About CookUnity

Food has lost its soul to modern convenience. And with it, has lost the power to nourish, inspire, and connect us. So in 2018, CookUnity was founded as the first-of-its-kind platform that connects the world with the source of truly great food: chefs. Today, CookUnity delivers 35 million meals a year from the industry’s best chefs to homes all over the country. Fresh. Ready-to-eat. And crafted with the passion that nourishes body and soul.

Unwilling to stop there, CookUnity is expanding beyond delivery to become an ever-innovating marketplace focused on our singular mission: empower Chefs to nourish the world.

If that mission has you hungry in more ways than one, you’ve found the right job posting.

The Role

The Director of Culinary Operations is a key senior leader responsible for overseeing all aspects of our Kitchen operations, ensuring consistent, high-quality culinary production while building a best-in-class experience for our chefs and frontline teams. This role drives the strategic direction, continuous improvement, and day-to-day execution of kitchen processes, while partnering cross-functionally to scale operations and maintain a high-performing, safety-first culture.

You will lead a team of supervisors and associates, fostering strong engagement and accountability while delivering operational excellence in recipe execution, food safety, quality assurance, training, packaging, and sanitation. You will also act as a critical partner to our chef community, ensuring they have the tools, support, and infrastructure to execute menu strategies that delight our customers.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end strategy and execution for Kitchen operations, with a focus on scalability, quality, efficiency, and compliance.
• Drive a culture of operational excellence, team development, and continuous improvement across production, packaging, and sanitation.
• Oversee hiring, coaching, and performance management for supervisors and frontline teams; build leadership bench strength and elevate team capability.
• Partner cross-functionally with Culinary, Food Safety, Procurement, and Logistics to ensure seamless coordination and execution of menu items and chef onboarding.
• Ensure systems are in place to maintain accurate inventory, recipe consistency, and on-time production—including allergen-sensitive items.
• Analyze and manage key performance indicators including labor efficiency, food cost, waste, yield, and throughput.
• Own kitchen safety and regulatory compliance, maintaining best-in-class standards in food safety, sanitation, and workplace safety.
• Champion a chef-first mindset by ensuring their needs are met and removing friction from their production experience.
• Identify and implement process improvements to support future growth and increased complexity across multiple shifts or facilities.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of leadership experience in restaurant operations, commercial food production, or high-volume culinary environments; multi-unit or multi-shift experience a plus.
• Proven ability to lead, develop, and inspire high-performing teams across multiple levels.
• Deep knowledge of food safety, kitchen operations, production systems, and sanitation practices.
• Experience managing financial targets and KPIs including labor, throughput, and food costs.
• NY Food Handler’s Certificate (or ability to obtain); ServSafe certification strongly preferred.
• Strong organizational and communication skills; bilingual in English and Spanish is a strong plus.
• Proficient with Google Workspace (Docs, Sheets, Drive) and comfortable with kitchen production software or inventory tools.

Benefits

• 🩺 Health Insurance coverage
• ⛱ PTO policy and paid sick days
• 📈 We grow, you grow: Stock Options Plan granted on Day 1.
• 🌟 Eligible for bi-annual performance bonus
• 🐣Paid Family leave
• 🕯 Compassionate Leave: 3-5 days each time the need arises
• 🥘 A generous amount of CookUnity credits to enjoy our amazing meals, added to your account, monthly
• 🧘🏽‍♀️ Customize the benefits that suit your needs! Access a range of perks tailored to you, including learning opportunities, wellness memberships, delivery apps, and more through our comprehensive benefit platform
• 👩🏾‍🏫 Personalized Spanish coach
• 🌟 Awesome opportunity to join a company that is looking to change how we eat and how chefs work!
• 🗓️ 5- year Sabbatical: After 5 years with CookUnity, you get a 4-week paid sabbatical

Compensation

All final pay rates will be determined by candidates experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities of the applicant, internal equity, and alignment with market data.

Pay Range for this position

$150,000 - $180,000 USD

If you’re interested in this role, please submit your application and if we think you might be a fit, we'll get in touch with you. Thank you for your time!

CookUnity is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are dedicated to creating a community of inclusion and an environment free from discrimination or harassment. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, citizenship status, protected veteran status, genetic information, or physical or mental disability.