Kitchen Manager

Kelly Professional & Industrial; Salt Lake City (UT); On-site; USD 85,000 - 105,000; Full time

Job summary

Kelly Professional & Industrial is seeking a hands-on Kitchen Operations Manager to provide strong production leadership, build scalable systems, and ensure alignment of production, inventory and fulfillment with remote executive leadership.

The role requires leading daily kitchen production, developing schedules, managing inventory and driving KPIs while maintaining food safety and quality in a full-time, on-site setting.

Qualifications

• Proven experience leading food production and high-volume operations.
• Strong hands-on production leadership experience.
• Ability to build systems and processes within a growing operation.
• Production planning, scheduling and inventory management skills.
• Experience managing KPIs and performance metrics.
• Excellent communication with senior/remote leadership.
• Food safety knowledge/certification preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead daily kitchen production to meet orders on schedule.
• Build repeatable systems and SOPs for scalability.
• Develop production schedules and plan labor, ingredients, inventory and capacity.
• Establish inventory controls including purchasing needs and waste management.
• Provide proactive updates to remote executive leadership on production status and risks.
• Coach and develop Shift Leads and production staff.

Skills

Food production leadership

Systems thinking

Communication

Inventory management

Job description

Location: Greater Salt Lake City, Utah | On-Site

Employment Type: Full-Time, Permanent

Our client is seeking a hands-on Kitchen Operations Manager who can provide strong production leadership while building the systems, processes and accountability needed to support continued growth.

This is an ideal opportunity for an operations leader who enjoys being close to the production floor but also thinks beyond today's production schedule. The successful candidate will bring systems thinking, planning, organization and proactive communication to ensure production, inventory and fulfillment stay aligned while providing consistent visibility to remote executive leadership.

Responsibilities:

• Lead daily kitchen production and ensure orders are produced accurately, efficiently and on schedule.
• Build and implement repeatable systems, processes and SOPs to create a more scalable operation.
• Develop production schedules and proactively plan labor, ingredients, inventory and capacity requirements.
• Establish stronger inventory controls, including purchasing needs, usage, waste and availability.
• Create and monitor operational KPIs related to production, fulfillment, labor, inventory, waste and COGS.
• Identify operational bottlenecks and implement practical solutions to improve efficiency and consistency.
• Ensure production plans align with customer demand and fulfillment requirements.
• Provide proactive, clear and timely communication to remote executive leadership regarding production status, risks, inventory, staffing and upcoming needs.
• Lead, coach and develop Shift Leads and production employees while establishing clear expectations and accountability.
• Partner with the Director of Operations, R&D/Dietitian, Customer Service and external vendors/carriers to coordinate operational requirements.
• Maintain high standards for food safety, sanitation, quality and workplace safety.
• Support the transition to a larger/upgraded facility as the company continues to grow.
• Continuously assess the operation and identify opportunities to improve productivity, reliability, cost and scalability.

Qualifications

• Proven experience leading food production, commercial kitchen, commissary, catering, or another high-volume production operation.
• Strong hands-on production leadership experience.
• Demonstrated ability to build systems and processes within a growing operation.
• Strong production planning, scheduling and inventory management skills.
• Experience establishing and managing operational KPIs and performance metrics.
• Understanding labor planning, COGS, waste reduction and production efficiency.
• Excellent communication skills, including the ability to provide concise, proactive updates to senior/remote leadership.
• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to anticipate operational issues before they affect production or fulfillment.
• Experience coaching and developing frontline production teams and shift leaders.
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced environment where processes continue to evolve.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Food safety knowledge/certification is strongly preferred.

Why Kelly®?

As a worker today, it's up to you to take charge of your career and look for opportunities to learn, grow and achieve your potential. Helping you find what's next is what we're all about. We know what's going on in the evolving world of work - just ask the nearly 500,000 people we employ each year. Connecting with us means getting the support, guidance and opportunities needed to take your career where you may have never imagined.

About Kelly®

At Kelly, we're always thinking about what’s next and advising job seekers on new ways of working to reach their full potential. In fact, we're a leading advocate for temporary/non-traditional workstyles, because we believe they allow flexibility and tremendous growth opportunities that enable a better way to work and live. Connecting great people with great companies is what we do best, and our employment opportunities span a wide variety of workstyles, skill levels and industries around the world.

Kelly is an equal opportunity employer committed to employing a diverse workforce and providing accommodation for people with disabilities in all parts of the hiring process as required under its Employment Accommodation Policy. Kelly will work with applicants to meet accommodation needs that are made known to Kelly in advance.