Chef Manager

ForeFront Healthcare Pvt Ltd•Forrest City, AR

About The Position

The Chef Manager is responsible for the daily leadership of culinary operations, ensuring high-quality meal production, exceptional service, and compliance with food safety and regulatory standards. The role oversees menu execution, staff development, purchasing, and financial performance while supporting a positive dining experience for residents, patients, and guests. This is an exempt salaried position with expected hours that include days, evenings, weekends, and holidays. Occasional travel by car or plane may be required to support multiple locations or meetings.

Requirements

Two to four years of culinary leadership experience in healthcare, senior living, or high-volume food service.
Experience with production systems and staff supervision.
ServSafe Food Protection Manager certification is required, or must be obtained within 90 days of employment.

Nice To Haves

Culinary degree or equivalent experience.
Knowledge of therapeutic diets.

Responsibilities

Direct daily food production for resident dining, café/retail, and catered events.
Ensure consistent execution of recipes, portion control, and presentation standards.
Oversee production sheets, batch cooking, and meal service timelines.
Monitor food quality, taste, temperature, and appearance.
Support menu development and seasonal programming.
Supervise cooks, leads, and utility staff; provide coaching and performance feedback.
Conduct onboarding, training, and competency validation.
Build schedules aligned with census and service demands.
Promote teamwork, hospitality, and service excellence.
Enforce HACCP, ServSafe, allergen, and infection prevention standards.
Maintain temperature logs, sanitation records, and audit readiness.
Ensure compliance with state and local health regulations and company policies.
Lead corrective actions and continuous improvement initiatives.
Manage food cost, labor productivity, and waste control.
Oversee ordering, receiving, FIFO rotation, and inventory accuracy.
Assist with recipe costing and menu engineering.
Maintain purchasing and vendor relationships.
Conform to facility and departmental policies and procedures, including those related to human resources, ethics and business conduct, health and safety, compliance, patient rights, confidentiality, HIPAA, and accrediting agency standards.
Attend department meetings as required.
Take responsibility for personal and professional growth and any required certifications or licenses.
Complete mandatory annual training and competencies.
Perform other duties as assigned.