Prepared Foods Director

Description

Job Title: Prepared Foods Director

Department: Prepared Foods /Leadership

Reports to: CEO

FLSA Status: Exempt

Location: All Co-op Location

At the Community Food Co-op, we are more than a grocery store—we are a community-owned hub for healthy, sustainable living. Rooted in cooperative values and a deep commitment to local food systems, we are passionate about nourishing our community with delicious, seasonal, and ethically sourced ingredients. We believe the Co-op model builds stronger communities, better workplaces, and a more resilient food future.

We’re looking for a Prepared Foods Director who is deeply experienced with natural food ingredients and committed to promoting healthy living. The ideal candidate is passionate about local, seasonal, and sustainable food and brings a strong culinary and leadership background. At the Co-op, we foster an inclusive, people-centered workplace where collaboration, creativity and a love of good food come together every day.

 Summary: The Prepared Foods Director provides strategic and operational leadership for all prepared foods departments, ensuring consistent product quality, efficient production systems, and strong financial performance. They lead menu planning, product development, and vendor sourcing in collaboration with kitchen, deli, and store managers. This role oversees recipe management, training, and production standards across multiple facilities, maintaining accurate cost and yield data while ensuring compliance with safety and Co-op policies. The Director contributes to annual budgeting and long-range planning, supports labor and margin goals, and fosters a culture of collaboration, innovation, and exceptional customer service. 

Key Responsibilities

Customer Service:

• Model excellent customer service for staff and provide excellent internal service to staff and peers.
• Answer all customer comments in a timely manner.
• Explain store policies and procedures clearly, completely and concisely.
• Maintain accurate, up to date point-of-sale product information for service staff.

• Financial Practices:
• Participate in development of annual budget and long term strategic planning for labor and operating expenses and capital spending.
• Meet sales, margin and labor goals.
• Maintain working knowledge of personnel reports, margin reports, weekly sales numbers and financial goals.
• Work with the IS department to maintain accurate PLU’s and prices in POS system.
• Communicate relevant labor goals to staff on a regular basis.

Category Management:

• Develop menu plans seasonally that offer a range of products to meet the dietary needs of our customers for all prepared foods product categories.
• Work with department managers to solve problems related to seasonal menus.
• Work with Deli and Store Managers to maintain and improve product mix.
• Maintain systems to gather and evaluate input from prepared foods department managers and staff.
• Work with Prep Foods Price Maintenance Tech (PMT) to ensure that that all cost information, recipes, and recipe yields are accurate and up-to-date in Cheftec.

Production:

• Maintain accurate, up to date, and easily accessible recipe files for each production location (kitchens, bakery, made-to-order work areas, etc.)
• Ensure that prepared foods workers receive thorough initial training in the production of all recipes and retraining as necessary to maintain quality standards, product consistency, and production expectations.
• Ensure that prepared foods production is organized efficiently (work flow, layout, workstation assignments, shift assignments, etc.)
• Maintain systems for communicating production expectations (production schedules, shift expectation, etc.)
• Work with production personnel to solve problems related to meeting production goals and expectations.
• Manage systems for catered events.

Product Development

• Collaborate with deli, store, and kitchen managers to identify new product opportunities.
• Work with Kitchen DMs to develop and test new products.
• Maintain systems for documenting cost, yield, production method, batch size, etc. for all new products. 
• Develop accurate and complete recipes for all new products.
• Work with Prepared Foods Price Maintenance Tech (PMT) to ensure that recipes and yields are accurate in Cheftec.
• Follow established procedures for introducing new products into the retail product rotation.
• Maintain systems to gather and evaluate input from prepared foods department managers and staff on proposed new products.
• Maintain an open atmosphere that encourages product ideas at the store level. 

Vendor Relations and Sourcing:

• Develop new vendors as needed and ensure they’re introduced efficiently and with adequate notice.
• Seek vendors that provide the best quality, price, service, and sustainability practices.
• Maintain preferred vendor lists for all prepared foods locations with accurate, up-to-date order guides as needed.
• Ensure that worksheets with up-to-date, cost and conversion info are available prior to each inventory.

 Prepared Foods Leadership & Oversight

• Provide strategic direction for food operations across production facilities in collaboration with store and kitchen/bakery managers.
• Develop and maintain departmental goals, standards, and procedures that support consistent food quality, safety, and efficiency.
• Partner with store and production managers to support staffing, training, scheduling, and team development in alignment with Co-op policies and values.
• Ensure effective systems for communication, staff input, regular team meetings, and timely performance evaluations.
• Oversee the creation and implementation of training materials focused on food safety, production standards, and operational excellence.
• Stay current with prepared foods trends and innovations; encourage continuous improvement and creative problem-solving.
• Support the development of long-range planning and labor projections with store and department managers.
• Communicate expectations, policies, and product knowledge clearly and consistently.
• Model collaborative, professional leadership that fosters teamwork and staff engagement.

Facilities and Equipment:

• Ensure that production facilities have the equipment and tools necessary to do their jobs safely and efficiently.
• Ensure that production equipment, fixtures, and tools are well maintained, in good working order, and safe.
• Work with department managers to identify equipment replacement needs in a timely way.
• Coordinate the development of annual capital plans for production facilities.
• Coordinate equipment and facility upgrades with facilities staff.

Requirements

Qualifications:

• Proven success planning and managing prepared food production.
• Minimum of two years managing people.
• Ability to provide friendly face-to-face customer service in a fast-paced environment.
• Ability to work closely and cooperatively with others.
• Attention to detail and ability to shift attention easily between tasks.
• Willingness and ability to learn and to meet the changing requirements of the job.
• Ability to work with little or no supervision, communicate effectively and work under deadlines.
• Ability to work a flexible schedule to meet the needs of the business; some early mornings, evenings, holiday, and weekend shifts required.
• Intermediate to advanced computer skills (MS Office, Outlook, Google).
• Ability to speak and comprehend English well, multi-lingual is great.
• Must be at least 18 years of age.

Physical requirements:

This position will work in both an office environment and fast paced production kitchen environment. Must be able to:

• Travel across all business locations.
• Work in moderate and loud noise environments including, but not limited to: paging, Telephones, human voices, music, and machinery.
• Meet physical demands including standing, bending, twisting, pushing/pulling carts, repetitive motion, keyboarding, lifting 10-40 lbs regularly, and ability to climb ladders occasionally.
• Visual acuity to view computer screens, read reports, and review spreadsheets.
• Manual dexterity for data entry and use of standard office equipment (keyboard, mouse, phone, copier).
• Operate all equipment necessary to perform the job.

Benefits at the Co-op

• Up to 25% staff discount & access to wholesale orders 
• Great medical/dental/vision and supplemental insurance options for employees and children.
• 401(k) w/match
• Paid sick and vacation time 
• Potential year-end bonus 
• Access to employee assistance program