Director of Food Safety

About the role

We are seeking a seasoned food safety leader to own and continuously improve our food safety strategy and program across all Mo' Bettahs restaurants. Reporting to the COO, this role will scale from 80 to nearly 90 restaurants across eight states by year-end.

Responsibilities

• Own and continuously evolve the Mo' Bettahs food safety strategy and program, including HACCP plans, standard operating procedures, and brand-specific food safety standards across every restaurant in the system.
• Build, lead, and develop the food safety function, including third-party resources, as the restaurant count and geographic footprint grow.
• Maintain compliance with the FDA Food Code and all applicable state, county, and municipal regulations across our eight-state operating footprint.
• Develop and maintain temperature, time, allergen, and sanitation standards specific to Hawaiian-style menu items, including rice handling, slow-cooked proteins, steam-table holding, and raw protein cross-contamination controls.
• Conduct and oversee in-restaurant food safety audits across the portfolio on a defined cadence, surfacing wins and recognition opportunities alongside corrective action.
• Own the third-party audit program (EcoSure, Steritech, or equivalent), including scope, scoring, vendor relationship, and reporting; calibrate scoring and standards across District Managers and General Managers.
• Own the company’s food safety crisis management playbook; serve as incident commander for foodborne illness allegations, supplier recalls, and health department actions, partnering with Legal, Communications, and executive leadership.
• Manage relationships with local and state health departments across all eight states; serve as primary point of contact for inspections, plan reviews, and variances.
• Own the ServSafe Manager certification program system-wide and maintain a current roster of certified managers in every restaurant.
• Build and deliver food safety training content for new hires, GMs, DMs, and Restaurant Support Center Team Members, including allergen awareness and Hawaiian-style menu-specific protocols.
• Partner with Construction, Real Estate, and Operations on permitting, plan review, and pre-opening health department inspections for New Restaurant Openings in existing and new states.
• Partner with Supply Chain to ensure approved suppliers meet Mo' Bettahs food safety standards, including third-party certifications (SQF, BRC, or equivalent); lead supplier food safety reviews and recall execution.
• Evaluate, implement, and own food safety technology, including digital line checks, remote temperature monitoring, and audit management platforms, to give Operations real-time visibility into food safety performance.
• Own the food safety department budget, including third-party audit, technology, training, and pest management vendor contracts.
• Build and report monthly food safety KPIs to the executive team, including audit scores, illness reports, health department findings, training compliance, and recall events; present enterprise food safety risk to executive leadership and the board.

Requirements

• 10+ years of progressive food safety leadership experience in a multi-unit restaurant, foodservice, or food manufacturing environment; multi-state, high-growth experience strongly preferred.
• 3+ years building, leading, and developing direct reports or field teams.
• ServSafe Manager Certification required; Certified Professional in Food Safety (CP-FS) or Registered Environmental Health Specialist (REHS) strongly preferred.
• Expert knowledge of the FDA Food Code, HACCP principles, and state-level regulatory variation.
• Demonstrated experience leading crisis response for foodborne illness events, supplier recalls, or regulatory actions.
• Demonstrated experience managing food safety across geographically distributed operations.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to coach in-restaurant and present to executive leadership and the board.
• Ability to travel 40-50%, including overnight and multi-day trips across our multi-state footprint.
• Valid driver’s license and reliable transportation.
• Bachelor’s degree in Food Science, Public Health, Microbiology, or a related field; advanced degree preferred.
• Prior experience building or scaling a food safety function in a high-growth, multi-state restaurant environment.
• Experience with digital food safety platforms (digital line checks, remote temperature monitoring, audit and incident management systems).
• Experience in audit score performance and trend analysis by store, district, and region.
• Experience managing foodborne illness reports and time-to-resolution.
• Experience with supplier quality programs and certifications (SQF, BRC, PCQI).
• Prior experience opening restaurants in new states and navigating local regulatory environments.
• Bilingual English/Spanish.

Qualifications

• Valid driver’s license and reliable transportation.
• Must be able to function effectively in a fast-paced working environment.

Benefits

Mo' Bettahs offers a comprehensive benefits package including health insurance, retirement savings plans, paid time off, and more.

Pay

The salary range for this position is $70,000 - $90,000 annually, commensurate with experience.

Schedule

This position is based in Lehi, UT with significant multi-state travel (40-50%) to support restaurants across our operating footprint.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Mo' Bettahs is an equal opportunity employer that prohibits workplace harassment based on race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, genetic information, veteran status, or pregnancy.