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Director Culinary Operations Salary Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Independent Hospitality Group

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Director of Culinary Operations

Charleston, WV · On-site

$80K - $85K/yr

Culinary Director Location: Charleston, WV (Relocation Assistance & Temporary Company Housing ... Competitive starting salary of $80,000-$85,000 * Relocation is encouraged, and temporary company ...

Salem's Fresh Eats

Culinary Operations Partner

Tampa, FL · On-site

$75K - $100K/yr

Proven success leading kitchen operations as an Executive Chef, Chef Partner, Culinary Director, or ... Competitive salary. * Growth opportunities within a dynamic and expanding brand. * Health, dental ...

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Director Culinary Operations Salary information

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$34K

$107.7K

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How much do director culinary operations salary jobs pay per year?

As of Aug 9, 2026, the average yearly pay for director culinary operations salary in the United States is $107,680.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $75,500.00 and $135,500.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What does a director of culinary operations do?

A director of culinary operations oversees the planning, development, and management of food service activities within an organization. They ensure quality standards, manage kitchen staff, develop menus, control budgets, and maintain health and safety regulations, often using culinary management tools and requiring leadership skills. The role typically requires extensive culinary experience and strong organizational abilities.

What is the difference between Director Culinary Operations Salary vs Executive Chef Salary?

AspectDirector Culinary Operations SalaryExecutive Chef Salary
Average Salary$85,000 - $150,000$50,000 - $90,000
Required CredentialsHospitality management, culinary degree, leadership experienceCulinary degree, extensive culinary experience, certifications
Work EnvironmentHotels, resorts, large restaurant groups, corporate settingsRestaurants, hotels, resorts, culinary establishments
Industry UsageOversees multiple culinary teams, operations, budgetsManages kitchen staff, food quality, menu creation

The main difference between a Director Culinary Operations and an Executive Chef lies in scope and responsibilities. Directors focus on overall culinary operations, budgets, and strategic planning, often overseeing multiple locations. Executive Chefs primarily manage kitchen staff, food quality, and menu development within a single establishment. Salaries reflect these roles, with Directors earning higher on average due to broader responsibilities.

More about Director Culinary Operations Salary jobs
What cities are hiring for Director Culinary Operations Salary jobs? Cities with the most Director Culinary Operations Salary job openings:
What states have the most Director Culinary Operations Salary jobs? States with the most job openings for Director Culinary Operations Salary jobs include:
What job categories do people searching Director Culinary Operations Salary jobs look for? The top searched job categories for Director Culinary Operations Salary jobs are:
Director Culinary Operations Salary jobs near you
Infographic showing various Director Culinary Operations Salary job openings in the United States as of August 2026, with employment types broken down into 95% Full Time, and 5% Part Time. Highlights an 100% In-person job distribution, with an average salary of $107,680 per year, or $51.8 per hour.

Director Culinary Operations

Gategroup

San Francisco, CA • On-site

Full-time

Medical, Dental, Vision, Life, Retirement, PTO

Posted 3 days ago

New

Job description

We're looking for motivated, engaged people to help make everyone's journeys better.
The Director Culinary Operations is the senior culinary and production leader responsible for overseeing a high-volume, complex airline catering operation functioning as an industrial-scale food manufacturing production department. This role ensures the safe, compliant, efficient, and cost-effective production of high-quality meals across multiple airline customers, while leading teams, enforcing strict process controls, and driving continuous improvement through data, standardization, and advanced production techniques.
The Director of Culinary Operations at the intersection of culinary excellence, industrial engineering, food safety, and operational leadership, ensuring all outputs meet regulatory requirements, airline specifications, and internal "gold standard" quality benchmarks.Annual Hiring Range/Hourly Rate:
  • 150K - 160K Per Year

Benefits, US
  • Paid time off
  • 401k, with company match
  • Company sponsored life insurance
  • Medical, dental, vision plans
  • Voluntary short-term/long-term disability insurance
  • Voluntary life, accident, and hospital plans
  • Employee Assistance Program
  • Employee Discounts
  • Weekly pay for union employees
  • Free hot healthy meals for unit operations roles

