Director of Real Estate, Vale Matcha
Vale Matcha is a company looking to turn matcha on its head, creating the first modern matcha company.
Our Director of Real Estate will take everything they’ve learned from a more traditional restaurant group’s market expansion and develop an innovative approach, leveraging Vale’s unique technological and concept-specific advantages to create a competitive advantage to building the market-leader in matcha.
The Director of Real Estate leads Vale’s market expansion and new-location strategy. This person is responsible for identifying high-potential sites, evaluating the financial and operational viability of each opportunity, negotiating favorable business terms, and guiding transactions from initial market research through lease execution.
Key responsibilities
- Develop a market and site-selection strategy aligned with the company’s growth plans.
- Leverage Vale’s unique mix of concepts to creatively enter new markets
- Identify and evaluate potential locations, including street retail, shopping centers, mixed-use developments, food halls, hospital complexes, educational facilities, and nontraditional venues.
- Build relationships with landlords, developers, brokers, property managers, and other real estate partners.
- Analyze trade areas, customer demographics, foot traffic, visibility, access, parking, competition, occupancy costs, and projected sales.
- Prepare financial analyses and site recommendations for company leadership.
- Negotiate letters of intent, leases, renewals, amendments, tenant-improvement allowances, rent structures, exclusivity provisions, and other key commercial terms.
- Coordinate with legal counsel through lease review and execution.
- Conduct site tours and manage the company’s pipeline of prospective locations.
- Partner with operations, finance, construction, design, and marketing teams to determine whether a location can operate successfully.
- Manage due diligence, including zoning, permitted use, utilities, mechanical requirements, licensing constraints, delivery access, and construction feasibility.
- Maintain real estate schedules, deal summaries, approval materials, and reporting.
- Support lease administration and landlord relations for the existing portfolio.
- Track projects through lease execution and handoff to design, construction, and operations.
Qualifications
- Experience in restaurant, retail, hospitality, or commercial real estate.
- Demonstrated experience sourcing locations and negotiating commercial leases.
- Strong understanding of restaurant occupancy costs, unit economics, and site-performance drivers.
- Ability to interpret letters of intent, leases, site plans, demographic data, and financial projections.
- Strong negotiation, relationship-management, and project-management skills.
- Comfortable working independently in an entrepreneurial, growth-oriented organization.
- Willingness to travel within target markets and visit sites regularly.
Success measures
- Quality and volume of the new-site pipeline
- Number of approved and executed locations
- Achievement of target occupancy costs and deal economics
- Tenant-improvement allowances and other landlord concessions secured
- Speed from site identification to lease execution
- Performance of new locations relative to underwriting
- Accuracy and completeness of site due diligence
Benefits
- Company Equity
- ORCA Card
- Medical, Dental, and Vision
- Unlimited matcha
Compensation
- 150,000 - 170,000 annual salary + commissions
- Annual bonuses
- Equity
