A Concept Developer shapes the creative and commercial identity of a restaurant, club, or lounge from the ground up. This role transforms market insights, brand goals, and guest expectations into a clear, marketable hospitality concept that can be executed successfully by operations, design, and opening teams.
Position Overview
The Concept Developer sits within the Consulting, Concept & Opening function and plays a central role in the early-stage development of new venues or the repositioning of existing ones. The role typically reports to the Managing Director, Development Director, or Head of Concept/Strategy, depending on the organisation structure. It works closely with investors, brand owners, architects, interior designers, chefs, beverage leaders, marketers, and pre-opening teams to ensure the concept is both distinctive and operationally viable.
Key responsibilities include:
- Defining the venue’s core concept, positioning, and guest proposition
- Researching target markets, competition, trends, and customer behaviour
- Developing the brand narrative, service style, tone of voice, and experience pillars
- Contributing to the creation of the food, beverage, and entertainment direction
- Collaborating on layout, flow, zoning, and guest journey to support the concept
- Ensuring the idea is commercially realistic, scalable, and aligned with budget
- Supporting concept documentation, presentations, mood boards, and pitch materials
- Working with opening teams to translate the concept into operational standards and launch plans
A successful Concept Developer is both creative and commercially sharp. They combine imagination with practical judgment, understand what makes a hospitality venue memorable, and can turn ideas into clear deliverables for multiple departments. They are strong communicators, highly collaborative, and comfortable balancing ambition with feasibility. The ideal person is curious, trend-aware, detail-oriented, and able to influence stakeholders while keeping the concept authentic, coherent, and profitable.