Head of Culinary

<h1><strong>Head of Culinary</strong></h1> <p><strong>sweetgreen</strong> is on a mission to build healthier communities by connecting people to real food. We passionately believe that real food should be convenient and accessible to everyone. Every day in each sweetgreen, our 5,000 team members make food from scratch, using fresh ingredients and produce delivered that morning. And in our local communities, we’re committed to leaving people better than we found them. We’re in the business of feeding people, and we’re out to change what that means. Our teams are our most valuable ingredient - the heart of our company, the face of our brand, and what truly makes the sweetgreen experience special and unique.</p> <p>As the <strong>Head of Culinary</strong> at sweetgreen, you will be a key member of the Commercial Leadership Team, responsible for leading the culinary team and developing the organization's overall culinary strategy. You will be responsible for ensuring that sweetgreen's menu items are consistently high-quality and aligned with our brand values.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>You will:</strong></p> <ul> <li><strong>Drive Menu Innovation to fuel and enable growth and profitability</strong> - This role will be the key leader to oversee the development and testing of new menu items and ensure that they meet the highest standards of quality, consistency, and taste.&nbsp;&nbsp;</li> <ul> <li>Develop new menu items that help drive the brand distinctiveness of sweetgreen - highlighting our point of difference in seasonal, high-quality, chef-crafted menus consistent with our food ethos.&nbsp;</li> <li>Stay up to date with industry trends and best practices in culinary innovation and technology to inform ingredient choices and in-restaurant preparation methods.&nbsp;</li> </ul> </ul> <ul> <li><strong>Lead Commercialization to scale culinary concepts to fleet-wide execution</strong> -&nbsp; Effectively commercialize food for all business channels.&nbsp;Develop paths to upstream and/or outsourced formulations with vendor partners.&nbsp; Develop creative solutions to solve for ingredients that may not currently be commercialized for the food service industry (e.g. extra virgin olive oil tortilla with only four ingredients). Collaborate with cross-functional partners to ensure that commercialization efforts result in products that can be executed in-restaurant at scale.&nbsp; Be able to problem-solve as learnings emerge from operational and market testing that may result in retooling/reformulation. Lead and manage a team of culinary professionals to ensure the successful execution of culinary initiatives. This leader will create an environment where creativity and innovation are at the heart of the team dynamic.&nbsp;&nbsp;</li> <ul> <li>Create a culture of innovation and problem-solving across the culinary team to increase our speed to market.&nbsp;</li> <li>Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure alignment of culinary initiatives with marketing, operations, and procurement.&nbsp;</li> <li>Support training programs and materials for all levels of culinary staff, including hourly employees, managers, and corporate teams.&nbsp;</li> </ul> <li><strong>Nurture our Core Menu Offerings</strong> - This role will lead the initiatives to continuously improve our core menu offerings, ensuring that our food standards remain consistent and that the end product delivered to our customers is the highest quality in the industry.&nbsp;</li> <ul> <li>Leverage data, customer behavior, and consumer insights to drive improvements to our offering.&nbsp;&nbsp;</li> <li>Develop and execute culinary strategies that align with sweetgreen's Food Ethos, brand values, goals, and objectives.&nbsp;</li> <li>Inform and articulate our food journey from the point of entry in the sweetgreen ecosystem to our end customer.&nbsp;</li> </ul> </ul> <p><strong>Be the Face of our Food - This role will be the primary face of our culinary credentials to our customers and