Manager, Chef Culinary F&B

Position Summary

The Manager, Culinary Development & Operations provides enterprise-level culinary leadership for onboard dining, ensuring the delivery of innovative, scalable, and operationally sound culinary experiences that align with brand standards, guest expectations, and financial targets. This role leads key aspects of culinary concept development, product standardization, and fleetwide implementation, while developing culinary talent and partnering closely with Operations, Product Development, Procurement, Finance, and Marketing.

Culinary Strategy & Product Development

• Lead the development and evolution of culinary concepts, including island, complimentary, charters and for pay restaurants along with island menus, and recipes aligned with brand positioning, guest experience goals, and operational feasibility from inception to food tastings and approvals.
• Own culinary input for new builds, revitalizations, and enterprise initiatives (e.g., Supper Club, Aqua-Dome and future brand initiatives).
• Guide product ideation, prototyping, testing, validation, and scale-up for limited-time introductions and full fleet launches.
• Provide final culinary recommendations on product readiness, performance, and scalability.
• Oversee F&B initiatives for both on and off premises events, including food preparation and plating for marketing, charity, or run of shows, or attending approved food innovation and equipment shows.

Enterprise Implementation & Governance

• Lead fleet-wide culinary implementation efforts, partnering with shipboard and shoreside leadership to ensure consistent execution of new concepts, menus, and processes.
• Establish and govern culinary development standards, SOPs, and gold-standard benchmarks.
• Oversee recipe documentation, costing integrity, and technical specifications to ensure consistency and compliance across the fleet.
• Serve as culinary subject matter expert for gold standard evaluations, identifying non-conformities and partnering with Procurement and Operations on corrective actions.

Financial Accountability & Continuous Improvement

• Drive culinary decisions that support targeted profitability and influence enterprise food costs across the fleet (>$750M annually).
• Partner with team to assess margin, waste, yield, COS, and labor implications of menu and concept changes.
• Include waste reduction initiatives, data accuracy, and continuous improvement programs that improve efficiency and reduce losses for all new and continuous improvement projects.
• Develop menu strategies to mitigate slow-moving inventory and improve overall product performance.

People Leadership & Capability Building

• Lead, coach, and develop culinary development team members, setting clear performance expectations and development plans.
• Build bench strength and succession pathways for future culinary leaders for shoreside team.
• Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, innovation, and operational excellence within the culinary development function.

Cross-Functional & Executive Partnerships

• Partner closely with Product Development, Food & Beverage Operations, Procurement, Supply Chain, Marketing, and Design to deliver integrated culinary solutions.
• Represent Culinary Development in enterprise reviews, leadership forums, and brand initiatives.
• Communicate culinary strategy, outcomes, and risks clearly to senior leadership, translating technical details into business and guest impact.

Food Safety, Compliance & Brand Integrity

• Ensure culinary standards meet or exceed USPH, food safety, and regulatory requirements.
• Uphold brand integrity through disciplined execution, training, and audit readiness across the fleet.
• Oversee culinary training content and SOP development to support consistent onboard execution.

Additional Scope

• Provide oversight for special menus, groups, charters, and VIP culinary programs.
• Oversee crew food program standards and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Responsible for maintaining accurate and complete documentation of product reviews, recipe development and interactions, costing analyses, and photography to ensure proper tracking.
• Support galley design and equipment decisions related to culinary functionality and workflow.
• Represent the brand at approved food, equipment, and industry events; lead culinary demonstrations and activations as required.
• Travel up to 25% to support fleet implementation, testing, and key initiatives.

Qualifications and Education

• 5–7 years of progressive culinary leadership experience in high-volume, premium hospitality environments (cruise line, resort, hotel, or comparable).
• Demonstrated multi-unit or enterprise-level experience preferred.
• Proven experience leading teams, driving cross-functional initiatives, and balancing innovation with operational execution.
• Strong business acumen with experience influencing cost, margin, and operational performance.
• Bachelor’s degree in Culinary Arts or related field preferred; equivalent experience considered.
• Cruise line experience preferred.

Core Skills & Competencies

• Strategic and systems oriented thinking
• People leadership and talent development
• Strong financial and operational acumen
• Executive-level communication and influence
• Data-informed decision making
• Ability to manage multiple enterprise initiatives concurrently

Working Conditions

• Sit, stand, write, review and type reports, compile data, operate a pc, communicate, listen, and assess information.
• Movement about the office complex, travel to other office locations, lift, push, pull or move 10 - 15 pounds.
• Visual requirements include distant, close and color vision, and ability to adjust focus.