Director of Culinary Operations

About the Role

The Founder / CEO and Executive Chef create the food and the ideas. The Director of Culinary Operations makes them real — costed, spec'd, sourced, trained, and running the exact same way in every kitchen. This is the bridge between the test kitchen and the line: the person who turns a great new item into a repeatable system across all locations, on time and to standard. It is an execution and systems role, not a creative one — the taste comes from the Founder / CEO and Executive Chef, the flawless rollout comes from here.

What You'll Do

Menu Development → Execution

• Concept to rollout — partner with the Founder / CEO and Executive Chef to translate menu ideas, weekly specials, and seasonal changes into standardized, scalable, repeatable execution across every location.
• Recipe builds — own the recipe builds and portion / plating standards, and keep them organized — the single source of truth for how every item is made.
• Pilot before launch — run new items through 1–2 test kitchens first, gather feedback, and refine before a company-wide rollout — nothing goes live untested.
• Launch calendar — own the menu, weekly special, and seasonal calendar and drive every launch timeline end to end, holding all the moving pieces to the launch date.
• Scaling & yields — work alongside the Executive Chef on batch and yield testing to scale recipes from a single kitchen to commissary and multi-unit volume without the product changing — keeping it all organized and documented.
• Menu performance — track menu item performance with a continual pulse on the Pmix reports — always knowing what's moving and what's not — and flag what to keep, fix, or cut.

Cross-Functional Coordination

The quarterback for anything menu-shaped — much of what the Founder / CEO carries today. Nothing falls between the kitchen and the rest of the company.

• Marketing — feed menu updates, launch timing, item descriptions, and allergen / nutrition info; coordinate food photography and menu-board updates.
• IT / Tech — work with IT to drive OLO / online-ordering menu builds, Aloha NCR POS programming (buttons, modifiers, pricing), and digital menu boards for every change.
• Finance — partner on pricing and margin decisions as the new CFO comes on.
• Construction / Development — provide kitchen design and equipment input on new builds so kitchens open ready to execute.

Sourcing & Supply Chain

• Vendor management — work with the supply chain manager to source across produce, proteins, dairy, dry goods, packaging, and disposables, and help manage vendor relationships with partners like Sysco, Beacon, and specialty suppliers.
• Pricing & terms — negotiate with broadline distributors and specialty suppliers, and maintain backup vendors so one supply hiccup doesn't take down a menu item.
• Same everywhere — lock ingredient specs so every item executes the same across all locations — same bread, same tomato, same everything.
• Cut-ins & changes — manage product cut-ins and discontinuations cleanly across the supply chain.
• Cost & data — support the accounting team's item-level cost analysis with accurate, current ingredient costs — knowing exactly what everything costs has been a real challenge, and this role owns the data that feeds it.

Commissary Production

• Production support — the commissary owns its own production scheduling; this role makes sure it has everything it needs — recipes, specs, ingredients, and lead time — to produce new menu items and menu changes.
• Make vs. buy — help decide what's produced centrally vs. in-store to protect cost and labor, and continually test and evaluate new products to bring in.
• Safety & logistics — ensure commissary food safety, labeling, cold-chain, and distribution logistics to the stores.
• Inventory & waste — track waste across all kitchens — not just the commissary — and act on it; help implement store-level inventory across all locations.

Store Deployment & Kitchen Operations

• Rollout playbook — build the launch kit for every store — recipe builds, prep guides, par levels, and ordering guides.
• Standardized kitchens — standardize line setup and workflow for speed and throughput, so every location runs the same.
• New-store setup — spec kitchen equipment and smallwares and run opening prep for new builds, in partnership with Construction / Development.
• Execution & follow-through — make sure what launches actually lands correctly in every kitchen by launch day — the difference between a plan and a rollout.

Quality, Food Safety & Compliance

• Allergen guide — own the allergen guide and keep it accurate and in sync across the menu, POS, and all digital channels.
• Food safety programs — run ServSafe / HACCP programs, line checks, and culinary quality audits across every kitchen.
• Nutrition & labeling — manage nutritional and allergen data for regulatory and menu-labeling compliance.
• Incident response — own recall procedures and food-safety incident response.

Equipment & Smallwares

• Sourcing & standards — source, spec, and standardize kitchen equipment and smallwares across all locations.
• Par & replenishment — keep smallwares par lists and replenishment tight — the small stuff that quietly kills a line.
• Alongside Facilities — work with the Facilities Director specifically on cooking-equipment specs and needs — Facilities owns overall equipment service and maintenance.

Training Implementation

The Founder / CEO and Executive Chef build the training. This role makes sure it's delivered and actually happens — everywhere, on time, and documented.

• Training tracker — own an organized tracker of who is trained and certified on what, by location — so no kitchen launches an item its cooks haven't been trained on.
• Scheduling & completion — schedule, chase, and confirm completion of the training across all kitchens.
• Launch readiness — verify every location can execute a new item to standard before it goes live.

What You Bring

• Experience — 7+ years of progressive culinary leadership experience, ideally within multi-unit or high-volume restaurant operations.
• Standardization — proven track record building recipe builds, portion / plating standards, and repeatable execution across multiple locations.
• Multi-site rollout — experience opening or standardizing kitchens and scaling production across multiple locations.
• Vendor & supply chain — experience negotiating pricing and terms with broadline distributors and specialty suppliers and managing vendor relationships.
• Food safety & compliance — working knowledge of ServSafe / HACCP programs, allergen management, and nutrition / menu-labeling regulations.
• Systems & organization — highly process-driven, comfortable owning trackers, cost data, and reporting as the single source of truth across locations.
• Cross-functional collaboration — comfortable partnering with marketing, IT / POS, finance, and construction / development teams to drive launches end to end.

The Through-Line

The Founder / CEO and Executive Chef dream it up. This role makes it real — costed, sourced, spec'd, trained, and running the same way in every kitchen. Nothing launches half-baked, and nothing that launches drifts.

Pressed Café is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.