Senior Director Culinary

The Sr. Director, Culinary will play an important role in providing guests with a dining experience that delivers the Paradies Lagardère Brand promise through developing, testing, and commercializing new menu food and beverage offerings and the optimization of existing products & enhancement to the business model through process innovation. Reporting to the Vice President of Dining Operations, this position will work collaboratively with cross-functional teams and lead the integrated strategic direction and innovation of menu development and product improvement to increase overall guest satisfaction while understanding the core brand attributes guests expect from Paradies Lagardère. The Sr. Director, Culinary must be an effective leader and innovator (“difference maker”) within the Paradies Lagardère organization who will partner with key stakeholders within the organization – one who will integrate efforts and lead culinary teams who strive for performance excellence.

Duties And Responsibilities

• Serve as the company's primary culinary subject matter expert and communicates and educate the latest trends for business and industry.
• Establish short and long-term culinary and menu strategies that build upon and support Paradies Lagardère’s brand promise and align closely with brand positioning, consumer insights, and operational and financial business needs.
• Establish KPIs for entire culinary enterprise including waste and labor model.
• Establish and enforce strict quality assurance standards to maintain exceptional food safety, hygiene, and service standards.
• Oversee, at a strategic level, the development, testing, and deployment of a continuous pipeline of new menu items, keeping an eye on the most relevant issues in nutrition, wellness, taste, brand strategies, and business objectives.
• Partners with Marketing and Operations to determine how new menu items are best promoted nationally to ensure consistent execution in Paradies Lagardère’s restaurants.
• Effectively communicate culinary innovation strategy across the organization, building relationships and relaying department and organizational opportunities and objectives.
• Build, retain, and motivate a team to support bench strength and future growth and development of the culinary division with the ability to create a highly effective team- based work environment.
• Builds effective relationships with senior management in operations, finance, brand management, training, purchasing, quality assurance, supply management, and the vendor community to ensure open, honest communication, mutual respect, and strong teamwork.
• Build effective relationships with franchisees through strong communication and appropriate participation.
• Facilitation of recipe development process and costing through accurately estimating and managing food cost, waste, labor and inventory, and SKU management.
• Engaging in Cost Reduction and Item consolidation projects.
• Support the business development process by working closely with SR. Director’s and Director of Business Development as assigned.
• Conducting event walks and interacting with team members, guests, partners, and VIPs.
• Ensure compliance with local, state, and federal regulations related to food and beverage operations.
• Ensures the recipe management software is up-to date and tested for accuracy.
• Maintain and enforce strict food safety and sanitation standards in line with industry regulations.
• Oversee food sourcing, procurement, and vendor relationships to ensure the highest quality ingredients are used.
• Integral member of the dining senior team that will develop a comprehensive, longterm dining master plan.
• Responsible for all capital requirements for our kitchens, specifically as it pertains to equipment, costs; space, layout and logistics, vendor selection.
• Experience designing, developing and maintaining standardized recipes for various applications (Full Service, Quick Service, Bars and Coffee Concepts). Use deep knowledge of current food trends to develop and maintain seasonal, on-brand food and beverage menu.
• Experience managing, developing and training direct reports is required.
• Stay current on food technology ensure efficient controls for inventory, waste, allergens, and recipe management.
• Develop strong relationships with vendor to effectively manage the supply chain and optimize food spend and manage waste.
• Proven track record leading large transformational projects.
• Ability to identify, design and implement operating system support resources and performance analytics to drive the improved performance of the business.
• Excellent organizational skills, detail-oriented with ability to handle multiple assignments.
• Be hyper focused on food safety through training, documentation and standard operating procedures. Ensures kitchens adhere to Standards of Excellence.
• Streamline processes to ensure speed of service and delivery times.
• Create strategy for legacy “grab and go” and in store delis.
• Collaborate with other functions to plan and deliver successful company events such as new store openings, Global for Good charitable events, employee event.
• Perform other duties as assigned.
  
  

Typical Skills And Knowledge

• Industry Experience. This executive will have 10+ years of progressive professional experience in a highly creative product development multi-unit environment including kitchen management/culinary experience. Restaurant Ops and systems knowledge.
• Innovation. Proven track record of leading innovation and product development, including the successful launch of new products or concepts that set trends, rather than follow them. A solid understanding of competitive food and beverage trends is required.
• Creativity. The ability to deliver value and experiences to the Paradies Lagardère guests.
• Consumer/Strategy. Demonstrates knowledge of current consumer behavior and industry trends.
• Financial Acumen. Full understanding of food cost variables and cost control methods to support optimal product margins.
• Team Leadership. Hands-on leadership of diverse teams focused on strategy and execution. Ability to identify, recruit and retain strong talent. Experience motivating teams and building consensus with clear objectives.
• Strategic Development. Proven ability to create, implement and execute brand strategy through new products. Must have proven project management and experience with vendor and product commercialization (spec writing, product scaling, etc.).
  
  

Leadership & Management Behavioral Competencies

• Results Driven. Sets high personal standards of excellence; continuously looks for ways to improve performance; sets and works to achieve stretch goals; invests and takes appropriate risks evaluating the potential return.
• Coach/Mentor. Communicates positive expectations; readily shares knowledge and advice; provides candid, balanced, and regular feedback; provides opportunities to enhance professional growth.
• Analytical Thinking. Thinks and plans logically, making sure issues are thoroughly evaluated. Probes problems and issues in-depth, seeking subtle but important causes and considerations.
• Character & Integrity. Communicates with honesty, directness, and candor; words and actions are aligned with Dine Brands Global, Inc. values; actively seeks and incorporates feedback; speaks up and acts on values, even when unpopular or personally inconvenient.
• Relationship Building. Ability to create relationships with franchisees and other stakeholders to listen, understand, and make decisions consistent with brand strategy. Respects others; actively seeks and shares ideas; takes the initiative to collaborate with others.
• Commitment to Future Excellence. Takes personal responsibility for service excellence; views restaurants from guests’ perspective; identifies unmet needs of guests and works to meet them; identifies future needs, desires, and trends of current and potential guests.
• Demonstrated effective decision-making. Responds with urgency to immediate opportunities; executes plans vigorously and flexibly; proactively avoids potential problems; identifies and addresses long-term opportunities.
• Effective Communicator. Listens proactively; persuades using logical arguments; understands the “informal” organization and adapts strategy to influence.
  
  

Position Qualifications

• Legal Age: 18 years
• Education or Equivalent Experience: Bachelor’s Degree in culinary arts, nutrition, food science or related discipline required, or equivalent professional experience.
• Industry Experience: 10+ years of leadership experience in food service or hospitality industry-related experience.
• Certifications: Certified Executive Chef CEC® or CMC® Certified Master Chef® and American Culinary Federation Certification (ACF Certification)
• Travel Requirements: 40% or more
• Software: Recipe Management Software such as SAP
• Schedule: May require some nights, weekends, and holidays.