Bakery Operations Manager

New Glarus Bakery; New Glarus (WI); On-site; USD 48,000 - 52,000; Full time

Job summary

New Glarus Bakery is seeking a hands-on Bakery Operations Manager in New Glarus, Wisconsin to oversee the daily operation of our historic bakery, from production through the customer experience.

This role emphasizes leadership, organization, problem solving, and maintaining high standards in a busy environment. You will manage production schedules, front-of-house staff, and help drive improvements in systems and efficiency.

Qualifications

• Previous management or leadership experience is strongly preferred.
• Experience in bakery or food production, restaurant/retail management, or supervision is valuable.
• Comfort with learning scheduling, POS, ordering, reporting systems.

Responsibilities

• Lead production and front-of-house employees.
• Oversee daily production schedules and ensure on-time completion.
• Maintain product quality and consistency.
• Monitor workflow and adjust priorities for production, staffing, or customer needs.
• Ensure storefront stocks and readiness for customers.
• Support excellent customer service and resolve concerns.
• Train and develop employees; set clear expectations and accountability.
• Coordinate staff schedules and daily staffing needs.
• Maintain cleanliness, sanitation, and food safety standards.
• Monitor inventory, usage, and waste; improve systems and procedures.
• Communicate with ownership on issues and opportunities for improvement.

Job description

Bakery Operations Manager

New Glarus Bakery | New Glarus, Wisconsin

48 to 52k

New Glarus Bakery is looking for a strong, hands-on Bakery Operations Manager to oversee the daily operation of our historic, well-established bakery.

This is not a position where you'll spend your day sitting behind a desk.

We're looking for someone who enjoys leading people, creating organization, solving problems, maintaining high standards, and jumping in when needed. You'll oversee both our bakery production operation and front-of-house customer service team, helping ensure that the entire bakery runs smoothly from production through the customer experience.

Founded in 1910, New Glarus Bakery has a long history in our community and produces a wide variety of traditional bakery products. We're looking for a manager who respects that history while helping us continue building strong systems, accountability, efficiency, and teamwork.

What You'll Be Responsible For

• Leading and supporting production and front-of-house employees
• Overseeing daily production schedules and ensuring products are completed accurately and on time
• Maintaining product quality and consistency
• Monitoring workflow and adjusting priorities when production, staffing, or customer needs change
• Ensuring the storefront is properly stocked and ready for customers
• Supporting excellent customer service and resolving customer concerns when needed
• Training, coaching, and developing employees
• Setting clear expectations and holding team members accountable
• Coordinating employee schedules and daily staffing needs
• Maintaining cleanliness, sanitation, food safety, and handwashing standards
• Monitoring inventory, product usage, production quantities, shortages, and waste
• Helping improve systems, procedures, communication, and operational efficiency
• Communicating clearly with ownership regarding staffing, production, operational issues, and opportunities for improvement
• Stepping into production, customer service, cleaning, packaging, or other areas when the operation needs additional support

Who We're Looking For

• Naturally notice what needs to be done and take action
• Can manage multiple priorities without losing important details
• Are comfortable making decisions independently
• Communicate problems early rather than allowing them to grow
• Can give employees clear, respectful, direct feedback
• Are comfortable holding people accountable
• Stay level-headed when things become busy or don't go according to plan
• Understand the difference between supporting employees and doing their jobs for them
• Can move comfortably between production, employees, customers, and administrative responsibilities
• Value organization, cleanliness, consistency, and attention to detail
• Enjoy improving processes and finding better ways to get things done
• Are willing to work alongside your team when needed
• Understand that leadership means setting the tone for the workplace

Experience We're Looking For

Previous management or leadership experience is strongly preferred.

Experience in any of the following would be especially valuable:

• Bakery or food production
• Restaurant or food service management
• Retail management
• Production or manufacturing supervision
• Hospitality
• Grocery or specialty food operations
• Small-business operations

Bakery experience is helpful, but strong operational management experience may be equally valuable.

You should also be comfortable learning and using computer-based systems for scheduling, point-of-sale, ordering, communication, reporting, and other operational functions.

This Is a Hands-On Position

Our bakery is an active physical environment. This position involves being on your feet, walking between work areas, using stairs, lifting, pushing, pulling, moving products and supplies, and occasionally assisting with physical production or cleaning tasks.

The Bakery Operations Manager should never have the mindset of, "That's not my job."

At the same time, your primary responsibility is to lead and manage the operation, not simply become another production employee.

The Person Who Will Thrive Here

We're looking for someone who can walk into the bakery, understand what is happening, identify what needs attention, communicate clearly with the team, and keep the entire operation moving forward.

Someone who can be supportive without avoiding difficult conversations.

Someone who can create structure without micromanaging.

Someone who can handle a busy day without creating chaos for everyone around them.

And someone who takes pride in developing a team and helping a long-standing local business operate exceptionally well.

If that sounds like the kind of leadership role you're looking for, we'd love to hear from you.

New Glarus Bakery

New Glarus, Wisconsin