Foodservice / Franchise · 2024–2026
The procurement and operations business serving one of the world's largest quick-service restaurant brands
Header image: sector-appropriate stock photography — no dedicated photography exists in the vault for this engagement (§5 of the build spec).
The business runs the supply chain and operations for c.4,500 of the restaurant brand's franchisees. Its EMEA operation had acquired the APAC region and needed to bring it into a single, unified business.
The situation
The acquisition meant the business needed one unified team and a new global Target Operating Model by September 2026, spanning finance, HR, legal, procurement, supply chain and technology. The deal structure added a hard constraint: nothing could transfer from the previous owner, no systems, no processes, no data, so everything needed for the integration had to be built new. None of that could come at the cost of the c.4,500 franchisees of the restaurant brand who depend on the business every day for procurement and supply chain services.
The challenge
The integration had to be designed around an unusual constraint: nothing to inherit from the previous owner.
- Nothing could transfer from the previous owner: no systems, no processes, no data to build from.
- A global Target Operating Model needed across every function of the business, front and back office alike.
- Onboarding the APAC team into a new structure without disrupting how it worked day to day.
- Zero tolerance for disruption to the c.4,500 franchisees who depend on the business for procurement and supply chain continuity.
What we did
We split the work into two: get the APAC integration transition done without touching franchisee operations, then design the global operating model the business needed for the long term.
- Designed and executed the integration of the newly acquired APAC region into the business's EMEA operation, built new from the ground up since nothing could transfer from the previous owner.
- Built new data architecture, governance frameworks and reporting structures from scratch to support the integration.
- Sequenced the integration transition specifically to protect franchisee operations throughout.
- Separately, designed the future-state global Target Operating Model, setting governance, decision rights, operating structures and ways of working across EMEA and APAC.
- Built the governance foundation for the Target Operating Model ahead of the engagement ending.
Results
The transition landed clean, and the design work behind the next stage was in place before handover.
- The APAC integration transition completed in August 2025 with zero impact on the c.4,500 franchisees who depend on the business.
- New data architecture, governance and reporting were in place, built entirely from scratch.
- The global Target Operating Model, covering every function from finance and HR to procurement and supply chain, was designed and its governance foundation built.
- The Target Operating Model went live in September 2026, the month after the engagement ended in August; full operation across every function began after handover.
What made the difference
The integration transition and the Target Operating Model design were run as two separate pieces of work. The transition completed in August 2025 with zero impact on the c.4,500 franchisees; the Target Operating Model was designed and its governance foundation built alongside it, then went live separately in September 2026, after the engagement ended.
Role
Integration Director
Sector
Foodservice / Franchise