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About the Role

The Production Manager will oversee daily production operations at Orbital Kitchens' Central Production Facility, leading food production, staffing, planning, safety, quality assurance, and continuous improvement. This foundational role is key to transitioning Orbital Kitchens to a centralized commissary model, partnering with various departments to align production with demand, inventory, purchasing, and distribution. The ideal candidate possesses strong culinary production knowledge, operational leadership, process improvement, team development, and commercial food manufacturing experience.

Responsibilities

Lead the operational transition from restaurant-based food production into a centralized commissary environment.
Develop scalable production systems capable of supporting continued company growth and new kitchen openings.
Evaluate existing production workflows and redesign processes for improved efficiency, consistency, and throughput.
Create and maintain Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for production, cooling, packaging, sanitation, equipment operation, and quality control.
Identify opportunities for automation, workflow improvements, and operational efficiencies.
Support facility startup, equipment commissioning, process validation, and production optimization.
Develop and manage daily, weekly, and long-range production schedules based on sales forecasts, inventory availability, labor capacity, equipment utilization, and distribution schedules.
Determine optimal batch sizes and production frequencies to maximize efficiency while minimizing waste.
Scale recipes into commercial production volumes while maintaining product quality, consistency, food safety, and yields.
Adjust production schedules to accommodate demand fluctuations, seasonal changes, menu launches, and new location openings.
Coordinate closely with Warehouse & Distribution to ensure ingredients, packaging materials, and finished goods remain aligned with production plans.
Oversee all daily production activities across hot production, cold production, ingredient preparation, packaging, and finished goods.
Ensure all recipes, yields, portioning, batch records, and production standards are consistently executed.
Optimize labor allocation and equipment utilization throughout the facility.
Partner with Culinary and R&D teams to successfully launch new menu items and production processes.
Maintain production schedules while meeting quality, safety, and distribution deadlines.
Recruit, hire, train, coach, and develop Production Supervisors, Prep Leads, Production Associates, and Packaging Associates.
Build staffing models that align labor with production demand and future growth.
Establish clear performance expectations, accountability standards, and production KPIs.
Conduct coaching sessions, performance evaluations, and ongoing skills development.
Develop internal talent pipelines and succession plans for future production leadership roles.
Foster a culture of accountability, teamwork, continuous improvement, operational excellence, and food safety.
Ensure every production run meets Orbital Kitchens' quality, consistency, and presentation standards.
Implement and oversee comprehensive Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC) systems throughout production.
Maintain compliance with HACCP, FDA regulations, Local Health Department requirements, and food safety and sanitation standards.
Develop standardized procedures for blast chilling, cooling, packaging, labeling, product traceability, shelf-life management, and storage.
Maintain production documentation including temperature logs, batch records, production reports, and QA documentation.
Investigate production issues and implement corrective and preventive actions.
Develop expert knowledge of all production equipment and facility capabilities.
Analyze labor utilization, production flow, bottlenecks, and equipment performance.
Recommend operational improvements that increase capacity while reducing labor costs, waste, and production variability.
Support future automation initiatives, equipment additions, and process standardization.
Drive continuous improvement initiatives that enhance productivity, consistency, and scalability.
Maintain a strong understanding of ingredient management, production yields, inventory accuracy, and production variances.
Partner closely with Warehouse & Distribution leadership to align purchasing, receiving, inventory planning, and production schedules.
Assist with monitoring ingredient usage, finished goods inventory, production yields, and inventory variances.
Support inventory planning activities to ensure uninterrupted production operations.
Develop, monitor, and report on key operational metrics, including labor productivity, production throughput, schedule adherence, batch accuracy, production yields, food waste, QA/QC compliance, on-time production completion, food cost variance, capacity utilization, and inventory variances.
Provide regular reporting and operational updates to leadership while identifying opportunities to improve efficiency, consistency, labor utilization, and overall production performance.

Requirements

5+ years of leadership experience in a commercial kitchen, commissary, food manufacturing, or high-volume food production environment.
3+ years managing production teams in a fast-paced operational setting.
Proven experience overseeing large-scale food production operations.
Experience developing production schedules while balancing labor, equipment capacity, inventory, and demand forecasting.
Demonstrated success scaling recipes into commercial production volumes.
Thorough understanding of HACCP, food safety regulations, sanitation standards, and commercial production environments.
Experience implementing QA/QC programs and standardized operating procedures.
Strong leadership, organizational, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, rapidly growing organization.
Flexibility to work evenings, weekends, and varying production schedules as needed.

Skills

Commercial food production
Batch cooking
Rapid cooling
Packaging
Shelf-life management
Yield optimization
Lean Manufacturing
Six Sigma
Continuous Improvement
ERP systems
Inventory management software
Production planning platforms
Bilingual English and Spanish

Location

Work Type

Full-time

Experience Level

5+ years leadership experience
3+ years managing production teams

Education Level

NYC Food Protection Certificate (or ability to obtain upon hire)

About the Company

Orbital Kitchens is transitioning from decentralized restaurant production into a centralized commissary model.
The company is experiencing rapid growth and opening new locations.