Director of Culinary - Gastronauts Food Group

The Director of Culinary is the culinary leader for Gastronauts Food Group, overseeing menu strategy, core menu excellence, and innovation across Hi-Pointe Drive-In and Taco Buddha. This role balances creativity with operational discipline, ensuring menus are craveable, scalable, and profitable as both brands grow.

This is a hands-on leadership role for a chef who thrives in high-volume environments and enjoys collaborating across operations, and marketing.

Key Responsibilities

Culinary Strategy & Brand Leadership

• Own the culinary vision for both brands while preserving their distinct identities.
• Serve as the culinary steward for menu quality, consistency, and brand integrity.
• Translate guest feedback, trends, and data into clear culinary priorities.
• Partner closely with brand leaders (President, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Concept Officer – Taco Buddha, culinary operations leaders) to ensure alignment and collaboration.

Menu Optimization & Core Menu Excellence

• Lead ongoing evaluation and improvement of core menus.
• Use menu engineering to optimize sales mix, margins, and operational simplicity.
• Maintain standardized recipes, specs, and portion controls across all locations.

Menu Innovation & R&D

• Develop and manage a structured innovation calendar (Weekly Specials at Hi-Pointe, Tacos of The Month at Taco Buddha, LTOs, seasonal items, collaborations).
• Lead R&D from concept through testing, costing, and rollout.
• Partner with Marketing to launch new items with strong storytelling and brand alignment.

Culinary Operations, Quality & Food Safety

• Establish and enforce culinary standards across all locations—taste, appearance, portioning, prep methods, and equipment use.
• Collaborate with Operations to ensure kitchens are designed, staffed, and trained to execute menus efficiently.
• Develop and maintain SOPs for prep and line execution, food safety and sanitation, and receiving, storage, and labeling.
• Implement systems for waste tracking and reduction without compromising quality.
• Conduct regular onsite culinary audits and tastings, providing coaching and clear follow-up plans.
• Partner with Ops to ensure training materials (videos, manuals, station guides, checklists) are accurate, updated, and user-friendly.

Financial & Supply Chain Collaboration

• Own culinary performance related to COGS and margin targets.
• Partner with Ops and Supply Chain on costing, vendor selection, and product specs.
• Identify opportunities to streamline SKUs and reduce waste without compromising quality.

People & Leadership

• Coach, and develop kitchen leaders across both brands.
• Foster a people-first, inclusive, and accountable kitchen culture.
• Build clear development paths for high-potential culinary talent.

Growth & New Openings

• Support new restaurant openings through menu planning, training, and onsite support.
• Adapt menus thoughtfully for new markets while protecting brand DNA.

Qualifications

Required

• 7+ years of culinary leadership experience, including multi-unit restaurant operations.
• Proven success in menu development, innovation, and menu engineering.
• Strong understanding of high-volume kitchen execution and food safety.
• Experience leading and developing culinary teams.
• Ability to travel regularly to restaurant locations.

Preferred

• Experience with chef-driven fast-casual concepts (burgers, tacos, or similar).
• Background in both scratch cooking and scalable systems.
• Formal culinary training a plus.

What Success Looks Like

• Strong-performing, clearly defined core menus.
• A repeatable innovation process that drives guest excitement and incremental sales.
• Consistent food quality across all locations.
• Engaged, well-trained culinary teams.
• Menus that support profitable, sustainable growth.