Executive Chef

Executive Chef

God's Love We Deliver, a nonsectarian organization, is the New York metropolitan area's leading provider of life-sustaining meals and nutrition counseling for people living with severe illnesses. Begun as an HIV/AIDS service organization, God's Love provides for people living with more than 200 individual diagnoses. God's Love cooks and home delivers the specific, nutritious meals a client's severe illness and treatment so urgently require. Meals are individually tailored for each client by one of our Registered Dietitians, and all clients have access to unlimited nutrition counseling. God's Love supports families by providing meals for the children and senior caregivers of our clients. All of our services are provided at no cost to our clients.

The Executive Chef is responsible for overseeing all daily kitchen operations within a high-volume medically tailored meal production environment. This leadership role ensures the consistent execution of recipes, food safety standards, production timelines, and team development while supporting the mission and values of God's Love We Deliver.

The Executive Chef works closely with Nutrition, Operations, Purchasing, Facilities, Volunteer Services, and Communications teams to deliver high-quality meals at scale while fostering a collaborative, respectful, and efficient kitchen culture. As our daily operations are heavily supported by hundreds of volunteers, the Executive Chef is responsible for ensuring the coordination of volunteer activities in collaboration with the Volunteer Services team while providing a positive experience for the volunteers dedicating time to support our mission. This balance of both back-of-house and front-of-house activities is unique and requires a level of attention to the customer experience of volunteers while maintaining high-quality, efficient production at a significant volume.

As a leader in the Food Is Medicine space, the Executive Chef also acts as an ambassador for the organization, including as a liaison and member of the God's Love culinary council and participating in high-visibility media and public relations opportunities to elevate the impact of our work in the community. At God's Love We Deliver, every meal is more than food it is care, dignity, and support delivered directly to those who need it most. The Executive Chef plays a critical role in advancing our mission by leading a kitchen dedicated to nourishing New Yorkers living with severe illness.

Responsibilities:

• Foster a positive, mission-driven environment that emphasizes teamwork, accountability, and respect.
• Lead and oversee daily kitchen production, ensuring meals are prepared, packed, and completed according to production schedules and quality standards.
• Supervise, train, mentor, and support culinary staff, including cooks, porters, receivers, and volunteers.
• Collaborate with the Volunteer Service department to support volunteer engagement and satisfaction, ensuring volunteers are welcomed, well-trained, and supported in a safe and rewarding kitchen experience.
• Monitor kitchen workflow and staffing to maximize efficiency and maintain smooth production operations.
• Ensure strict adherence to food safety, sanitation, HACCP, and DOH regulations at all times, with heightened vigilance given that clients are often immunocompromised.
• Maintain consistency in recipe execution, scaling, portioning, labeling, dating, and packaging procedures.
• Lead a weekly recurring meeting with the kitchen leadership team and conduct daily briefing meetings for both AM and PM shifts to align production goals, priorities, and updates.
• Assist with scheduling, performance management, onboarding, and continuous staff development.
• Ensure production records, temperature logs, and operational documentation are completed accurately, timely, and consistently.
• Support the implementation and supervise the effective use of our ERP system for the purchasing of raw materials and demand planning.
• Oversee packaging orders for meal production.
• Coordinate the intake and logistics of raw materials and food donations.
• Oversee inventory usage, food rotation (FIFO), waste reduction, and proper storage procedures.
• Maintain an accurate inventory tracker for packaging materials and other consumables required in the meal production process.
• Maintain equipment's readiness and coordinate with Facilities on maintenance and repair needs.
• Review and approve invoices through financial software (e.g., NetSuite).
• Collaborate with the Nutrition Department to develop and execute medically tailored menus and therapeutic diet modifications (e.g., renal, cardiac, diabetic, and low-sodium diets).
• Partner with Purchasing and Receiving teams to ensure accurate ordering, product quality, and inventory availability.
• Support special events, donor experiences, media opportunities, and fundraising initiatives involving the kitchen.
• Attend weekly stakeholder meetings to align kitchen operations with broader organizational priorities.
• Participate in strategic planning and process improvement initiatives to support organizational growth and operational excellence.

About You:

Qualifications:

• Minimum 5-7 years of culinary leadership experience in high-volume food production, institutional dining, commissary kitchens, or nonprofit food service operations.
• Culinary degree or equivalent professional experience preferred.
• Strong leadership and team management skills with the ability to motivate and develop diverse teams.
• Deep understanding of food safety, sanitation, HACCP principles, and large-scale production systems.
• Experience managing multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment while maintaining attention to detail.
• Strong organizational, communication, and problem-solving abilities.
• Experience working collaboratively across departments; experience with volunteers preferred.
• Commitment to equity, dignity, and compassionate service.
• Flexible schedule required: availability for early mornings, nights, weekends, holidays, and special events.

Preferred:

• NYC Food Protection Certificate.