Culinary Director I

Aramark

3d • $100,000 - $120,000

About The Position

The Culinary Director is the chief change and transformation agent, responsible for all aspects of culinary operations, including food safety, quality, and innovation. Direct Reports include the Residential Executive Chef and Executive Chef responsible for campus-wide Compliance, Health & Wellness, and Sustainability. Indirect reports include all salaried, SNE, hourly, and sous chefs. The primary driver for this position is to drive the culinary reputation of GU Dining and create best-in-class as indicated by national rankings, VOC, surveys, client satisfaction, and student engagement. The vision is to create a new, cutting-edge program that educates and engages students while delivering food appropriate to GU student tastes. There will, of course, be the standard task-based duties, including jumping in to help with major events, but overall, this position is strategic in nature. It’s not that you won’t cook; it’s about why you are cooking and how that action moves the program forward.

Requirements

• Ability to communicate (both verbal and written) effectively with clients, customers of client and support staff.
• Ability to write letters, summaries, and reports, using prescribed format and conform to all rules of punctuation, grammar, diction, and style.
• Ability to work with mathematical concepts such as probability and statistics.
• Ability to apply concepts such as fractions, percentages, ratios, and proportions to practical situations.
• Requires management and leadership skills in addition to good planning and organization skills.
• Position requires the ability to work with confidential employee, client, and ARAMARK information.
• Position requires a Bachelors degree plus 2 years’ supervisory experience or Associate’s degree plus 3 - 4 years’ supervisory experience or 6 - 8 years’ supervisory experience.

Responsibilities

• Enforce all standards on recipe adherence and ensure that food consistency is absolute.
• Actively hold team accountable for all menu labeling and allergy/intolerance communication and protocols with the expectation that there are zero guest incidents.
• Ensure that food production and service standards and processes are followed by location and by brand.
• Ensure Catering menus are standardized and consistent, with accurate portion sizes and displayed appropriately.
• Ensure team controls product cost and that financial results tie to plan driven expectations.
• Appropriate vendors utilized campus-wide to ensure compliance.
• 100% Prima/Enable tablet Compliance as appropriate. Prima, Birchstreet, EBT expert and trains Culinarians as needed to maintain compliance and reduce cost.
• Demand active and regular involvement in monitoring food quality by culinarians driven by their presence on the floor, tasting food, interacting with students and staff, and making in the moment corrections when standards aren’t met.
• Through all we do ensure that GU Dining is the employer of choice for culinarians in our marketplace.
• Develop team that actively seeks out innovation and applies it constructively to their individual operation.
• Develop and implement practical culinary training for each level of culinary team from entry level cooks to executive chefs.
• Drive participation in chef challenges and competitions both in unit and in industry.
• Ensure team leadership visits and learns from other accounts, competitors, suppliers, and innovators regularly.
• Oversee menu development in all departments. Ensure annual and seasonal changes are properly implemented as appropriate.
• Lead development and implementation of new concepts for residential and retail as needed.
• Ensure that menus include latest trends as well as GU traditions.
• Introduce new techniques and approaches to food, dining, preparation, new uses for equipment and space, etc.
• Participate in development of new corporate brands, LTOs, programs and menus. Ensure a robust events calendar is written/executed in conjunction with Sustainability, Health & Wellness and Marketing.
• Drive implementation and acceptance of sustainable food and programs on campus.
• Become well connected to students and student advocates at GU. Become the celebrity chef of the area.
• Create student events that educate as well as showcase the culinary talent of the team.
• Understand our students and what is important to them, ensure that our offerings reflect that vision.
• Engage groups and individuals to actively participate in programs and activities.
• Help to ensure that GU Dining is the workplace of choice for GU students.
• Actively connect with the Hart School of Hospitality and the Extern Program in particular. Ensure the students in our programs are engaged and learning as well as completing tasks.
• Connect and interact with the regional team, Regional Culinary Director, and peer group in and out of the region.
• Support, personally and with team resources, peer group with new openings, special events and other challenges.
• Support and engage community facing initiatives especially in the areas of food insecurity, health, wellness and nutrition and team recruitment.
• GU Food Pantry/local Food Banks utilized for surplus.

Benefits

• Aramark offers comprehensive benefit programs and services for eligible employees including medical, dental, vision, and work/life resources.
• Additional benefits may include retirement savings plans like 401(k) and paid days off such as parental leave and disability coverage.
• Benefits vary by location and are subject to any legal requirements or limitations, employee eligibility status, and where the employee lives and/or works.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees