Director of Culinary Enablement - PHOENIX3 COLLECTIVE

Restaura is a dynamic and innovative player in the culinary and restaurant industry, known for its commitment to quality, sustainability, and community engagement. As an established entity within the sector, Restaura is dedicated to delivering exceptional dining experiences by integrating responsible sourcing, thoughtful menu development, and culinary excellence at every level of operation. The company prides itself on fostering relationships with local farmers, ranchers, and producers, emphasizing ethically sourced ingredients and supporting diverse supplier initiatives, including minority and women-owned businesses. This focus aligns closely with Restaura's core brand values and culinary commitments, making it a leader in sustainable dining practices. The role of Director of Culinary Enablement at Restaura is a pivotal position that works closely with the culinary team and kitchen brigade to support ingredient strategy, recipe development, restaurant menu concepts, and culinary standards training and inspection. This position manages the accurate documentation of recipes and ensures compliance with established culinary standards. It also plays a crucial role as a liaison between the culinary department and the enterprise supply chain management team, facilitating the growth of responsibly sourced and local procurement programs. The Director of Culinary Enablement is responsible for maintaining key culinary databases such as the pantry list, recipe collections, and menu constructs. Key responsibilities include overseeing recipe development, editing, and maintenance within culinary databases. The role supports process changes and new recipe procedures as directed by culinary leadership and manages recipe modifications related to enterprise-wide SKU optimizations, including global ingredient updates. This role also handles supporting documentation for recipes, ensures proper yield and preparation standards, and creates and maintains menu and recipe tools that aid field menu execution. Additionally, the position facilitates ingredient form management, assists with the planning and execution of development team presentations, ideation sessions, vendor presentations, and product-cutting events, and scales vendor recipes when necessary. The Director organizes regular communication with constituent groups to ensure alignment, manages field inquiries and feedback channels such as Recipe Feedback, Recipe Questions, and Ingredient Hotline portals, and supports culinary training efforts in new field locations and with newly onboarded culinary talent. This role also contributes to the creation of menus for new Restaura sites and develops, scales, deploys, and supports the Galley platform across the organization. As a liaison between client partner sites and the supply chain, the Director establishes collaborative relationships with farmers, ranchers, and producers to enhance responsible and local procurement efforts. This includes managing initiatives such as whole animal purchasing programs, third-party certifications, food hubs, and various diversity and inclusion-focused supplier partnerships. The position requires occasional travel to client partner sites as mandated by business needs and Restaura leadership directives. It also necessitates proficiency in workflow management tools like Excel, Smartsheet, and Google Docs. Special projects may be assigned periodically, adding diversity and challenge to the role. Overall, the Director of Culinary Enablement is an essential contributor to Restaura's ongoing mission to blend culinary innovation with sustainable sourcing and community engagement, making this opportunity ideal for professionals passionate about transformative culinary leadership within a growing and purpose-driven culinary enterprise.

• Bachelor's degree in culinary arts, food science, hospitality management, or related field preferred
• minimum 5 years experience in culinary development or food production environment
• strong understanding of recipe development and scaling
• experience with local and sustainable ingredient sourcing
• proficiency with culinary database management systems
• ability to coordinate across departments and influence stakeholders
• excellent verbal and written communication skills
• proficiency in workflow management tools such as Excel, Smartsheet, and Google Docs
• must be able to travel occasionally to client sites
• physical ability to lift up to 25 pounds
• ability to perform repetitive hand and arm motions
• comfortable working in fast-paced environments
• commitment to culinary excellence and sustainability principles