Chef Production Manager - Metropolitan Inter-Faith Association

Aramark•Memphis, TN

5d•Onsite

About The Position

The Chef Manager oversees all daily culinary operations for a high-volume, institutional kitchen producing 1,500 scratch and blast-chilled meals daily. This role balances massive-scale food production with strict nutritional guidelines and sanitation standards. The Chef is responsible for maintaining inventory, controlling food costs, ensuring strict temperature compliance, and supervising a team of kitchen staff and volunteers to feed homebound seniors and community programs.

Requirements

Minimum of 3 to 5 years of experience specifically running a high-volume production kitchen (e.g., catering, hospital, correctional facility, school district, or military base) producing over 1,000 meals per shift.
Active ServSafe Manager Certification required upon hire.
Must be proficient in running a full scope HACCP program
Proficiency operating large-scale industrial culinary machinery (combi-ovens, industrial sealers, commercial mixers).

Responsibilities

Direct the daily preparation, cooking, and assembly of 1,500 hot, chilled, or frozen meals using industrial equipment (e.g., tilt skillets, steam kettles, rack ovens).
Scale recipes to handle massive quantities, calculating, prepping and scaling daily recipes.
Plan rotating menus tailored to senior nutrition that remain appealing when packaged, transported, and reheated.
Ensure modifications are precisely executed for medical dietary needs (e.g., low-sodium, diabetic-friendly, renal, pureed, and mechanical soft).
Maintain 100% compliance with local health department, state, and federal eldercare nutrition regulations.
Implement and monitor strict HACCP protocols, focusing heavily on rapid cooling, blast-chilling, and safe holding zones.
Ensure meticulous logging of food temperatures from receiving through final delivery vehicle loading.
Direct the continuous deep-cleaning of industrial food processing lines, sealing machinery, and walk-in complexes.
Order bulk ingredients weekly, managing massive inventory turnover while minimizing waste and staying within budget.
Oversee the high-speed tray-line packaging or automated sealing systems used to portion 1,500 individual meals accurately.
Enforce strict FIFO rotation across extensive walk-in coolers, freezers, and dry storage facilities.
Supervise, schedule, and train a professional kitchen crew across staggered prep and production shifts.
Organize and motivate rotating teams of community volunteers assigned to high-speed meal packaging and labeling lines.
Coordinate directly with logistics and fleet drivers to ensure all 1,500 meals are temperature-secured, sorted by route, and dispatched exactly on time.