VP Operations - Specialty Foods

Location: Rochester Hills, United States Keller Executive Search is seeking a senior operations executive on behalf of an established premium food retailer and foodservice operator. The business brings together specialty grocery, fresh departments, scratch culinary production, bakery and pastry operations, purchasing, catering, and off-site foodservice. Its customers expect consistently high standards of freshness, quality, convenience, and service. This is a broader mandate than conventional store management. The successful executive will progressively assume responsibility for company-wide day-to-day operations and financial performance, integrating people, production, purchasing, service, safety, and commercial outcomes. The opportunity suits a proven food operator ready to take genuine enterprise accountability. The mandate is to strengthen operating discipline, improve margins and profitability and develop the leadership structure. Success will require hands-on credibility, rigorous P&L leadership, and the judgment to improve performance without compromising food quality, safety, or the premium customer experience. Key Responsibilities Assume day-to-day operational and financial leadership Integrate operations across scratch food production, bakery and pastry, fresh retail departments, catering, and off-site foodservice Own budgeting, P&L performance, forecasting, variance reviews, and departmental financial reporting Improve recipe costing, food cost, yields, waste, shrink, purchasing discipline, and operating profitability Establish production plans, operating rhythms, performance measures, and clear accountability across departments Lead approximately direct reports and a wider workforce of employees through managers and department heads Align labor planning and scheduling with sales, service requirements, and production volume Oversee supplier strategy, ordering practices, inventory levels, vendor terms, and purchasing negotiations Maintain effective food safety, quality-control, escalation, and corrective-action processes Protect house-made quality and the premium customer experience while improving margins Assess the management structure after learning the business and recommend appropriate roles, reporting lines, and decision rights Develop capital-expenditure priorities for production, kitchen, bakery, and retail operations Provide ownership with clear performance reporting, timely escalation, and evidence-based recommendations Additional Information Permanent executive appointment Fully onsite in Rochester Hills, Michigan Approximately 10% travel Requirements Senior cross-functional operations leadership in prepared foods, specialty grocery, foodservice, catering, commercial bakery, commissary, or a comparable food environment Direct responsibility for food preparation or production, food costs, ordering, purchasing, yields, and waste control Manager-of-managers experience leading department heads or senior managers across a substantial workforce Broad decision-making authority and accountability for operational results beyond a single department or advisory function Meaningful P&L, budgeting, forecasting, and departmental margin-management experience Track record of improving food cost, labor productivity, margins, or profitability Experience managing labor planning and productivity in a complex, labor-intensive operation Working knowledge of food safety, quality controls, issue escalation, and corrective action Ability to learn a complex operation, earn stakeholder confidence, and progressively assume operating authority Preferred Leadership experience in premium or specialty grocery with substantial prepared-food operations Depth in scratch kitchens, commissaries, central production, or large culinary programs Oversight of bakery, pastry, fresh departments, catering, or off-site foodservice Experience with supplier negotiation, fresh-category merchandising, assortment, pricing, and inventory economics Capital-expenditure planning and execution experience Successful experience reporting directly to active owners or founders Benefits Base salary of $200,000–$250,000 USD annually Performance bonus Medical benefits 401(k) plan PTO Equal Employment Opportunity and Non-Discrimination Policy Equal Employment Opportunity Statement: Both Keller Executive Search and our clients are Equal Opportunity Employers. 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