant industry.
o Proven track record of influencing product development and innovation decisions.
o Have managed direct reports.
o Strong understanding of culinary trends, guest behavior, and the restaurant competitive landscape.
o Experience leading complex research programs and synthesizing insights into strategic direction.
· Skills & Competencies
o Comfort working in a very fast‑paced, iterative environment.
o Exceptional storytelling and communication skills.
o Ability to translate data into compelling narratives and business recommendations.
o Strong cross‑functional leadership and relationship‑building abilities.
o Analytical rigor paired with creative, guest‑centric thinking.
· Performance & Success Measures
o A menu rooted in deep guest understanding that translates into improved performance.
o A robust innovation pipeline aligned with RISE strategy.
o Clear, influential insights that shape decisions across culinary and marketing
Competitive Pay $155,477 to $177,243 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.
Newton Support CenterSkills Required
- 4 to 7+ years of consumer insights experience focused on menu or product development and innovation
- Experience ideally within the restaurant industry
- Proven track record influencing product development and innovation decisions
- Experience managing 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
- 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
What We Do
Panera began in 1987 as St. Louis Bread Company, a humble community bakery founded with a sourdough starter from San Francisco and a dream of putting a loaf of bread in every arm. While our business has expanded well beyond St. Louis since then, that same sourdough starter is still used in our iconic sourdough bread and the craft of baking bread fresh each day remains at the heart of Panera Bread. Each day, our trained bakers fill our bakery shelves with delicious freshly baked cookies, pastries, bagels, and a range of breads from focaccia to classic baguettes. We believe in serving delicious, freshly prepared, clean food made with carefully selected ingredients that we are proud to serve our own families. Our menu, crafted by chefs and bakers, features classic, comforting dishes, each with an intriguing twist. We respect our planet and take measures to lessen our impacts. We believe in treating people with warmth, kindness, and respect, whether it’s a guest in our cafe or one of our associates. And we believe in helping our local communities, especially in times of need. We’re also focused on improving quality and convenience. With investments in technology and operations, we offer omni-channel access to your Panera favorites – like mobile ordering, catering, and Rapid Pick-Up® for to-go orders, Curbside pick-up and delivery – all designed to make things easier for our guests. Today, Panera operates as both Panera Bread® or Saint Louis Bread Co St. Louis Bread Company in 48 states, the District of Columbia and Canada. Panera Bread is privately held by JAB Holding Company. Panera Bread is part of Panera Brands, one of the largest fast-casual restaurant platforms in the U.S., comprised of Panera Bread®, Caribou Coffee® and Einstein Bros.® Bagels.