Key Responsibilities
1. Safety, Sanitation & Compliance
  • Consistently meets or exceeds regulatory and industry standards, including Health Department requirements, USDA and FDA regulations, as well as HACCP, GMP, and stringent airline-specific protocols.
  • Culinary Operations partners with the QA Support teams in the design, execution, and continuous improvement of robust sanitation programs, ensuring that cleaning schedules, validation processes, and verification mechanisms are rigorously followed. A strong focus is placed on allergen management and the prevention of cross-contamination, safeguarding both product integrity and consumer well-being.
  • Director of Culinary Operations ensures full traceability and control throughout the production lifecycle, embedding food safety and operational discipline into the DNA of the kitchen organization.
2. Production Leadership
  • Director of Culinary Operations operates as the senior production leader of a high-volume, industrialized food manufacturing environment.
  • They orchestrate complex, multi-line, multi-shift operations, ensuring that production flows seamlessly across kitchens and assembly lines.
  • Director of Culinary Operations establishes and reinforces standardized processes, driving consistency and eliminating variability.
  • Accountable for optimizing kitchen throughput, maximizing efficiency, and ensuring on-time and in-full delivery to assembly (i.e. Make & Pack) in a fast-paced and demanding operational environment.
3. Production Planning, ERP/MRP & Process Control
  • The Director of Culinary Operations owns the end-to-end food production planning process, including the Master Production Schedule (MPS) for the kitchen and detailed production sequencing required to meet dynamic customer demand. Leveraging ERP and MRP systems, they ensure accurate material planning, capacity alignment, and real-time execution tracking.
  • This role demands rigorous control over batch sheets and work orders, ensuring data accuracy and operational discipline at every stage.
  • The Director of Culinary Operations implements structured process control mechanisms to reduce variability, enhance predictability, and improve overall system performance.
  • Close collaboration with planning, procurement, and logistics functions is essential to ensure a synchronized and efficient supply chain, from raw materials to finished product.
4. Quality Management
  • Implementation of Total Quality Management (TQM) principles across the entire food production and assembly operation. They establish and enforce "gold standard", recipe accuracy, specifications, and procedures that define excellence in product quality and consistency.
  • Director of Culinary Operations ensures that every product meets rigorous standards before reaching the customer. Strong emphasis is placed on portion control and uniformity, critical in a high-volume airline catering context.
  • Continuous improvement is a core expectation
5. Business Performance & KPI Management
  • The Director of Culinary Operations is fully accountable for operational performance, owning a comprehensive set of KPIs that reflect both efficiency and effectiveness. These include food cost percentage, labor cost and productivity, food waste, yield accuracy, portion consistency, and on-time delivery.
  • Director of Culinary Operations identifies trends, gaps, and improvement opportunities, driving both corrective and preventive actions. They play a key role in building a culture where decisions are grounded in data and performance management is embedded at every level of the operation.
  • The Director of Culinary Operations ensures strict adherence to FIFO principles, safeguarding product freshness while minimizing waste and obsolescence.
  • They actively monitor and manage key cost drivers, including food cost (COGS), waste levels, recipe yield accuracy and inventory variances, taking corrective action where necessary.

6. Team Leadership, Training & Development
  • The Director of Culinary Operations fosters a high-performance culture characterized by accountability, discipline, and continuous improvement.
  • Responsible for designing and implementing comprehensive training programs that reinforce food safety, process adherence, and operational excellence.
  • Director of Culinary Operations invests in long-term capability building, developing future leaders and establishing robust succession pipelines to sustain organizational success.
7. Advanced Food Production Techniques
  • The Director of Culinary Operations brings a strong understanding of modern food processing technologies and their application in a large-scale production environment. This includes methods such as sous-vide, hot-fill processing, pasteurization, and other shelf-life extension techniques.
8. Cross-Functional Collaboration
  • of Culinary Operations works closely with multiple stakeholders, including Supply Chain Planning, Buyers, Quality Assurance, Process Engineering, Maintenance, and Commercial teams.
  • Ensures alignment between production capabilities and customer requirements, navigating operational constraints while maintaining service excellence
  • Director of Culinary Operations with corporate functions drive strategic initiatives, innovation, and transformation efforts, contributing to the long-term success and competitiveness of the organization.
Qualifications & Experience
Education
Bachelor's degree in:
  • Industrial Engineering
  • Process Engineering
  • Food Engineering
  • Related field (preferred)
  • Culinary qualifications are a plus but not mandatory.
Experience
Minimum 10+ years of hands-on leadership experience in:
  • Large-scale food manufacturing/production environments (strongly preferred)
  • Airline catering or high-volume institutional catering
  • Proven experience as Production Manager/Culinary Operations Leader
  • Experience implementing Lean food production/manufacturing and Continuous Improvement methodologies
  • Demonstrated experience with ERP/MRP systems (MPS, production planning)
Technical & Functional Skills
Deep knowledge of:
  • Food safety systems (HACCP, GMP, FDA/USDA compliance)
  • Industrial-scale food production processes
  • Production planning and scheduling
  • Strong understanding of:
  • KPIs and operational financial drivers
  • Inventory and cost control
  • Hands-on capability with batch control, process standardization, and quality systems

Job Dimensions
Geographic Responsibility: Unit
Type of Employment: Full-Time
Travel %: Yes - Up to 10%
Exemption Classification: Exempt
Internal Relationships: all internal departments
External Relationships: airline customers
Work Environment / Requirements of the Job:
    • Regularly, stands, bends, lifts, and moves intermittently during shifts of 10+ hours.
    • In a normal production kitchen facility there may be physical discomfort due to temperature and noise.
    • Must be able to lift, push, pull and move product, equipment, supplies, etc., in excess of twenty-five (25) pounds

Demonstrated Values to be Successful in the Position
Employees at gategroup are expected to live our Values of Excellence, Integrity, Passion and Accountability. To demonstrate these Values, we expect to observe the following from everyone:
    • We treat each other with respect and we act with integrity
    • We communicate and keep each other informed
    • We put our heads together to problem solve and deliver excellence as a team
    • We have passion for our work and we pay attention to the little details
    • We foster an environment of accountability, take responsibility for our actions and learn from our mistakes
    • We do what we say we will do, when we say we are going to do it
    • We care about our coworkers, always taking an opportunity to make someone's day better

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by the individual(s) assigned to this position. They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, and skills required. Management reserves the right to modify, add, or remove duties and to assign other duties as necessary. In addition, reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of this position.
gategroup is an equal opportunity employer committed to workforce diversity. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran status, disability status or other category under applicable law.
For further information regarding Equal Employment Opportunity, copy and paste the following URL into your web browser: http://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/posters/pdf/eeopost.pdf
We anticipate that this job will close on:
08/14/2026
For California Residents, please click here to view our California privacy notice.
If you want to be part of a team that helps make travel and culinary memories, join us!

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