Plant Manager (Food Manufacturing)

Plant Manager Dessert Holdings is the leading premium dessert company in the world. We craft artisanal, scratch-made desserts at scale, combining culinary innovation with the finest real ingredients. With a rich heritage spanning seven distinctive brands, we bring unmatched expertise and tailored solutions to our Retail and Foodservice partners. Dessert Holdings is looking for a dynamic Plant Manager responsible for plant operations in Le Center, MN. This individual is accountable for all aspects of plant performance to ensure business, operational, quality, and safety objectives are achieved through driving a culture of employee safety and food safety first in everything we do within the plant. Key Responsibilities Provide leadership, direction, and training opportunities to managers and supervisors to achieve company goals and objectives. Identify, select, and develop talent to ensure "bench strength" and continued development and advancement of top talent within the organization. Build strong relationships across Quality, Safety, Operations, Technical Services and Commercialization teams while balancing priorities and driving culture. Oversee development and implementation of company standards, policies and procedures and ensure compliance in production operations. Manage assigned metrics and KPIs to drive improvement in plant output and results. Drive safety initiatives in a proactive manner and promote a safe work environment in daily operations. Partner with Quality to ensure quality programs (SQF, HACCP, GMP, etc.) are followed, and participate in investigation, corrective action, and prevention of food safety incidents and non-conformance. Analyze manufacturing variances of ingredient, materials, and labor usage, and develop strategies to reduce them and drive a continuous improvement culture. Enable and partner with product development team to ensure our ability to support speed to market and deliver premium desserts to our customers. Work with Engineering, Maintenance and Sanitation teams to ensure optimization of plant layout, coordination of plant shutdowns for startups and new equipment installations, and ensure MSS is completed on time for deep cleaning events. Qualifications Bachelor's Degree in Business, Engineering, Food Science, or a technical field; MBA preferred At least 15 years of Manufacturing leadership experience; food manufacturing/bakery preferred General knowledge of USDA, SQF, GMP as well as HACCP, sanitation, quality, and safety programs required Demonstrated leadership in driving strong culture in a production environment Excellent interpersonal and communication skills Black/Green belt in Six Sigma other continuous improvement tools preferred Must thrive in a multi-cultural environment Dessert Holdings is a collection of premium dessert companies and brands: The Original Cakerie, Lawler's Desserts, Atlanta Cheesecake Company, Steven Charles, Dianne's Fine Desserts, Kenny's Great Pies, and Willamette Valley Pie Company. Dessert Holdings is owned by Bain Capital, is headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota, employs more than 3,500 people across ten manufacturing facilities, and is continuing its journey of rapid growth. EEO Statement Dessert Holdings and its related entities provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, or any other characteristics protected by law. #J-18808-Ljbffr Lawler Foods