Manager, Culinary Operations

**Want to see your food soar at 40,000 ft?**

**Bring your commercial food production expertise to Australia's largest inflight catering company,**serving award winning cuisine to the world's travellers.**

**At dnata catering & retail the sky's truly the limit**

Unique and rare opportunity available for a full-time **Manager, Culinary Operations** at our Melbourne Airport International catering centre. Looking for a seasoned executive to join Australia's largest in-flight catering producer, and soon to be the largest single site catering facility in the Southern Hemisphere.

**More about this role**:
The Manager, Culinary Operations is accountable for overseeing all culinary and daily operational functions within a high volume and state-of-the-art commercial production kitchen. This encompasses leading all Kitchen Operations and Catering Production for the facility, whilst driving the senior leadership group to meet objectives.

**In a nutshell, your main responsibilities are**:

- Act as a senior member of the dnata Melbourne Leadership Team, lead and represent all objectives for the Culinary Operations division.
- Coordinate, supervise and provide direction for all Culinary team members
- Mentor and work closely with Executive Chef and Executive Sous Chefs
- Oversee all operational and service delivery activities to ensure all flights are serviced on time (production schedules) and to their specifications.
- Ensure accuracy for all recipes, and catering are prepared and finished to customer's presentation and specification standards across all Economy, Business, First Class and special meals.
- Plan and forecast all rosters coverage for each section of the Culinary department
- Responsible for P&L and management of Culinary Operations budget
- Lead the continuous improvement agenda aligned to each customer airline and their specific service requirements, using feedback and satisfaction scores.
- Develop Culinary staff, providing continuous feedback, performance evaluations and opportunities for skill development.
- Be accountable for delivering menu cost outcomes as specified in the budget
- Contribute to the promotion of sustainability / improvement in costs
- Ensure all changes in Customer specifications or recurring issues are communicated in a timely manner to the team to ensure Customer issues are resolved quickly.
- Lead the dnata Melbourne Culinary Team in customer audits and presentations.

**What do you need to be successful in securing this role?**
- Demonstrated success in a similar role.
- Proven Leadership experience to manage a team of 500+ personnel.
- Substantial exposure to Airline Catering Operations preferred but not essential.
- Must have high level experience in Food Manufacturing or Production
- Financial understanding of large P&Ls (over 100M)
- A strong level of leadership agility, diplomacy and ability to resolve complex problems.
- Lead by example approach, particularly displaying 'management by doing' philosophy
- Must be results driven and ambitious.
- High Level understanding of Food Safety / WHS and Quality Assurance.
- Good PC skills and an ability to work with an automated time and attendance system and other business-related systems.
- As you will be working in the Aviation Services industry, you will be required to obtain a clear National Police Check.

**What’s in it for you?**
- Competitive six figure salary.
- 5 weeks Annual Leave.
- Free parking available, daily staff meals, and uniforms provided.
- Career development and progression.
- Be part of a close knit and dedicated team that are committed to excellence.
- Discounts at over 700 hundred retailers, discounted health insurance, and wellbeing resources including online exercise classes.

**Your prospective employer**:
Part of the Emirates Group, we are Australia’s largest inflight catering and retail partner, food manufacturing and retail, travel retail technology, and airport lounge management. Chosen by many of the world’s top airlines, we operate 16 catering facilities across 10 cities, employ over 4,500 people, produce over 64 million meals, and service over 250 thousand flights each year.

**Does this role sound perfect for you? If so, we want to hear from you**

Click the link below and upload your resume to start on the journey of joining the dnata catering family as our Manager, Culinary Operations.