The C-Suite Roles Restaurant Brands Will Struggle to Fill in 2026
As restaurant and franchise brands look ahead to 2026, leadership risk is emerging in an unexpected place. While CEOs and COOs often command the spotlight, the most difficult executive roles to fill are increasingly sitting just below—or adjacent to—the traditional C-suite.
For organizations navigating growth, private equity ownership, and franchise expansion, finance and accounting leadership has become the most constrained segment of the executive talent market.
For companies relying on restaurant executive search and franchise executive search, this talent gap is already visible and widening.
Why Finance & Accounting Leadership Is the New Bottleneck
Restaurant brands are operating in one of the most complex financial environments the industry has seen in decades:
Tight margins and cost volatility
Complex multi-entity structures
Franchise royalty and reporting complexity
Private equity reporting standards
Increased audit, compliance, and lender scrutiny
These conditions demand finance leaders with industry-specific experience, not just technical credentials. Unfortunately, that combination is increasingly rare.
The Toughest Restaurant Executive Roles to Fill in 2026
Based on current search activity and market dynamics, these roles are emerging as the most difficult to fill across restaurant and franchise systems.
1. Vice President of Finance (Restaurant & Franchise Brands)
The VP of Finance role is under extraordinary pressure. Positioned between day-to-day financial execution and long-term strategy, this role often absorbs complexity from every direction.
Why it’s hard to fill:
Limited pool with multi-unit restaurant experience
Burnout among mid-level finance leaders
Increased expectations without expanded teams
Demand for PE-ready financial acumen
Many candidates have strong finance backgrounds but lack exposure to restaurant-specific unit economics, franchise models, or rapid expansion environments.
This has made restaurant executive recruiters increasingly cautious, and highly selective, when presenting VP-level finance talent.
2. Vice President of Accounting
Accounting leadership is no longer a back-office function in restaurant organizations. As brands scale, accounting leaders are expected to manage:
Complex revenue recognition
Franchise royalty accounting
Multi-entity consolidations
Audit readiness and compliance
Why this role is stalling searches:
Heavy workloads with limited upward mobility
Competition from non-restaurant industries offering better balance
Shrinking pipeline of leaders with deep operational accounting experience
For both company-owned and franchise models, VP Accounting has become one of the longest-to-fill leadership roles—especially for brands operating across multiple states or ownership structures.
3. Chief Accounting Officer (CAO)
The Chief Accounting Officer role is emerging earlier in a brand’s lifecycle, particularly for private equity–backed restaurant and franchise platforms.
Why CAOs are so difficult to secure:
Extremely narrow talent pool
High technical expectations combined with leadership maturity
Intense regulatory and audit pressure
Limited number of executives with both restaurant and PE exposure
Many organizations attempt to stretch VP-level talent into CAO roles prematurely—often with mixed results.
This is where specialized franchise executive search firms and restaurant-focused search partners provide critical guidance on readiness, structure, and timing.
Why Franchise Brands Feel This Pain First
Franchise systems magnify finance and accounting complexity:
Independent operator reporting inconsistencies
Royalty tracking and compliance
Incentive structures tied to unit performance
Rapid geographic expansion
As a result, franchise brands are often the first to experience finance leadership strain—and the last to find qualified replacements.
Franchise executive search today is less about filling roles quickly and more about identifying leaders who can build scalable financial systems that support long-term growth.
The Risk of Waiting Too Long
Organizations that delay investing in finance and accounting leadership face real consequences:
Slower expansion and onboarding
Increased audit and compliance risk
Poor visibility into unit-level performance
Erosion of investor and lender confidence
In 2026, these risks will separate brands that scale confidently from those forced into reactive leadership decisions.
How Executive Search Mitigates Finance Leadership Risk
In the executive search restaurant industry, finance roles now require:
Deep industry pattern recognition
Judgment under margin pressure
Ability to scale systems, not just teams
Comfort operating between operators, executives, and investors
A specialized restaurant and franchise executive search partner brings:
Access to passive, in-demand candidates
Market calibration on role design and compensation
Objective assessment of readiness and fit
Long-term succession perspective—not just placement
Preparing Now for 2026 Leadership Gaps
The finance and accounting talent shortage is not temporary—it’s structural. Restaurant and franchise brands that plan ahead will have options. Those that wait will face constrained choices, longer searches, and higher risk.
At Wray Executive Search, we specialize in restaurant and franchise executive search, with deep experience placing finance and accounting leaders who can navigate complexity, growth, and investor expectations.
If finance leadership is critical to your 2026 strategy, now is the time to assess readiness—before the market tightens further. Contact us today to get started.
