Business Development Manager

The Site Acquisition role will be responsible for identifying, evaluating, negotiating, and securing new café locations in line with the company's expansion strategy. The role requires strong market knowledge, relationship management skills, commercial acumen, and the ability to work cross-functionally with legal, projects, finance, and operations teams.

Key Responsibilities

Site Identification & Market Mapping

• Identify potential retail spaces for new café openings.
• Conduct market surveys to evaluate catchment potential, competition, demographics, and customer footfall.
• Build and maintain a strong pipeline of prospective sites.
• Track upcoming commercial developments, malls, high streets, business parks, airports, and mixed-use projects.

Site Evaluation

• Assess locations based on:
• Footfall and visibility
• Accessibility and parking
• Target customer demographics
• Rental viability
• Competition mapping
• Sales potential
• Prepare feasibility reports and business cases for management approval.

Lease Negotiation

• Lead commercial negotiations with landlords, developers, and property consultants.
• Negotiate rentals, security deposits, lock-in periods, escalation clauses, CAM charges, and other commercial terms.
• Ensure commercially viable lease agreements aligned with company policies.

Stakeholder Management

• Develop relationships with:
• Property owners
• Mall management teams
• Real estate consultants
• Developers
• Brokers
• Coordinate with internal teams including Legal, Projects, Finance, Operations, and Design for timely execution.

Expansion Planning

• Support annual and quarterly expansion plans.
• Monitor market trends, rental benchmarks, and competitor expansion activities.
• Provide regular MIS reports on pipeline status and project progress.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Real Estate, Commerce, or a related field.
• MBA is preferred.

Experience

• 4-8 years of experience in Site Acquisition, Retail Expansion, Business Development, or Real Estate.
• Experience in QSR, Retail, Food & Beverage, Hospitality, or FMCG is preferred.
• Proven track record of successfully closing retail lease transactions.

Preferred Experience

• Exposure to high street retail, malls, and commercial real estate.
• Existing network with landlords, IPCs, brokers, and developers.
• Understanding of legal documentation related to commercial leasing.