Handcrafted Hospitality is seeking a Culinary Director to serve as an expert in all things Culinary, Product and Procedures, Industry/Consumer Trends, and more. This roll calls for an exceptionally energetic and person able person with strong restaurant experience, to help us create an intimate and inviting home for our guests to gather.As with all members of the Handcrafted family, the Culinary Director will be expected to wear multiple hats, seek out opportunities to make Handcrafted and themselves better every day.
Our ideal candidate thrives in a fast-paced, dynamic environment with a passion for all things food and beverage. Has an ability to positively lead others while multi-tasking and prioritizing workloads. Must believe in quality by consistently upholding defined standards over time. Able to provide guidance and support for employees, is involved in the day to day operations of the Back of House, and collaborates and communicates with Front of House team to create genuine guest experiences.
Qualifications:
- Develop processes which facilitate consistency and quality at the restaurant level, consulting with the training team to support the execution of these standards and roll outs.
- Ensure that menu items and ingredients are sourced and prepared in a way that upholds Handcrafted’s values and meets legal and company standards, while also ensuring alignment with business strategy and commercial,operations, marketing and financial objectives.
- Ability to lead the delivery of the food strategy through product and menu improvement.
- Responsible for continually working to improve our menu offerings and deliver strategically developed innovative, improved techniques and products that meet performance targets.
- Lead Menu Follow Through, Product Integrity, and Recipe Development.
- Influence kitchen design and equipment specs to ensure “10 minute” ticket times.
- Work with Finance to ensure menu items deliver on cost and business targets.
- Lead, coordinate, and communicate product trials, menu roll outs, recipe changes, tastings, and changes in product or procedures to all support functions.
CORE RESPONSIBILITIES
Supplier Management:
- Work with supplier partners to actively ensure product quality and ethical sourcing.
- Maintain all product specifications on a rolling basis and ensure that all Handcrafted’s materials which rely on them are updated accurately and in a timely fashion.
- Ensure that Handcrafted remains compliant with all applicable laws and regulations that impact food safety.
- Coordinate strategic high-quality outsourcing in line with cost and other business targets.
Strategy + Operational Support:
- Develop recipes and support consistent and accurate menu execution in Handcrafted’s restaurants.
- Develop and drive a food safety culture within Handcrafted’s restaurants by building on current procedures and practices in partnership with the Training Team.
- Set performance targets and drive functional team to meet them, managing multiple work streams to achieve financial and operational goals.
- Manage line items within functional budget related to menu development, pilot programs, and rollout resources.
- Align with Operations and Finance Teams to engineer menu items in alignment with company objectives.
- Work with IT to ensure that recipes are accurately costed and input into back of house systems.
- Establish and effectively communicate best practices for product and product handling.
- Manage Product Specifications, Nutritional Analysis Program,and Allergy Menu.
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS
- A strong understanding of Food from a Culinary and Customer point of view.
- 3-5 years of related experience, for example leading a kitchen team, acting as a development chef, or leading a food agenda or development team.
- Ability to create, implement, and maintain quality and service standards to produce a consistent product.
- Ability to demonstrate commercial awareness through an understanding and appreciation of product, material inputs/costs, supplier relations,impact of gross profit, margins, and sales mix.
- Ability to travel to meetings, conferences, projects, and restaurants.
- Advanced knowledge of restaurant operations and systems, proven hands-on food experience obtained in a variety of different environments, including running a multi-discipline food team.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Ability to thrive in both a collaborative work environment and as an individual contributor.
- Strong organization and time management skills.
- Excellent project management, analytical and problem-solving skills.
- Proficiency working with Microsoft Word, Excel, Email, and Internet.
