Kitchen/Heart of House Manager

The Kitchen/Heart of House Manager at our restaurant will work as a part of our leadership team and be responsible for managing and developing others, maintaining the highest standards of food safety and operational excellence, managing inventory and equipment, as well as creating and implementing systems of overall growth and success. The Heart of House Manager will work alongside a highly motivated, creative, driven, and supportive leadership team to run efficient and productive shifts throughout our kitchen and prep areas.

We offer competitive starting wages and benefits (commensurate with experience and role), including health insurance, 401K, free meals while working, and college scholarships.

Position Type:

• Full-time (but Part-time possibilities)

Essential Qualities

To be successful in this role, a candidate must naturally embody our core organizational values and leadership standards:

• Excellence: A relentless drive to do things the right way, efficiently, and with high productivity.
• Kindness: Fostering a culture of honor, dignity, and respect for every team member and guest.
• Teamwork: Working collaboratively with urgency, purpose, and a shared mission.
• Shows Ownership: Holds self and others accountable; takes personal responsibility for financial, operational, and cultural metrics.
• Communicates Clearly: Relays data, directives, and expectations with transparency while remaining entirely non-defensive.
• Anticipates Issues: Thinks systematically to identify macro patterns and proactively solves capacity or infrastructure issues before they disrupt operations.

Key Responsibilities

1. Food Safety & Service (Operational Excellence)

• Upholds Standards: Enforce absolute compliance with all brand requirements, overseeing the SAFE Daily log, health code protocols, and Pathway modules.
• Analyzes Business Results: Review and interpret daily, weekly, and monthly data, including customer metrics (CEM, CARES), financial tracking (Inform, sales, Loomis), and monthly labor/food budgets.
• Allocates Resources: Design and track daily, weekly, and monthly task assignments for your specific area, building clear communication systems to ensure execution.
• Resource Stewardship: Protect corporate resources by closely monitoring equipment functionality, facility cleanliness, and managing a LEAN approach to minimize waste.

2. Operational Efficiency (Teamwork)

• Fosters Collaboration: Ensure a clear store-wide understanding of area goals, alignment to restaurant systems and execution of our operational strategies.
• Leadership Pipeline Growth: Intentionally mentor others, preparing them for future advancement through structured planning and execution.
• Shift Leader Accountability: Maintain direct communication loops with the leadership team, helping maintain accountability to the proper development/maintenance of systems.
• Root-Cause Awareness: Actively diagnose operational gaps, system friction points, or inventory variances to implement permanent structural fixes.

3. Team & Guest Experience (Kindness)

• Creates Genuine Connections: Set the standard for elevated hospitality, ensuring that genuine hospitality elevated language are executed seamlessly across the entire restaurant.
• Accountability with Care: Enforce rigorous operational requirements and brand expectations through coaching that honors the dignity and respect of every individual.
• Defines Clear Wins: Establish measurable performance targets while celebrating milestones to build unified purpose and high morale.

Skills and Competencies Required

• Systemic Designing: Ability to create communication pathways, checklists, and accountability loops that keep a department running smoothly seamlessly.
• Financial Literacy: Competence in interpreting business metrics, dashboards, and other indicators to manage gaps and profitability.
• Advanced Mentorship: Skilled in training other leaders how to lead, manage conflict, and navigate peer-to-peer accountability loops.
• Data-Driven Decision Making: Comfort using metrics, trend analysis, and dashboards to guide operational focus, training priorities, or resource allocation.

Experience

• Experience: Minimum of 1–2 years of proven leadership experience in a high-volume restaurant (Chick-fil-A experience could be bonus) or service environment, with documented success and mastery as a Shift Leader or higher. A strong reference history of managing clean, highly productive shifts and systematic workflows is required.

Working at a Chick-fil-A® restaurant is more than a job – it’s an opportunity for teamwork and leadership development in a positive, people-focused environment.