Director of Culinary Services

The Mishkon Division provides support and services in a healthy and safe environment for individuals with intellectual/ developmental disabilities living in residential programs and in community settings. Our core values are to provide a healthy and safe environment that promotes person centered planning, community integration, and close collaboration with families and the community. This is all accomplished through an Orthodox Jewish lens, and with an understanding that staff, at all levels of the division, is the determining factor in achieving positive outcomes for our clients.

The Culinary Service Director provides strategic leadership and hands-on management for culinary services across the Mishkon IDD Division. This role oversees safe high-quality, compliant, and person-centered meal services that meet kosher, nutritional, medical, and regulatory requirements. The Director leads and supports the culinary service manager and culinary staff, promotes accountability and a positive service culture, and partners with residential, clinical, vendor, and leadership teams to ensure efficient food service operations and continuous improvement.

The Culinary Service Director reports to the Senior Director of Culinary Services.

• Oversee consistent, compliant meal service across all programs, ensuring 100% adherence to approved menus, modified textures, therapeutic diets, individualized dietary needs, and Kashrut laws.
• Maintain high standards for food quality, portioning, presentation, and service delivery through routine monitoring and documented site reviews.
• Lead weekly dietician collaboration to support menu planning, dietary compliance, timely follow-up on identified concerns, and continuous quality improvement.
• Develop and maintain culinary service protocols, operating guides, workflows, and performance dashboards to monitor compliance, service quality, staffing, inventory, and department progress.
• Provide leadership updates on staffing, compliance, service quality, budget trends, and operational risks.
• Use data to identify gaps, monitor corrective actions, support budget compliance, and drive improvement.

• Provide direct supervision of the Culinary Services Assistant Manager, scheduling oversight, and operational support to culinary staff across the Division, ensuring adequate staffing coverage and consistent service delivery.

• Support onboarding, training, and coaching of culinary personnel to promote 100% compliance with food safety, sanitation, dietary, and program standards.
• Monitor staff performance, attendance, and coverage needs through routine site presence and follow-up to address gaps in a timely manner.
• Maintain regular in-person presence in kitchen and food service areas to observe operations, reinforce expectations, and support quality assurance.
• Partner with leadership to support recruitment, onboarding, and staff development efforts that align with program needs and service expectations.
• Supervise other culinary staff, as needed.

• Drive compliance with food safety, sanitation, NYSDOH, NYC Food Protection, Kashrut, and organizational standards across all culinary operations.
• Lead routine audits of kitchens, storage areas, temperature logs, sanitation practices, and meal service to ensure consistent regulatory readiness.
• Straighten quality assurance by monitoring food handling, labeling, storage, documentation, and corrective action follow-up.
• Maintain audit-ready programs through proactive staff coaching, documentation review, and timely resolution of compliance gaps.
• Maintain accurate, audit-ready documentation for logs, records, corrective actions, and reports.

• Ensure 100% adherence to approved menus, recipes, measurements, portions, and substitutions across assigned sites.
• Monitor accuracy and compliance of modified-texture, therapeutic, kosher, and special diets.
• Partner with clinical and dietary teams support individualized needs and timely menu updates.
• Reinforce proper use of kitchen tools, equipment, and appliances to support safe, consistent meal service.

• Manage inventory, ordering, and supply utilization to support budget compliance, reduce waste, and prevent overstocking or shortages.
• Partner with approved vendors and Purchasing agent to ensure timely, cost-effective purchasing and accurate deliveries.
• Monitor food usage, stock…