Building the Executive “Dream Team” for 2026: How Restaurant and Franchise Leaders Should Think About Talent

As restaurant and franchising organizations turn the page toward 2026, executive leadership teams face a familiar but increasingly complex question: Do we have the right team in place to achieve our goals?

In past cycles, leadership planning often revolved around filling functional gaps or reacting to immediate challenges—growth, margin pressure, labor availability, or technology adoption. Today, the stakes are higher. The pace of change in the restaurant industry has accelerated, and competitive advantage is increasingly driven not just by brand or concept, but by the quality, alignment, and adaptability of the leadership team itself.

Building a “dream team” for 2026 is not about assembling a collection of impressive resumes. It is about intentionally designing a leadership structure that aligns with strategic priorities, supports scale, and can lead through ongoing disruption. That requires clarity, discipline, and a willingness to rethink traditional assumptions about roles, capabilities, and leadership profiles.

Start With Strategy, Not Org Charts

The most common mistake executive teams make when evaluating talent is starting with the current organizational chart and asking, “Who do we need to add?” A more effective approach begins one step earlier: What are our 2026 objectives, and what capabilities are required to achieve them?

For restaurant and franchising companies, those objectives often fall into several buckets:

• Unit growth (corporate, franchise, or both)

• Same-store sales and margin improvement

• Franchisee health and engagement

• Digital and off-premise optimization

• Brand differentiation and relevance

• Leadership bench strength and succession planning

Each of these goals places different demands on leadership. A brand focused on aggressive franchising expansion may need deeper experience in franchise sales, development, and support infrastructure. A company prioritizing profitability may need stronger financial leadership or operational discipline. Without clarity on strategy, talent decisions risk being reactive rather than intentional.

Reassess the Definition of “Experience”

Historically, restaurant companies often favored leaders who had “been there before”—operators who had grown large systems or executives who had held similar titles at bigger brands. While experience remains valuable, the nature of relevant experience is changing.

In 2026, executive teams should look beyond brand size and title and focus on:

• Transferable problem-solving experience

• Ability to scale systems, not just operate within them

• Comfort leading through ambiguity and change

• Experience managing complexity across franchise and corporate stakeholders

A leader who successfully scaled a 50-unit concept to 200 units may be better suited for your organization than one who spent years in a narrow role at a 3,000-unit brand. The emphasis should be on impact, adaptability, and leadership judgment, not just pedigree.

Balance Operators and Strategists

Restaurant leadership teams have traditionally leaned heavily toward operations-first profiles—and for good reason. Execution still matters. But as brands become more complex, the most effective executive teams are those that balance strong operators with forward-thinking strategists.

Operations leaders must still deliver consistency, food quality, and guest experience. At the same time, strategy-oriented leaders help organizations anticipate market shifts, rethink unit economics, and challenge legacy thinking. The goal is not to replace operators, but to ensure that strategic thinking is embedded at the executive table, not outsourced or deferred.

This balance is especially critical in franchised systems, where leadership decisions must align brand standards with franchisee economics and long-term system health.

Elevate the Role of People Leadership

One of the most significant shifts in executive team composition is the rising importance of people leadership. Talent shortages, generational workforce shifts, and heightened expectations around culture and development have made human capital a strategic priority.

In 2026, high-performing restaurant organizations will treat people leadership as more than an HR function. Whether through a Chief People Officer or a reimagined HR leadership role, executive teams should ensure that:

• Leadership development is intentional and measurable

• Succession planning is active, not theoretical

• Culture is clearly defined and consistently reinforced

• Front-line leadership pipelines are strong and sustainable

Organizations that fail to prioritize people leadership risk higher turnover, weaker bench strength, and inconsistent execution—issues that directly impact growth and profitability.

Build Financial Leadership for a Volatile Environment

Margin pressure is not new to the restaurant industry, but the degree of volatility has increased. Labor costs, food inflation, development expenses, and capital markets uncertainty all demand stronger, more strategic financial leadership.

The CFO role in 2026 is no longer limited to reporting and compliance. Today’s financial leaders must:

• Partner closely with operations and development

• Evaluate unit economics and ROI with rigor

• Support franchisee financial health

• Help leadership teams make data-driven decisions under uncertainty

In many organizations, upgrading financial leadership is one of the highest-impact moves an executive team can make.

Rethink Marketing and Brand Leadership

Consumer behavior continues to evolve rapidly, and restaurant brands must keep pace. Executive teams should critically assess whether their marketing leadership is equipped for the realities of 2026.

Modern restaurant marketing leadership requires:

• Deep understanding of digital, loyalty, and CRM

• Ability to translate data into actionable insights

• Alignment between brand storytelling and operational execution

• Close collaboration with operations and franchisees

The days of siloed marketing departments are over. The most effective marketing leaders are integrators who connect brand, technology, and guest experience.

Strengthen Franchise Leadership and Governance

For franchised systems, leadership effectiveness is inseparable from franchisee success. Executive teams should ensure they have the right leaders overseeing franchise relations, support, and compliance.

Key considerations include:

• Do we have leaders who can build trust while enforcing standards?

• Is franchisee feedback actively informing strategy?

• Are incentives aligned between franchisor and franchisee?

Strong franchise leadership reduces conflict, improves system performance, and creates a healthier long-term growth environment.

Prioritize Team Chemistry and Alignment

Even the most impressive individual executives can underperform if the team lacks alignment. As leadership teams are built or refreshed, it is critical to evaluate how leaders work together, not just how they perform individually.

Questions to consider:

• Do executives share a common vision and values?

• Is there clarity around decision rights and accountability?

• Are disagreements productive or political?

• Does the CEO or Managing Partner foster open dialogue and trust?

The most effective executive teams operate as true teams, not collections of functional leaders competing for influence.

Invest in Succession and Bench Strength

Building a dream team is not a one-time event. Executive leadership teams must think beyond immediate needs and plan for continuity. Succession planning should extend beyond the CEO to include critical functional roles.

Organizations that invest in leadership development and internal pipelines are better positioned to navigate unexpected transitions and sustain momentum.

Be Proactive, Not Reactive

Perhaps the most important mindset shift for 2026 is moving from reactive hiring to proactive leadership design. Waiting for a resignation or performance issue often forces rushed decisions and compromises.

The strongest leadership teams are built thoughtfully, over time, with a clear understanding of where the organization is headed and what kind of leaders will be needed to get there.

In an increasingly competitive and complex restaurant and franchising landscape, talent is the ultimate differentiator. Building a true executive “dream team” for 2026 requires more than filling seats—it demands strategic clarity, honest self-assessment, and a commitment to long-term leadership excellence.

Executive teams that take the time now to thoughtfully evaluate their leadership structure, capabilities, and alignment will be best positioned not only to achieve their 2026 goals, but to build organizations that thrive well beyond them.

A Partner in Building Your 2026 Leadership Team

Building an executive “dream team” is one of the most important—and most consequential—decisions a leadership team will make. It requires more than filling roles; it demands a clear understanding of where your organization is headed and the leadership capabilities required to get there.

At Wray Executive Search, we partner with restaurant and franchising organizations to thoughtfully design and build leadership teams aligned with their growth strategies, culture, and long-term objectives. With deep industry expertise and a highly consultative approach, we help clients identify, assess, and secure executives who can lead through complexity, drive performance, and scale with confidence.

As you evaluate your leadership team heading into 2026, we welcome the opportunity to serve as a strategic sounding board—whether you are planning for growth, succession, or simply ensuring you have the right leaders in the right roles.

Connect with Wray Executive Search to begin a thoughtful conversation about building the leadership team your organization needs to succeed in 2026 and beyond.