Production Manager – Commissary Operations

Bronx, NY | $72,000–$85,000

We are seeking an experienced Production Manager to lead daily operations within a growing central production/commissary facility in the Bronx. This is a hands-on leadership role responsible for high-volume food production, production planning, team development, food safety, quality control, and operational efficiency.

This is an exciting opportunity to help build and scale a centralized commissary operation supporting continued company growth and new locations. The ideal candidate brings strong experience in commercial kitchens, commissaries, food manufacturing, or other high-volume food production environments and knows how to create efficient, repeatable systems.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead daily hot, cold, prep, packaging, and finished-goods production.
• Develop and manage production schedules based on demand, labor, inventory, equipment capacity, and distribution needs.
• Help transition and scale production into a centralized commissary model.
• Scale recipes for commercial production while maintaining quality, consistency, yields, and food safety.
• Develop and maintain SOPs for production, cooling, packaging, sanitation, equipment operation, and quality control.
• Recruit, train, coach, and develop production supervisors, leads, and associates.
• Optimize labor, workflow, equipment utilization, batch sizes, and production throughput.
• Maintain strong HACCP, QA/QC, sanitation, traceability, cooling, labeling, and food safety standards.
• Partner with Culinary, Procurement, Warehouse, Distribution, and Operations teams to ensure production meets business needs.
• Monitor key performance indicators including labor productivity, yields, waste, production accuracy, schedule adherence, and capacity.
• Identify opportunities for process improvement, automation, cost reduction, and increased production capacity.
• Support new menu launches, equipment implementation, and continued operational growth.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of leadership experience in a commercial kitchen, commissary, food manufacturing, or high-volume food production environment.
• 3+ years managing production teams in a fast-paced operation.
• Proven experience overseeing large-scale food production and production scheduling.
• Experience scaling recipes into commercial production volumes.
• Strong knowledge of batch cooking, cooling, packaging, shelf-life management, yields, and food safety.
• Strong understanding of HACCP, sanitation, QA/QC, and commercial food production standards.
• Experience developing or implementing SOPs and improving production processes.
• Strong leadership, organization, problem-solving, and communication skills.
• NYC Food Protection Certificate or ability to obtain upon hire.
• Flexibility to work varying schedules, including evenings and weekends as operationally needed.

Preferred Experience

• Commissary or central production facility leadership.
• Multi-unit restaurant, QSR, or ghost kitchen operations.
• Opening, scaling, or transitioning a central production facility.
• Blast chilling, vacuum packaging, cook-chill systems, or commercial processing equipment.
• ERP, inventory management, or production planning systems.
• Continuous improvement, Lean, or Six Sigma experience.
• Bilingual English/Spanish is a plus.

Compensation: $72,000–$85,000