Kitchen Manager — DC Metro Market

Yay is a mission-driven, high-growth company dedicated to providing nutritious and high-quality meals to children across the DC Metro area. Operating out of a shared commercial kitchen, Yay partners with schools to ensure the delivery of fresh, safe, and delicious food that meets strict quality standards. With a strong emphasis on operational excellence, team leadership, and food safety, Yay continues to expand its reach, building a robust kitchen leadership team and impacting the daily diet of countless students. The organization prides itself on fostering a transparent work environment rooted in accountability and collective pride in culinary craft. Employees at Yay enjoy real career growth opportunities as the company innovates and enters new markets, all while making a meaningful difference in the community.

The Kitchen Manager role at Yay serves as the culinary operator for the DC Metro market, responsible for managing day-to-day operations at the primary commercial kitchen hub. This position requires a hands-on leader who works alongside prep cooks in a busy, fast-paced kitchen setting, directly overseeing food production processes and ensuring adherence to high standards. The Kitchen Manager is accountable for a broad range of operational and leadership duties, including planning and executing bi-weekly cold batch production, leading hot prep days, managing scheduling, food quality, waste reduction, inventory, and kitchen team performance.

In addition to managing kitchen operations, the Kitchen Manager plays a crucial role in maintaining communication and coordination with multiple school locations, addressing real-time service issues, and ensuring timely delivery of meals to seven DC Metro schools. This role involves not only internal team leadership but external stakeholder engagement with school staff and operations leads. The successful candidate will be adept at balancing labor budgets, tracking performance metrics like labor hours, waste, and meal counts, and implementing solutions to continual operational improvement. A valid driver’s license and reliable transportation are essential, as occasional travel between locations will be necessary.

This position offers a competitive hourly wage starting at $22.00, with potential for a pay increase after 60 days based on performance. Yay provides a supportive leadership culture that emphasizes transparency, accountability, and pride in culinary excellence. Candidates will have the opportunity to grow their careers in a dynamic environment with expanding market presence and a clear mission to improve the nutritional impact on children’s daily lives. Experience in kitchen or food production leadership, hands-on cooking skills, batch production knowledge, inventory management, and strong people skills are highly valued for this vital role.