Culinary & Food Safety Manager - Job Description

Reports To: Head of Culinary, with direct access to the CEO as needed.

Location: Tampa, FL headquarters, with about 30% travel to restaurants in Florida, Charlotte, and Nashville, new restaurant openings, and menu rollouts

Type: Full-time, salaried (exempt)

Position Overview

The Culinary & Food Safety Manager keeps every Naked Farmer plate safe, on spec, and on cost. This role owns food safety and quality across all restaurants and runs culinary execution for the Head of Culinary: seasonal menu rollouts, recipe costing, prep systems, and culinary audits.

Naked Farmer exists to build a better food system by connecting farmers to community. We cook scratch-made, seasonal food from farms close to home, run by real chefs, in fast-casual restaurants across Florida, Charlotte, and Nashville. Scratch cooking, local produce, and seasonal menus make our food special, and they also make food safety harder: our plates change with the seasons, we wash and prep produce in-house, cook and cool proteins and grains every day, and run a busy to-go catering business.

As we grow, our chefs carry food safety and recipe execution store by store. As we grow, food safety and culinary consistency need one owner at the center: someone who writes the standard, gets each new season’s menu into every kitchen on time and on cost, and checks that every plate matches the recipe before a guest or a health inspector notices. Chefs run their kitchens; this role sets the standard, rolls out the menu, and checks that both hold.

In this role, you will partner with Operations, Ops Excellence, Facilities, and our third-party food safety auditor

Core Responsibilities

Food Safety Standard

• Write and maintain one Naked Farmer food safety standard, at least as strict as the strictest code where we operate (Florida DBPR, North Carolina, Tennessee, and new states as we enter them).
• Turn it into clear, visual SOPs in English and Spanish on Opus: hot and cold holding, cooling, sanitizer setup, produce washing, allergens, time as a public health control, labeling, and receiving.
• Settle open technical questions with a clear recommendation to the Head of Culinary, for example, sanitizer type and water temperature for our dish machines and sinks.

Audits & Inspections

• Run our internal food safety audits, unannounced, and manage our third-party auditor. Track every result in one system.
• Run the scoring scale, pass/fail line, and escalation path (action plan, re-audit, escalation to the Head of Culinary and CEO).
• Track every health inspection in every market. Review reports within 48 hours and lead the fix on any violation.
• Keep health binders, permits, food handler cards, and manager certifications current in every restaurant, tracked centrally.

Risk & Suppliers

• Review every new menu item and prep method for food safety before launch, with sign-off authority.
• Keep supplier spec sheets and documentation that back up our menu claims (grass-fed, local, organic, allergens), and review in-store and online menus for consumer advisories and allergen statements.
• Lead recall and foodborne illness complaint response with the Head of Culinary.
• Flag food safety repairs to Facilities and track them to completion.

Seasonal Menu Rollouts

• Coordinate every seasonal and limited-time offer menu change from culinary development to launch: rollout calendar, recipe cards, training materials, and launch checklists.
• Run pilot-store testing and gather feedback before each enterprise rollout.
• Get training completed in every restaurant before launch, and support launch week in the field.
• Coordinate our outside culinary partners on development projects, such as the Culinary Edge program.

Recipes, Costing & Prep Systems

• Build and maintain recipes in R365: recipe mapping, yields and plate costs. Validate food cost and margin for every new or changed item before launch.
• Keep Fusion Prep (our prep system) accurate: prep sheets, pars and recipes match the current menu in every restaurant, and teams use it.
• Give Ops Excellence accurate recipe and menu details for POS and online ordering setup each season.

Culinary Standards in the Restaurants

• Audit culinary execution in existing restaurants: recipe and plate-spec adherence, prep quality, and holding times. Combine these with food safety audits where you can.
• Find gaps, set corrective actions with Chef Operators, and follow up until they’re closed.
• Support culinary training for new restaurant openings, and train chef teams on new recipes and techniques.
• Help the Head of Culinary test products and new suppliers, including our local farm partners.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in culinary leadership (sous chef, chef de cuisine, culinary or kitchen manager), with at least 2 in a multi-unit restaurant company.
• Hands-on food safety experience: running audits, preparing for health inspections, writing and training SOPs.
• Certified Food Protection Manager (ServSafe or equivalent). HACCP certification, or able to earn it within 30 days.
• CP-FS from NEHA
• Experience rolling out new menu items across several restaurants, including recipe cards and training.
• Recipe costing and inventory systems experience (R365 preferred; similar platforms count).
• Strong attention to detail: you notice when a plate, a prep sheet, or a temperature is off.
• Able to travel about 30%, including overnight, to restaurants and new openings.
• Valid driver’s license and the ability to work in a kitchen, including standing for long periods and lifting up to 50 lbs.

Preferred

• Culinary degree, or a degree in food science or a related field.
• Scratch cooking experience with seasonal, local produce.
• Bilingual in English and Spanish.
• Experience with Fusion Prep, OLO or other restaurant tech.
• Experience supporting new restaurant openings in a fast-growing company.

Leadership Attributes

• Fixes the system, not just the store: when a problem shows up in three kitchens, changes the recipe, the training or the standard.
• Direct and kind: tells a chef the truth about their kitchen and helps them fix it.
• Cares about great food: safe food, consistent food, and great food aren’t a tradeoff here.
• Loves systems: as comfortable costing a recipe in R365 as coaching a line cook through a new plate during the lunch rush.

Compensation & Benefits

• Base salary: Competitive, based on experience
• Annual performance bonus
• Travel: company travel policy covers flights, hotels, safety, and meals. Mileage for driving trips.
• Benefits: medical, dental, and vision after 60 days; paid vacation per company policy; phone and laptop.
• Food: free Naked Farmer meals when you’re in our restaurants.