Kitchen Manager (Contract)

DoorDash is launching its very first standalone kitchen in the Houston area. DoorDash prepares multiple exclusive brands providing high-quality and affordable meal options for our customers, available only through the DoorDash app. We're building a best-in-class kitchen operation from the ground up. That means sweating the details, raising the bar every day, and constantly looking for better ways to serve our customers.

About the Role

As the Kitchen Manager, you’ll lead the daily operations of a DoorDash-leased cloud kitchen. You’ll lead a team of Cooks and Service Leads to ensure every meal is prepared safely, efficiently, and to the highest quality standards.

You’ll combine hands-on culinary leadership with operational excellence — working with our central ops team to manage staffing, scheduling, and kitchen performance while ensuring food safety, order accuracy, and team success. You’ll work closely with your manager to lead multiple food concepts, improve processes, and create a great place to work. This role requires strict adherence to food safety, inventory controls, and safety protocols due to routine access to food, supplies, equipment, and operational systems.

You’re excited about this opportunity because you...

• Are passionate about food and love to lead across multiple food concepts
• Take pride in knowing your work delights customers—even if you're not interacting with them face-to-face
• Enjoy building processes and seeing ideas come to life
• Are passionate about creating food consistently
• Thrive in hands-on, fast-paced leadership roles
• You're looking for more than a job—you want a role with responsibility, growth, and meaningful incentives

You’ll Make an Impact By...

• Leading: You’ll demonstrate compassion and commitment to inclusivity as you lead a team of hourly Cooks and Service Leads. You’ll support the hiring, coaching and development of high-performing team members, while building a safety-first culture where employees are excited to drive success, personally and for the team. Because this position is responsible for maintaining a safe, inclusive, and respectful workplace, strong adherence to professional conduct and employee safety standards is required. You’ll serve as a leading change agent for your kitchen, helping your team to navigate new food concepts and growth projects. You’ll tackle onsite escalations, including coordination with cross-functional partners.
• Operating: With your thumb on the pulse of all outcomes for your team, you will be directly responsible for driving results for your kitchen. To achieve your performance targets, you’ll drive success by driving effective scheduling and ensuring par levels are met, recipes are accurately executed, and best practices from across the network are deployed. Because this role oversees high-risk kitchen equipment and fast-paced food production, maintaining sound judgment and unimpaired performance is essential to ensure a safe work environment. You’ll engage cross-functional partners as needed for support.
• Strategizing: You will analyze performance metrics, identify root causes of issues like prep gaps or order quality, and implement solutions that drive efficiency and adoption. You will refine processes, and partner with your manager and cross-functional teams to execute new initiatives and continuously improve how the kitchen operates.
• Delighting: You care deeply about delivering great food and a great customer experience. You will coach your team to maintain recipe accuracy, food safety, and storefront availability, knowing that consistency is key in a multi-concept kitchen. You will collaborate with central teams so your site has the tools, training, and support needed to achieve excellent quality outcomes.

We’re excited about you because…

• You have 3+ years of experience in a medium/high-volume fast-casual or full-service restaurant environment.
• You have 1+ years of experience leading teams, including hiring, scheduling, coaching, and performance management.
• You hold (or are willing to get) a ServSafe Manager certification and set high standards for food safety and cleanliness.
• You’re a hands-on leader who motivates teams of 5+ employees to perform and grow.
• You take ownership and thrive in fast-changing, startup-style environments where no task is too big or small.
• You’re a creative problem solver who challenges “how it’s always been done” and finds better ways forward.
• You’re analytical, data-driven, and comfortable using Excel or Google Sheets to make decisions.
• As the leader of the site, you will need to ensure your team and the site are fully supported, which will include regularly scheduled late-night and weekend hours.
• You’re comfortable flexing between kitchen and administrative support, and you understand how culinary execution and order flow connect to overall site metrics like accuracy, quality, and efficiency.
• You have (or can quickly learn) a working knowledge of inventory management systems (IMS), product flow, and fulfillment best practices within a multi-operation site.

Why You’ll Love Working with DoorDash

• We are leaders - Leadership is not limited to our management team. It’s something everyone at DoorDash embraces and embodies.
• We are doers - We believe the only way to predict the future is to build it. Creating solutions that will lead our company and our industry is what we do -- on every project, every day.
• We are learners - We’re not afraid to dig in and uncover the truth, even if it’s scary or inconvenient. Everyone here is continually learning on the job, no matter if we’ve been in a role for one year or one minute.
• We are customer-obsessed - Our mission is to grow and empower local economies. We are committed to our customers, merchants, and dashers and believe in connecting people with possibility.
• We are all DoorDash - The magic of DoorDash is our people, together making our inspiring goals attainable and driving us to greater heights.

About DoorDash

At DoorDash, our mission to empower local economies shapes how our team members move quickly, learn, and reiterate in order to make impactful decisions that display empathy for our range of users—from Dashers to merchant partners to consumers. We are a technology and logistics company that started with door-to-door delivery, and we are looking for team members who can help us go from a company that is known for delivering food to a company that people turn to for any and all goods.

DoorDash is growing rapidly and changing constantly, which gives our team members the opportunity to share their unique perspectives, solve new challenges, and own their careers. 

Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

We’re committed to growing and empowering a more inclusive community within our company, industry, and cities. That’s why we hire and cultivate diverse teams of people from all backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. We believe that true innovation happens when everyone has room at the table and the tools, resources, and opportunity to excel.

: In keeping with our beliefs and goals, no employee or applicant will face discrimination or harassment based on: race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion, age, gender, marital/domestic partner status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability status, or veteran status. Above and beyond discrimination and harassment based on “protected categories,” we also strive to prevent other subtler forms of inappropriate behavior (i.e., stereotyping) from ever gaining a foothold in our office. Whether blatant or hidden, barriers to success have no place at DoorDash. We value a diverse workforce – people who identify as women, non-binary or gender non-conforming, LGBTQIA+, American Indian or Native Alaskan, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latinx, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, differently-abled, caretakers and parents, and veterans are strongly encouraged to apply. Thank you to the Level Playing Field Institute for this statement of non-discrimination.

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance, and any other state or local hiring regulations, we will consider for employment any qualified applicant, including those with arrest and conviction records, in a manner consistent with the applicable regulation.

If you need any accommodations, please inform your recruiting contact upon initial connection.