Senior Manager, Culinary Operations

l partner-with deep interconnection across various departments including but not limited to field and support center Operations teams to drive flawless execution, Marketing team to ideate and drive innovation, Finance, Sourcing, Distribution, and Risk Management teams.

Responsibilities:

• Operational Engagement
  • Ensure culinary programs are executable, consistent, and operationally sound across all assigned locations
  • Partner with Operations to align menu execution with labor models and kitchen workflows
  • Identify and resolve execution gaps impacting food quality, speed, or cost
  • Support new unit openings with culinary readiness, training, and launch execution
  • Maintain relationships and alignment with vendors, partners, and key suppliers to ensure readiness, spec adherence, and operational viability/feasibility
• People Management & Development
  • Directly manage R&D coordinator(s)
  • Conduct performance reviews, goal setting, and development planning
  • Partner with the operations team to coach leaders on execution standards, accountability, and team engagement
  • Identify high-potential culinary talent and support succession planning
• Menu & Systems Execution
  • Support and drive menu rollouts by ensuring recipes, prep systems, and station builds are operationally viable
  • Partner with Operations, Marketing, Finance, Sourcing, and Distribution on feasibility reviews
  • Partner with Operations to ensure culinary documentation (SOPs, prep guides, execution tools) is accurate and utilized
  • Monitor SKU complexity and provide recommendations to simplify execution
  • Participate in menu change governance and execution readiness discussions
  • Recommend menu, process, and system improvements; escalates enterprise-level decisions
• Financial & Performance Accountability
  • Support food cost, waste reduction, and portion control initiatives
  • Monitor operational KPIs tied to culinary performance (food cost variance, execution audits, labor impact)
  • Partner with Finance, Sourcing, and Distribution teams to address cost pressures and product substitutions
  • Identify opportunities to improve margin through operational efficiency
  • Own all culinary SOPs, training content, equipment guides, and testing protocols, ensuring materials are intuitive, executable, and continuously improved through field feedback loops
• Field Leadership & Compliance

  • Conduct regular field visits, kitchen audits, and execution reviews with the Operations team

  • Ensure adherence to brand standards, food safety policies, and culinary SOPs

  • Present and lead corrective action plans when standards are not met

  • Support food safety and quality assurance initiatives through corrective action and training

Requirements:

• 5 years of corporate culinary leadership experience in multi-unit environment required (20+ locations preferred)

• Strong understanding of food cost, labor models, and kitchen systems required

• Proven ability to lead culinary development at scale required

• Experienced in building cross-functional partnerships in a corporate environment required

• Background in restaurant, stadium, hospitality, healthcare, or contract dining environments preferred

• Experience with menu rollouts, new unit openings, or system standardization preferred

• Comfortable using operational data and KPIs to drive decisions

• Customer focus

• Business acumen

• People leadership and coaching

• Excellent verbal, written, and interpersonal communication skills

• Planning and organization

• Change management and problem-solving

• Analytical mindset with multi-tasking abilities

• Willing to travel up to 15% of the time.

Benefits Available:

At Cinemark, we believe every team member should feel like a hero. Each career comes with a variety of blockbuster benefits for both hourly and salaried team members.

• Employee Discount

• 401(k) Matching*

• Growth Opportunities

• Education Assistance*

• Health Benefits*

• Parental Leave*

• Paid Time Off*

• Daily Pay*

• Free Movies*

• Benefits may vary by career category, so be sure to check the specific details on our career site.

DISCLAIMER: This job description is intended only as a general guideline of your duties and responsibilities at Cinemark and is not a legally binding contract. Cinemark reserves the right to amend, change or terminate the job description, as it deems appropriate. Any change amendments, or modifications may be implemented even though they have not been communicated, reprinted or substituted in this job description.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Cinemark is an Equal Opportunity Employer