Director Culinary Operations Jobs in Chicago, IL

Company Overview

Quest Food Management Services, Inc. is a privately owned, full service, foodservice management company located in Lombard, Illinois. Founded in 1985, Quest has served schools, universities and corporate office buildings in the Midwest guided by its mission to provide the communities we serve with fresh, high-quality food, exceptional responsiveness, and intensely personal service. Quest has consistently been recognized among the top food service management companies in the country in recent years.

Today Quest services many operations in the metropolitan Chicago and upper Midwest area ranging from grade schools to high schools to independent schools and corporate office buildings. It has been Quest’s employees who have been the cornerstone of our growth. Quality people, quality food, and quality clients are our recipe for success.

Position Summary

The Culinary Director provides comprehensive field leadership and operational support for all culinary services and new initiatives. In this multifaceted role, the Director ensures database integrity and manages corporate recipe systems, software migrations, and actionable Excel reporting to drive field profitability. Additionally, this position acts as an agile culinary resource, assisting with high-profile catering events, preparing tasting menus for sales proposals, and providing targeted site support during critical operational windows.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Recipe & Database Administration: Support with the corporate recipe database; manage the input, continuous editing, scaling, and formatting of all standardized recipes to ensure accuracy for field deployment.
• System Migration & Data Entry: Support data entry projects and software transitions, ensuring legacy recipes, menus, and inventory components are accurately mapped into corporate culinary systems.
• Reporting & Excel Analysis: Design, maintain, and distribute regular Excel-based operational reports tracking recipe compliance, waste reduction, food costs, and nutritional data metrics.
• Sales & Presentation Support: Assist Culinary Team in executing culinary presentations and high-end tasting menus for potential client walkthroughs.
• Catering Coordination & Execution: Provide hands-on culinary and operational support for high-profile catering events, VIP functions, and major regional initiatives. Manage the administrative side of large-scale catering menus, including recipe scaling, ordering and logistics.
• District & Operational Support:. Deploy to the field on an as-needed basis to support unit operations during concept rollouts or transitions.
• Compliance & SOP Maintenance: Support auditing and all culinary Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and HACCP food safety standards across the portfolio.

Job Requirements/Specifications

Education and Experience: The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.
• 3+ years of food service industry management experience, with a background in contract food management preferred.
• Proven experience working heavily with back-of-house software, menu management systems, or recipe database platforms.

Essential Qualifications: To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactory. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Strong foundational culinary skills paired with a systems-driven, administrative approach; ability to pivot seamlessly from data entry to client-facing food execution.
• Advanced proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite, specifically Excel (VLOOKUPs, Pivot Tables, data formatting) and PowerPoint (deck design and visual layouts).
• Demonstrated ability to analyze data, determine priorities, manage time effectively, and make process improvement recommendations.
• Outstanding interpersonal, relationship management, and customer service skills, including excellent verbal and written communication.
• Ability to function well and make sound decisions in a high-paced, deadline-driven environment.

Time & Travel Allocation:

• Position is primarily office/administrative based (60-70%), with 30-40% flexibility required for field deployments, sales presentations, and hands-on catering support.
• Ability to travel to work sites within the Quest portfolio.

Language Skills:

• Ability to read, write, and speak English proficiently.
• Bilingual skills preferred.

Physical Demands & Work Environment:

• Must be able to remain seated for extended periods to perform computer-based data entry, presentation design, and keyboarding.
• Frequently required to stand, walk, sit, use hands to feel, and reach with hands and arms.
• Must possess the physical stamina to actively work a culinary line and occasionally lift and/or move up to 25-50 pounds during catering events and kitchen support shifts.
• Specific vision requirements include close range, distance vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.