Kitchen Manager - No Nights or Weekends!

LifePath, a local not-for-profit agency has an opening for a Kitchen Manager. The Kitchen Manager oversees the daily back-of-house operations of our commercial production kitchen, ensuring the safe, efficient, and accurate preparation of hundreds of nutritious meals for homebound seniors and individuals with disabilities, along with meals for our thirteen (13) congregate sites. This is a mission-driven leadership role that focuses on high-volume batch cooking, packaging efficiency, strict adherence to senior dietary guidelines, and regulatory compliance. The Kitchen Manager leads a dedicated team of paid kitchen staff and community volunteers, maintaining a positive, organized environment to meet tight daily delivery deadlines. Key Responsibilities 1. High-Volume Food Production & Quality Control Lead and execute the daily preparation of hot, cold, and frozen meals according to established cycle menus. Ensure all meal preparation strictly complies with specific senior nutritional guidelines such as low-sodium diets. Enforce strict portion-control standards to meet the explicit caloric and nutritional mandates set by the County’s Registered Dietitian. Manage high-volume production schedules to guarantee that all meals are completed, packed, and ready for driver and volunteer dispatch by daily deadlines. 2. Industrial Equipment Management & Maintenance Demonstrate a deep working knowledge of specialized industrial kitchen equipment, including commercial tilt skillets, convection ovens, blast chillers, commercial dishwashers, and automated meal tray-sealing packaging lines. Maintain all facility equipment in optimal working order by establishing, performing, and overseeing rigorous daily, weekly, and monthly preventative maintenance routines. Conduct initial troubleshooting on equipment malfunctions, safely rectifying minor issues to prevent service disruptions and coordinating promptly with external repair technicians for complex technical fixes. Ensure all kitchen staff and volunteers are thoroughly trained on the safe operation, assembly, and breakdown of heavy commercial equipment to prevent injury or equipment damage. 3. Packaging, Logistics Staging & Food Safety Oversee the daily high-speed assembly and packaging line, ensuring all meals are properly portioned, sealed, labeled, and sorted. Establish and monitor the "cold chain" and hot-holding protocols, ensuring food is held safely until packed into insulated transport carriers to maintain legal holding temperatures during transit. Implement and enforce all local, state, and federal health department regulations, operating under strict Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) principles. Maintain complete daily operational logs, including cooking temperatures, cooling/chilling charts, walk-in cooler/freezer logs, and sanitation checklists. 4. Staff & Volunteer Management Recruit, train, schedule, and supervise a team of paid cooks, prep cooks, assembly workers, and dishwashers. Structure and oversee tasks for a rotating daily crew of community volunteers, ensuring a welcoming, supportive, and safe environment for individuals of all skill levels. Cross-train team members across all kitchen stations to ensure uninterrupted continuity of service during personnel absences. 5. Inventory, Procurement & Administrative Compliance Manage inventory, ordering bulk food supplies, ingredients, and specialized packaging materials to maintain optimal par levels while minimizing food waste. Inspect all incoming vendor deliveries for quality, quantity, and temperature compliance, ensuring strict First-In, First-Out (FIFO) rotation. Maintain accurate, audit-ready records of food costs, production yields, daily meal counts, and waste sheets to support federal, state, and grant-funding compliance. Qualifications & Requirements Experience: Minimum 5 years of experience managing high-volume culinary or institutional food service operations (e.g., healthcare facilities, school cafete…

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