Director of Culinary Services

PURPOSE:  

The Mishkon Division provides support and services in a healthy and safe environment for individuals with intellectual/ developmental disabilities living in residential programs and in community settings. Our core values are to provide a healthy and safe environment that promotes person centered planning, community integration, and close collaboration with families and the community. This is all accomplished through an Orthodox Jewish lens, and with an understanding that staff, at all levels of the division, is the determining factor in achieving positive outcomes for our clients.

POSITION OVERVIEW:

The Culinary Service Director provides strategic leadership and hands-on management for culinary services across the Mishkon IDD Division. This role oversees safe high-quality, compliant, and person-centered meal services that meet kosher, nutritional, medical, and regulatory requirements. The Director leads and supports the culinary service manager and culinary staff, promotes accountability and a positive service culture, and partners with residential, clinical, vendor, and leadership teams to ensure efficient food service operations and continuous improvement. The Culinary Service Director reports to the Senior Director of Culinary Services.

KEY ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

Operations & Program Oversight:

• Oversee consistent, compliant meal service across all programs, ensuring 100% adherence to approved menus, modified textures, therapeutic diets, individualized dietary needs, and Kashrut laws.
• Maintain high standards for food quality, portioning, presentation, and service delivery through routine monitoring and documented site reviews.
• Lead weekly dietician collaboration to support menu planning, dietary compliance, timely follow-up on identified concerns, and continuous quality improvement.
• Develop and maintain culinary service protocols, operating guides, workflows, and performance dashboards to monitor compliance, service quality, staffing, inventory, and department progress.
• Provide leadership updates on staffing, compliance, service quality, budget trends, and operational risks.
• Use data to identify gaps, monitor corrective actions, support budget compliance, and drive improvement.

Leadership & Staff Supervision:

• Provide direct supervision of the Culinary Services Assistant Manager, scheduling oversight, and operational support to culinary staff across the Division, ensuring adequate staffing coverage and consistent service delivery.

• Support onboarding, training, and coaching of culinary personnel to promote 100% compliance with food safety, sanitation, dietary, and program standards.
• Monitor staff performance, attendance, and coverage needs through routine site presence and follow-up to address gaps in a timely manner.
• Maintain regular in-person presence in kitchen and food service areas to observe operations, reinforce expectations, and support quality assurance.
• Partner with leadership to support recruitment, onboarding, and staff development efforts that align with program needs and service expectations.
• Supervise other culinary staff, as needed.

Compliance & Quality Assurance:

• Drive compliance with food safety, sanitation, NYSDOH, NYC Food Protection, Kashrut, and organizational standards across all culinary operations.
• Lead routine audits of kitchens, storage areas, temperature logs, sanitation practices, and meal service to ensure consistent regulatory readiness.
• Straighten quality assurance by monitoring food handling, labeling, storage, documentation, and corrective action follow-up.
• Maintain audit-ready programs through proactive staff coaching, documentation review, and timely resolution of compliance gaps.
• Maintain accurate, audit-ready documentation for logs, records, corrective actions, and reports.

Menu & Dietary Management:

• Ensure 100% adherence to approved menus, recipes, measurements, portions, and substitutions across assigned sites.
• Monitor accuracy and compliance of modified-texture, therapeutic, kosher, and special diets.
• Partners with clinical and dietary teams support individualized needs and timely menu updates.
• Reinforce proper use of kitchen tools, equipment, and appliances to support safe, consistent meal service.

Inventory & Purchasing Support:

• Manage inventory, ordering, and supply utilization to support budget compliance, reduce waste, and prevent overstocking or shortages.
• Partner with approved vendors and Purchasing agent to ensure timely, cost-effective purchasing and accurate deliveries.
• Monitor food usage, stock rotation, and purchasing trends to identify savings opportunities and reduce unnecessary costs.
• Ensure supplies are allocated appropriately across apartments and sites to maximize resources and maintain consistent service delivery.

CORE COMPETENCIES for the position include:

• Demonstrated ability to lead multi-site culinary operations with consistency, accountability and service excellence.
• Drive regulatory compliance, food safety, sanitation, Kashrut standards and audit readiness.
• Knowledgeable of cost control practices.
• Knowledge of therapeutic, modified texture, kosher and special diets.
• Proven capacity to build high-performing teams.

EDUCAITONAL / TRAINING REQUIRED:

• Bachelor’s degree in Food Service Management, Nutrition, Hospitality, or related field (or equivalent experience)
• NYSDOH – NYC Food Handler’s Certificate required.

EXPERIENCE REQUIRED/LANGUAGE PREFERENCE:

• Minimum 3-5 years of experience in food service operations, preferably in a multi-site or healthcare/residential setting.
• Strong knowledge of food safety regulations.
• Experience managing staff across multiple locations.
• Strong organizational, communication and leadership skills.

COMPUTER SKILLS REQUIRED (List the computer skills needed):

• Basic proficiency with Microsoft Office and electronic systems for documentations, scheduling, timekeeping, inventory, and communication.

VISUAL AND MANUAL DEXIERITY:

• Visual acuity to inspect food quality, presentation, portion sizes, labels, and dietary instructions.
• Ability to read recipes, diets, menus, measurements, and food safety guidelines accurately.
• Manual dexterity to safely handle kitchen tools, equipment, and supplies.
• Ability to lift and carry up to 25 lbs. stock boxes, bags, equipment, and supplies.
• Ability to bend and climb as needed in a food service environment.  

WORK ENVIRONMENT / PHYSICAL EFFORT:

• Standing for extended periods as required to complete the work.
• Work effectively in kitchen environments that may include exposure to heat, food preparation equipment, and active meal service operations.
• Regular travel between residential services.

If you join us, you’ll have these great benefits:

• Generous vacation time, in addition to paid agency holidays and sick days
• Affordable and high-quality medical/dental/vision plans 
• Tuition assistance and educational loan forgiveness
• Free continuing education opportunities 
• 403(b) retirement benefits and a pension
• Flexible spending accounts for health and transportation 
• 24/7 Accessible Employee Assistance Program  
• Life and disability insurance 

 Who we are:

The Jewish Board delivers innovative, high-quality, and compassionate mental health and social services to over 45,000 New Yorkers each year. We are unique in serving everyone from infants and their families to children, teens, and adults. We are proud to employ and serve people of all religions, races, cultural backgrounds, gender expressions, and sexual orientations. We are committed to building diverse, equitable, and inclusive teams to help support our mission, and we strongly encourage candidates from historically marginalized backgrounds to apply to work with us.

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