Culinary Director

Just Fare • Oakland, CA

10d • $110,000 - $150,000 • Onsite

About The Position

The Culinary Director leads Just Fare’s catering kitchen and front-of-house operations, with accountability for food quality, hospitality, team performance, and financial results. The role connects the Oakland production kitchen with the guest experience at client sites, ensuring meals are thoughtfully designed, consistently executed, and delivered within budget. The director leads culinary and catering front-of-house managers, strengthens operating systems, develops a lunch program with more variety and choice, and creates fresh food product lines for Snack & Drink pantry programs in partnership with pantry leadership.

Just Fare is an Oakland-based food company providing workplace catering and pantry services to offices in the Bay Area and other cities, using its own culinary production and local restaurant and catering partners. Its Community Kitchen supports people facing food insecurity in the Bay Area; 1% of revenue supports donated meals through this charitable arm. The company reports having delivered more than 505,250 meals to communities fighting food insecurity.

The position reports to the CEO, with the reporting relationship transitioning to the COO when that role is filled. It works closely with pantry leadership, Client Experience, Front of House & Logistics, Finance, and People Operations. The role is based in Oakland, with regular time in the production kitchen and at Bay Area client sites. Hours vary with production and service needs and may include early mornings, occasional evenings, and travel for launches.

Requirements

• Significant culinary leadership experience, typically eight or more years, including management of high-volume catering, commissary, workplace dining, or comparable food operations.
• Experience overseeing both kitchen production and front-of-house service, including leading managers and hourly teams.
• Demonstrated ability to improve food and labor costs while maintaining quality and hospitality.
• Strong menu and fresh product development, recipe costing, and production planning skills.
• Food safety knowledge, including refrigerated foods and packaging for off-site service.
• Experience building practical systems in a growing business and managing changes across multiple client programs.
• Clear communication and sound judgment.
• Proficiency with spreadsheets and shared scheduling and project tools.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with restaurant partnerships or off-site catering.
• Spanish language skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead menu planning and development across catering programs, balancing flavor, seasonality, variety, dietary needs, and cost.
• Develop a cohesive lunch program with rotating options that give guests meaningful choice and remain practical to produce and serve.
• Standardize recipes, portions, yields, substitutions, and client customizations so changes carry accurately from ordering through production and service.
• Lead culinary development of restaurant and catering partnerships, including menus, portions, dietary standards, tastings, and quality reviews.
• Work with Account Management on client requirements, partner onboarding, service coordination, and feedback.
• Develop fresh food product lines for Snack & Drink programs, including refrigerated grab-and-go meals, protein salads, breakfast items, and snacks, based on client needs and feedback.
• Create product recipes, portions, packaging, allergen information, food safety and shelf-life specifications, and determine whether products should be produced in-house or sourced from local partners.
• Partner with pantry leadership on pricing and cost targets, demand forecasts, delivery and replenishment plans, and pilots; refine products using sales or consumption data, guest feedback, and waste information.
• Build repeatable production and sourcing standards so successful pantry products can be offered consistently across accounts and markets.
• Lead daily kitchen production and catering front-of-house service through the Executive Chef and hospitality managers, establishing clear ownership and reliable handoffs.
• Align production plans, staffing, packaging, dispatch readiness, and service schedules with client headcounts and approved changes.
• Set and maintain standards for presentation, setup, replenishment, guest interaction, breakdown, and communication between kitchen and service teams.
• Maintain documented food safety, allergen, sanitation, and time and temperature procedures from receiving through transport and service, and verify team compliance.
• Improve purchasing, inventory, equipment use, kitchen workflow, and waste tracking; plan production capacity for new accounts and increased volume.
• Own catering food, kitchen labor, and front-of-house labor performance against agreed budgets, partnering with Finance to review results and address variances.
• Use recipe costing, purchasing data, production yields, and service feedback to manage portions, waste, overtime, and cost per meal.
• Evaluate the cost and operational impact of new offerings and customizations before committing to them with Sales and Client Experience.
• Coach culinary and front-of-house managers, set clear expectations, and build a consistent culture of accountability, respect, and hospitality.
• Partner with People Operations on staffing plans, hiring, onboarding, training, performance reviews, and corrective action.
• Build cross-training and coverage plans to help teams maintain service when staffing or client needs change.

Benefits

• Competitive wages in an equitable tiered pay structure for all positions.
• Cell phone stipend.
• Health, dental, and vision insurance after 90 days.
• Self-managed vacation and paid time off (PTO) after 90 days.
• 401(k) retirement account for all employees after 90 days.
• Pre-tax commuter benefit after 30 days.
• Meals provided daily onsite at the Oakland Commissary Kitchen and at most client sites.
• Opportunity to develop skills, work with amazing people, and be part of a force for social change.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Education Level: No Education Listed