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RANGE

Fractional Leadership

The ceiling most groups hit isn’t a strategy problem. It’s that the operation still runs through one person. This is the senior seat that takes it off them: accountable for the result, and built from day one to be handed back.

A fractional COO is a senior operator who takes real operating responsibility for a restaurant group — embedded in the business, accountable for results — without committing to a permanent executive seat before you’re ready for one. It’s the right structure when the founder can no longer be the operating system. The business has outgrown one person’s attention but doesn’t yet need a full-time chief operating officer on the payroll.

RANGE takes operating responsibility: setting the cadence, owning the priorities, holding the team accountable, and building the systems that let the business run without depending on any one person. Including, eventually, us.

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When a fractional COO is the right call

The need usually shows up at a recognizable moment:

  • The founder is the bottleneck. Every decision still routes through one person, and growth is capped by their bandwidth.
  • You’re between executives. A key operator left, and the seat needs to be held with real authority while you find the right permanent hire.
  • You’re scaling. New units are coming and the operation needs senior leadership to build the infrastructure before, not after, the doors open.
  • Ownership is changing — a transition, a recapitalization, a founder stepping back — and the business needs stability through it.
  • You need the capability before the seat. A full-time COO is premature, but running without operating leadership is more expensive than it looks.

The Record

Outcomes from two decades inside multi-unit restaurant operations. Owned from the operating seat, not advised from outside.

22%

Store-level EBITDA margins held through an inflationary stretch

−200 bps

Labor as a share of sales, against the prior staffing model

Selected Outcomes →

What an embedded operating partner actually does

A fractional engagement is defined by accountability, not hours. Depending on what the business needs, that includes:

  • Setting the operating rhythm: the meetings, metrics, and accountability structure leadership runs on.
  • Owning the highest-leverage priorities and sequencing them in an order the operation can absorb.
  • Building the systems (labor, cost, training, communication) that hold after the engagement ends.
  • Developing the management layer so the business depends less on any single person.
  • Standing in the operator’s seat with vendors, landlords, and the team when it matters.

In practice, that means a weekly operating cadence the business can set its watch by. A Monday flash-P&L read, a labor-versus-forecast check, one-on-ones with every GM. It also means decision rights defined explicitly in the scope: where we decide, where we recommend, and where the call stays with ownership. Written down before the work starts, not discovered in a disagreement.

That seat has a record. Jon Peck held exactly this cadence as Chief Operating Officer of Vandelay Hospitality Group while a founder-led group went from $17M to $75M in three years. The growth held because the operation was run by someone accountable for it, not advised from a distance. The record is on Selected Outcomes.

Who holds the seat

RANGE was founded by Jon Peck. Twenty years running multi-unit restaurants before he started advising them: General Manager, Regional Director, Vice President of Operations, and twice Chief Operating Officer, across full-service, fast-casual, and high-volume restaurants.

Chief Operating Officer of FB Society, running four of its concepts; before that Chief Operating Officer of Vandelay Hospitality Group, where a founder-led business became a multi-brand platform: twelve openings across six concepts. The seat described above is one he has actually sat in.

That matters more here than in most work you buy. You are not assigned a consultant off a bench, and the person in your operating meetings is the same one whose record brought you to this page.

COO, VP of Operations, or Director: the seat scales to your stage

The title matters less than the altitude the business actually needs. The same embedded, accountable engagement can sit at different heights, and the right one depends on where your group is, not on a flattering org chart. Part of the work early is telling you honestly which seat the business needs.

We set it to the scope in front of us:

  • Fractional COO, when the whole operating model needs an owner: the full P&L, the leadership layer, the systems, and the priorities that cut across every function. Usually the right call for larger groups, or when the founder is stepping back from running day-to-day operations.
  • Fractional VP of Operations, when the units need senior field leadership: GM development, brand and service standards, the labor model, and cost discipline held consistent across locations. Often the fit for founder-led groups where the founder still owns the business but can no longer be the one holding every shift to standard.
  • Director of Operations, when a single region or a tighter set of units needs an experienced operator to drive execution and support the GMs against an existing system.

Fractional vs. full-time: the honest version

A full-time COO makes sense when the business is large and complex enough to keep one fully occupied, and when you’ve found the right person. Until then, a full-time hire is an expensive bet made under pressure. The wrong one sets you back a year.

A fractional COO gives you senior operating judgment now, scaled to what the business actually requires, with a defined scope and a clear endpoint. Done right, part of the work is building toward the day the seat should be filled full-time, and leaving you ready to hire well instead of desperately.

How the engagement is structured

The seat is one decision; how deep you go is another. Engagements run along a spectrum, and we scope to what the business actually needs, from a defined project to running the operation outright:

  • A scoped engagement: a defined outcome with a clear endpoint, when there is a specific problem to solve or a stretch to get through.
  • The Embedded Advisory Retainer: a continuous operating partner on a steady cadence, for groups that want senior operating leadership in the business month over month without carrying the full-time seat. It buys ongoing access to senior operating judgment, not a count of visits or deliverables, and it is scoped to what the business actually needs.
  • A full operating agreement: when you want us accountable for running the operation, not just advising it. Structured as a fee or a share of sales, scoped to the engagement, with the depth of commitment a hand on the P&L requires.

The seat is one decision, the depth another — and geography is neither. RANGE is based in Dallas–Fort Worth and embeds wherever the group operates. We hold the same street-level market read for groups in Atlanta, Charlotte, and Salt Lake City as we do at home in Texas.

How it starts, and how it ends

It starts small, on purpose. A first conversation about what the business needs. The Operator Diagnostic™: structured questions about how the operation actually runs, with the Straight Read back within 48 hours. Then a paid, scoped discovery week inside the business, credited toward the engagement if you move forward. Only then is the seat decision made, with both sides knowing exactly what the work is.

And the seat is designed to be left. The handoff is concrete: the operating playbook, the cadence installed and running without us, and the successor — identified on your bench or hired well, because the role is now defined by a working system instead of a job description written under pressure. Engaged, not retained.

If what you need is a system installed rather than a seat filled, the Foundations tier is the smaller, fixed-scope way to start: a labor and scheduling model, a food-cost program, or an opening readiness playbook, each priced and time-boxed before it begins.

Common Questions

What is a fractional COO for a restaurant group?

A fractional COO is a senior operating leader who takes real operating responsibility for your business part-time — setting priorities, building systems, and holding the team accountable — without the cost or commitment of a permanent executive. For multi-unit restaurant groups, it’s a way to get experienced operating leadership in the building at the stage when you need the capability but not yet the full-time seat.

Do we need a fractional COO, or a VP or Director of Operations?

It depends on the scope, not the title. A fractional COO owns the whole operating model: the full P&L, the leadership layer, and the priorities across every function. A fractional VP of Operations owns multi-unit field execution: GM development, standards, the labor model, and cost discipline held consistent across locations. A Director of Operations runs execution for a tighter set of units. It’s the same embedded, accountable engagement at a different altitude, and part of our job early is telling you honestly which seat your business actually needs.

How much does a fractional COO cost?

The fee is set by the scope and the value of the outcome, agreed before the engagement starts, never by the hour or the day. A retainer buys ongoing access to senior operating judgment, not a count of visits, and it is scoped to the size and stage of the business. What it replaces is the alternative: a full-time executive salary committed before you know the seat is right, or the cost of running without operating leadership at all. Most engagements start with a defined discovery scope, so the number is on the table before any longer commitment is.

When should we hire a fractional COO instead of a full-time one?

When the business has outgrown the founder’s bandwidth but isn’t yet large enough to keep a full-time COO fully occupied, or when you’re between hires and need the seat held with authority. A fractional engagement gives you the judgment now, scoped to what you actually need, and often builds toward the point where a full-time hire is the right next step.

What does an ongoing retainer with RANGE look like?

The Embedded Advisory Retainer is a continuous relationship rather than a one-off project: a senior operating partner on a steady cadence, in the building for the work that needs it and on call as the priorities shift. You’re buying ongoing access to operating judgment, not a fixed number of visits or a deliverable list. It’s scoped and priced to the access the business needs and the value it creates — agreed before the work begins, never by the hour.

Can RANGE run the operation, not just advise it?

Yes. At the deepest level we take operating responsibility under a management or operating agreement. Accountable for how the operation performs, not just for the recommendations. It’s structured as a fee or a share of sales and scoped to the engagement. Most groups don’t start there; it tends to be the right structure when ownership wants a hand on the P&L through a transition, a scaling push, or a turnaround. Because the fee is tied to how the business performs, we take it on only once the operation is set up to succeed: the right leadership in place, clean third-party financials, and a discovery that surfaces and fixes the obvious problems first.

Do you work on-site, and how does travel work?

Yes. An embedded engagement means being in the operation. For the work that calls for it, we are on the ground with your team. That’s built into how the engagement is scoped, not metered on top of it.

How is a fractional COO different from a consultant?

A consultant advises and hands you a plan. A fractional COO takes operating responsibility. They own the priorities, run the cadence, and are accountable for what changes in the business. The work is judged the same way a permanent operator’s is: by how the operation performs.

Why one embedded operator instead of a firm with a team of specialists?

Because accountability doesn’t divide well. A team that rotates through your business a few days at a time produces plenty of activity, but no single person owns whether the operation actually improves. The work stalls between visits. A fractional COO engagement is operator-led: Jon Peck accountable for the result, embedded on a real cadence and in the building for the work that needs it. The judgment compounds because it is continuous, not a panel you re-brief every quarter. When a specific problem calls for a specialist, we bring one in, but the accountability stays in one seat.

Bring us the problem.

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