Plant Director

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated; Simi Hills (CA); On-site; USD 220,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual bonus

Annual equity grants

Medical, Dental & Vision

Benefits from day one

401K with company match

Vacation and sick time benefits

Tuition reimbursement

Adoption assistance

Dining discount

Employee dining benefits

Job summary

The Cheesecake Factory Bakery is hiring a Plant Director to lead all production and packaging activities for a 65,000 square-foot facility with ~160 full-time employees. You will drive scheduling, materials logistics, and packaging processes across three shifts, ensuring safety, quality, and cost targets are met.

You will lead continuous improvement initiatives, manage budget and downtime, and collaborate with HR, Plant Engineering, and senior leadership to sustain excellence in food production

Qualifications

• Minimum 15 years of experience in food manufacturing management, preferably bakery/dessert, at Plant Manager or Director level.
• Strong experience with food safety, equipment, and regulations.
• Familiar with USDA, FDA, OSHA regulations.
• Lean manufacturing, Kaizen, Six Sigma techniques.

Responsibilities

• Maintain positive employee relations through open two-way communication.
• Develop and maintain training programs with HR and training departments.
• Oversee production planning and scheduling to optimize service and efficiency.
• Supervise crewing, equipment setup, and material preparation plans.
• Manage timekeeping, labor efficiency, and plant productivity.
• Collaborate with Plant Engineer to minimize downtime and optimize machine performance.
• Control material usage to minimize waste and maximize yield.

Skills

Leadership

Strategic planning

Lean manufacturing

Food safety knowledge

Regulatory compliance

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree (MBA a Plus)

Job description

Compensation Range

$220,000 - $250,000/ Year

Overview

You may know us for our delicious cheesecakes…and for being recognized by Fortune Magazine as one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For®” since 2014! What you may not know is at The Cheesecake Factory Bakery, our staff members are our highest quality ingredient.

The Plant Director is responsible for all production and packaging activities and results for a three-shift, seven-day operation in a 65,000 square-foot facility with approximately 160 full-time, non-union employees. The Director leads, directs, and manages all operational activities, including production scheduling, raw materials and packaging supplies logistics, pre-scaling, mixing, depositing, baking, decorating, and packaging.

They utilize excellent leadership, analytical, management, and technical skills, abilities, and behaviors to drive performance in key areas such as people, safety, quality, service, and cost, aligned with measurable objectives and the Company’s Mission, Vision, and Values. The Director also assists with business continuity in the absence of the VP of Operations.

You’ll thrive in this position if you are:

• Service oriented: you are a people person who is systematic and trustworthy and interacts constructively with peers or teams of various levels demonstrating strong, positive communication skills.
• Driven by results: you are conscientious and persistent about delivering timely, high-quality deliverables, and performing all job functions safely while following instructions.
• Improvement focused: you never turn off the thought “how can I do this better/faster”.
• Pressure resistant: you have ice in your veins while under pressure. Maintaining a positive outlook at work while the heat is on is never an issue for you.

Responsibilities

• Maintain positive employee relations through respectful, open, and effective two-way communication at the individual and team levels.
• Partner with human resources and training departments to develop, implement, and maintain effective training and development programs that support performance goals and provide a satisfying work environment.
• Maintain a fair and professional work environment that balances business objectives with quality-of-work-life factors for employees.
• Work with Human Resources to ensure compliance with all applicable laws, regulations, and company policies, while driving improvements in employee performance as measured by turnover rate, attendance, and feedback mechanisms.
• Oversee production planning and scheduling to optimize service and efficiency, balancing resources such as crewing, materials, and equipment with other department managers.
• Supervise the development of synchronized crewing, equipment setup, and materials preparation plans to ensure schedule attainment and optimize capacity utilization.
• Manage timekeeping, labor efficiency, and plant productivity in compliance with legal and company policies, aiming to minimize overtime and control non-productive line time.
• Collaborate with the Plant Engineer to ensure preventive and emergency maintenance efforts are effective, minimizing downtime and optimizing machine performance.
• Manage material usage to ensure minimal waste and maximum yield, while maintaining strict adherence to product quality standards and inventory management.
• Monitor spending and manage operations within approved budget levels, while driving improvements in cost performance through labor productivity, waste reduction, and yield maximization.
• Ensure disciplined compliance with product and process quality standards, food safety, and regulatory requirements, striving for “EXCELLENT” or “SUPERIOR” scores in third-party audits.
• Lead plant safety efforts, including co-chairing the Safety Steering Committee, safety inspections, and training, while driving improvements in safety performance as measured by injury frequency and workers' compensation data.
• Participate in business plan development, budgeting processes, and plant-level meetings to ensure effective communication and alignment with operational goals.
• Ability to transform the facility into a CI culture driven by people, process and equipment/technology.
• Ensure the utilization of 4-step process to drive result in sustainability which are Huddles, Daily meeting, utilization of Red Zone and Sic meetings.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 15 years of experience in food manufacturing management, preferable in the bakery/dessert industry, with demonstrated success at the Plant Manager or Director of Manufacturing/Operations level.
• Bachelor’s degree (MBA a Plus)
• Strong experience with food safety, food process equipment, and regulations.
• Strong experience with emergency preparedness and emergency response plans and procedures.
• Familiar with regulatory and safety codes, including USDA, FDA, and OSHA regulations.
• Knowledge and demonstrated skill in lean manufacturing, Kaizen, kitting, and Six Sigma techniques.
• Prior experience with direct responsibility for a large-scale P&L.
• Strong and effective strategic management skills, including long-range planning, organizing, communicating, influencing, gathering and using information, and motivating a team to achieve results. Ability to use, and teach others to use, various analytical tools and techniques.
• Demonstrated mentoring skills.

Benefits

• Eligible for annual bonus
• Eligible for annual equity grants
• Medical, Dental & Vision
• Eligible for benefits first day of the month following date of hire
• 401K with company match
• 3 weeks of vacation which increases to 4 weeks starting in your 5th year
• 5 days of sick time per year (first year prorated)
• Tuition Reimbursement of $2,500 for qualified programs
• Adoption Assistance Benefit of $2,500
• 25%-35% discount when dining as a guest
• Reusable gift card loaded annually for your dining enjoyment

About the Company

The Cheesecake Factory Bakery creates over 35,000 delicious cheesecakes per day across our two facilities in Calabasas, CA and Rocky Mount, NC plus other baked products for our restaurants, international licensees, and third-party bakery customers.

The Cheesecake Factory Bakery is a subsidiary of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated. Recognized as a Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For® since 2014, The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated is a global $3.8 billion public company with more than 370 casual dining restaurants and over 48,000 staff members.

We are an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to creating an inclusive and welcoming workplace for all. We welcome applicants from a wide variety of identities, ideas, perspectives, backgrounds and experiences to apply. The Cheesecake Factory offers reasonable accommodation to job applicants with disabilities.

#SoCheesecake #LifeAtCheesecake

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