Director of Culinary / Corporate Executive ChefReports To: Chief Executive Officer (proposed)
Works Across: Restaurant operations, CPG (frozen retail), catering, marketing, purchasing
Location: Metro Detroit, MI. On-site, with travel to our restaurants and to our co-manufacturing partner
Employment Type: Full-Time, Exempt
The RoleBuddy's invented Detroit-style pizza in 1946. Today we run 19 restaurants across metro Detroit and sell frozen Buddy's pizza through grocers and distributors across the country, including Meijer, Kroger, Walmart, Target and Whole Foods.
We're hiring one culinary leader for both businesses. The pizza in the restaurant and the pizza in the freezer aisle carry the same name, so they should come from the same kitchen thinking. You'll own the recipe, the standard and the pipeline of what's next, from a test kitchen in Detroit to a production line at our co-manufacturer.
The job has three parts:
Protect the original. Our pizza has 80 years of history. You make sure it tastes the way it should in every restaurant and every box, every time.
Build what's next. New menu items, LTOs, catering and frozen products that fit the brand, hit a food cost and can actually be executed on a Friday night or on a production line.
Make it repeatable. Specs, recipes, training and quality checks that hold up without you standing in the kitchen.
What You'll OwnBrand recipes and specs. Keep the gold standard for every recipe: dough, sauce, cheese, bake, portioning. Document it, train it and audit it across restaurants and CPG.
Restaurant menu development. Lead new items, LTOs and menu updates from idea to launch. Work with operations on what the kitchen can execute and with marketing on what guests will buy. Every launch comes with a recipe card, a build guide, a plated standard and training.
CPG product development. Lead frozen product work from bench to shelf. Develop gold standards, translate restaurant recipes for frozen, run plant trials with our co-manufacturer, and sign off on first production. Support line extensions and buyer tastings at retail. The successful candidate must be capable of personally developing formulations, running trials and solving manufacturing issues rather than simply managing outside resources.
Quality in market. Run regular quality checks on restaurant pizza and on frozen product pulled from store shelves. Find where we drift from standard and fix it at the source, whether that's a recipe, an ingredient, a process or training.
Food cost and ingredients. Partner with purchasing and finance on recipe costing, menu pricing and food cost targets. Evaluate ingredient and supplier changes for taste, cost and availability, and qualify substitutes before we need them.
Kitchen training. Build the culinary side of training for kitchen managers and line cooks: recipe standards, new-item rollouts and pizza-making certification.
Catering. Develop and maintain the catering menu so it travels well, holds well and is profitable.
Food safety and labeling. Make sure recipes and products meet food safety standards and support accurate allergen, nutrition and label information for restaurants and retail.
Trends and competitors. Keep us current on what's happening in pizza, frozen and casual dining, and bring ideas that fit who we are.
How You'll Be Measured- Pizza quality scores in restaurants and on frozen product pulled from shelf
- New items and products launched on time, at target food cost
- Sales and margin of new menu items, LTOs and frozen products
- Food cost on recipes you own
- Kitchen training completion and recipe-standard audit results
- First-run success at the co-manufacturer: trials, approvals and fewer quality holds
- The successful candidate must be capable of personally developing formulations, running trials and solving manufacturing issues rather than simply managing outside resources.
Required Qualifications- Culinary background. 8+ years in professional kitchens, including 3+ years as an Executive Chef, Corporate Chef or Culinary Manager in a multi-unit restaurant company
- Product development. Hands-on experience taking a product from bench to commercial production with a co-manufacturer or plant: gold standards, scale-up, plant trials, specs
- Pizza and dough. Strong working knowledge of dough, fermentation, baking and cheese. Pizza or bakery experience is a strong plus
- Restaurant execution. You've launched menu items across multiple locations and know what a busy kitchen can and can't do
- Cost discipline. Recipe costing, food cost management and working with purchasing
- Food safety. ServSafe Manager certification or ability to obtain it quickly. Working knowledge of HACCP, allergens and labeling
- Communication. Comfortable training a line cook, presenting to a retail buyer and working with finance on margins
- Travel. Regular travel across metro Detroit and to our co-manufacturing partner in the Midwest
Preferred Qualifications- Bachelor's degree in Food Science, Food Engineering, Cereal Science, Baking Science or related discipline.
- Certified Research Chef (CRC) or Certified Culinary Scientist (CCS) from the Research Chefs Association
- Frozen food or CPG retail experience, including buyer presentations and line reviews
- Experience with a heritage brand, where the job is to protect a recipe as much as to invent one
Why Buddy's- The original Detroit-style pizza, with a brand people in Michigan grew up on
- A real seat at the table: this role works directly with the CEO and leadership team
- Two businesses to grow, restaurants and retail, with one standard behind both
- Competitive pay, bonus and benefits
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