Executive Chef (m/f/x)
At HelloFresh we love food, and our mission is to change the way people eat forever. That change comes conveniently packaged in a box - a HelloFresh Box, filled with the best fresh ingredients. With our meal boxes with easy to cook recipes and fresh ingredients, we are driving change in the quickly evolving food industry.
We are seeking an Executive Chef responsible for overseeing the daily kitchen operations of our newest brand: Factor (factormeals.nl), a healthy, ready-to-heat meal delivery service. Reporting to the Associate Director, Operations, this role will support R&D to scale all recipes from the test kitchen to production, ensure that all food prepared meets the highest quality standards and with incredible consistency, and lead a team of sous chefs and cooks to fulfill weekly customer orders.
What you will do:Define, document, and continuously improve all processes in the kitchen, collaborating closely with other departments to execute facility-wide initiatives
- Work closely with the recipe development team to ensure that our recipes scale from the test kitchen, to large batch production
- Plan our weekly production schedule to prep, cook, and plate meals in line with our customer order forecast
- Ensure all meals are prepared with outstanding consistency and quality, and are delivered on time and in full to our downstream operations teams
- Hire, train, coach, and develop our kitchen operations team, ensuring we have clear succession plans across different roles
- Build and continuously steer a strong culture within the kitchen operations team that balances employee safety, employee engagement, and accountability for high performance
- Set targets against key metrics (quality, cost, efficiency, employee engagement), support your team in delivering against them, and report regularly on progress to your peers and the leadership team
- Work closely with your peers in procurement, nutrition, and culinary to make on-the-fly adjustments to any recipes due to supply chain or production issues
- Ensure the kitchen operates alongside health and safety codes
What will you bring:
- 7+ years’ experience in commissary kitchen and high-volume food preparation, preferably in Ready-to-eat setup
- A process-driven approach to running a kitchen; you track inputs and outputs diligently and rely on data to measure performance and dictate priorities
- Ability to train and develop a large group of employees and manage an active kitchen, with an emphasis on employee culture and engagement
- Experience in a start-up environment, comfortable with changing priorities, showing entrepreneurial mindset
- A problem solver’s mentality; you see problems as opportunities and see the benefit of doing things differently
- No/low ego; you take direction and feedback well, and are focused on getting to the best possible outcome
- Computer literate; you are fluent in Microsoft Office and Google Suite applications (spreadsheets, slides, etc)
- Comfortable with being exposed to hot, cool and/or cold environments (0-30ºC)
- Fluent in German and English
- Modern and comfortable working space with diverse co-workers in Verden
- Development possibilities along with internal trainings and a yearly Learning & Development budget.
- Discount for HelloFresh boxes.
- Extensive Onboarding.
- Competitive salary and shift allowances.
- 30 days of vacations.
- Social events.
- Discounted fitness offers with our Urban Sports Club and John Reed partners.
- Well-being initiatives in cooperation with Headspace and Spill
- Company pension scheme
- Monthly transportation budget via NAVIT (20€ + 25€ ÖPNV)
- Selgros card
- Personal safety equipment
- Cafeteria on site