Culinary R&D Training Manager

Lab37•Los Angeles, CA

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

Lab37 Robotics is a technology company focused on the development and deployment of robots designed specifically for direct-to-customer food production. Our mission is to revolutionize the food industry by creating innovative robotic solutions that enhance efficiency, quality, and customer satisfaction. We are passionate about pushing the boundaries of technology to deliver cutting-edge products that meet the evolving needs of our clients. The Culinary R&D Training Manager ensures that what gets built in the R&D kitchen actually works in the real one — at scale, under pressure, shift after shift. This role sits at the intersection of culinary operations, training, and performance analytics. The ideal candidate can read a dashboard and identify potential kitchen issues, then get on the ground to find the root cause and implement lasting solutions. The job involves turning every fix into a system, a playbook, or a training flow that can be adopted by other kitchens without direct supervision. This is a hands-on role, described as part-detective, part-coach, and part-systems-builder, requiring fast-paced work in scrappy environments. Success is measured by the performance of kitchens, particularly by ensuring future kitchens perform well before the manager even arrives.

Requirements

2+ years in food operations — multi-unit management, culinary ops consulting, or a QSR/fast-casual ops leadership background.
You have personally run or overseen high-volume kitchens.
Strong analytical instincts: Comfortable reading performance data (ratings, COGS, ticket times, waste reports) and drawing real operational conclusions from it — not just flagging numbers, but diagnosing what they mean on the floor.
Training background: You've built or run training programs before. You know how to transfer standards to a team and make them stick.
Systems builder: You write playbooks people actually use. You build SOPs that survive the Friday night rush, not just look good in a doc.
Willingness to travel and deploy: This role requires on-site presence in kitchens when the data calls for it. You're not afraid to get on a plane, put on an apron, and work a shift alongside the team.
Calm under pressure: Underperforming kitchens are stressful environments. You come in with a clear head, a diagnostic process, and the ability to get a team to trust you fast.
Scrappy and self-directed: You don't need a big team or big budget to be effective. You'll have good data, good recipes, and a mandate to make things work.

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with digital-first / ghost kitchen / delivery-only kitchen operations.
Experience with kitchen tech platforms (KDS, POS, ordering systems) and comfort interpreting operations data at a system level.

Responsibilities

Operationalize R&D output: Take certified recipes and methods from the R&D kitchen and build the real-world playbooks that make them executable — prep sequences, station setups, timing logic, contingency guides, and shift flow documentation.
Build and run training programs: Design the curriculum, conduct initial kitchen training for every new menu launch, and build the ongoing certification and reinforcement system that ensures standards don't decay.
Monitor remotely, act decisively: Live in our kitchen KPI dashboards (ratings, COGS, waste, ticket times) across all locations. Surface drift early. Know when to deploy yourself vs. when to escalate vs. when to coach remotely.
Field diagnose and execute: When a kitchen is underperforming, land there with a clear diagnostic framework — observe ops, identify root cause (not symptoms), design a corrective plan, and execute it with the team, not just for them.
Close the loop: Every field intervention produces an updated playbook, a training note, or a flag back to R&D — ensuring the system gets smarter each time.
Own kitchen readiness: Work alongside Kitchen Ops to ensure that every kitchen launching a new brand or menu is operationally ready before go-live.
Partner with R&D: Sit in on scaled recipe tests and productization reviews — be the voice in the room asking "can a real kitchen team actually run this?"