Procurement Manager

Location: Cypress, CA (Hybrid – 50% Remote / 50% Onsite)

Reports To: Vice President, Finance

Status: Full-Time, Exempt

WKS Restaurant Company is seeking a results-driven Procurement Manager to lead enterprise-wide cost control and cost containment by overseeing the sourcing, purchasing strategy, and vendor performance. This role will build and run a standardized procurement discipline across both restaurant operations and the support center—ensuring spend is intentional, competitively sourced, contractually controlled, and continuously optimized.

This position is responsible for connecting analysis → discovery → remediation: using financial and operational data to identify cost drivers and leakage, uncover root causes (process, specification, usage, vendor performance), and implement durable solutions (contracting, standardization, compliance, and field enablement). The Procurement Manager will partner closely with Finance, Operations, Facilities, IT, HR, and Legal/Risk stakeholders.

• Own procurement governance and strategy for company-wide spend that is not franchisor-mandated, spanning all applicable categories across restaurants and the support center.
• Build and execute category strategies and sourcing roadmaps to deliver measurable cost reductions, improved service levels, and reduced risk.
• Lead competitive sourcing activities (RFP/RFQ), bid comparisons, should-cost modeling, and negotiation planning to ensure disciplined vendor selection.
• Develop and maintain contract-aligned standards (specifications, approved vendor lists, buying guides) to minimize “maverick spend” and price variability.
• Drive cost containment initiatives across key spend drivers including:
• Energy and utility management (rates, usage, audits)
• Vehicle maintenance/fleet-related services and programs
• Operating supplies, services, and support-center needs (office services, managed services, equipment/service contracts)
• Establish supplier performance expectations and accountability mechanisms (KPIs, scorecards, QBRs, issue escalation, corrective action plans).

• Build a standardized approach to savings identification, validation, and tracking.
• Create recurring executive-ready reporting dashboards and summaries that clearly communicate:
• Spend by category/vendor/location/brand concept
• Price variance, consumption variance, compliance rates, and contract leakage
• Savings pipeline (identified, in-flight, realized) with timing and risk to capture
• Lead deep-dive analyses that connect data to action—translating findings into specific remediation plans (vendor changes, process controls, spec changes, training).
• Partner with Finance to align procurement outcomes to budgets, forecasts, and month-end variance explanations where procurement levers are drivers.
• Support total cost of ownership (TCO) modeling for major purchases/services, ensuring decisions incorporate lifecycle costs and operational impacts.

• Lead the evaluation and selection of procurement systems and tools (e.g., vendor onboarding, contract repository, P2P workflow, spend analytics), in partnership with Finance and IT.
• Establish scalable supplier onboarding and documentation processes (W-9, insurance/COI, compliance requirements, service scopes, pricing exhibits).
• Implement policies and training to drive adoption in the field and support center (how to buy, when to bid, how to request new vendors, compliance expectations).

• 5+ years of progressive experience in procurement or finance related functions.
• Experience in restaurant or hospitality sector strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated track record of delivering measurable, validated cost savings and cost avoidance through competitive sourcing, negotiation, standardization, and compliance.
• Strong financial and analytical skillset (budgeting/forecasting literacy; variance analysis; TCO; ability to build business cases that connect analysis, discovery, and remediation).
• Proven ability to build or scale…