CULINARY OPERATIONS DIRECTOR - STUDIO TEAM
£80,000 - £90,000 + Bonus + Share Options
London Based (Victoria Station) with Remote working available 2 days per week.

WHO ARE SESSIONS?
We're Sessions - a growth platform for original food brands & experiences. 🍔🍽️

Creators in food.
Challengers in brand development.
Leaders in licensing.
Disruptors in franchise.
Originals, in everything.

Founded in 2020, we’re on a mission to bring non-stop
originality to every kitchen and food lovers across the UK. 👩‍🍳

Sessions’ brand portfolio includes UK crowd favourites such as SoBe Burger, Little Bao Boy, Backyard Chicken and Kenny Tutt’s Patty Guy, and extends to partnerships with internationally acclaimed brands including Ivan Ramen. 🍜

Sessions has launched and scaled 10 food brands, partnered with 300+ licensee kitchens, and has delivered over 3 million orders. Sessions is reinventing food.

Sessions is led by former executives from Deliveroo, Brewdog and Soho House and is
backed by industry leading investors Imbiba and Guinness Ventures.

Who's Hungry?

🏃‍♀️ We are Agile - We are customer-obsessed and adapt as needed to meet their needs
🌍 We are Ambitious - We aim to not only discover but create on-trend brands and are excited by the work required to become a tastemaker brand
🤪 We are Fun - We keep playfulness at the centre of our culture so that we can deliver on the very serious business of keeping food fun
🤖We are data-driven - We don't make assumptions based on what has always been done and instead focus on what the data tells us should be done

Our benefits list got too long and we had to move it to the bottom 😮

ABOUT THE ROLE:

This role sits at the heart of Studio - our creative, culinary and brand development hub. The Culinary Operations Director will lead the end-to-end development process - successfully launching Sessions brands into our network. This role will be responsible for all new product development and lead the ideation, conceptualisation, and development of food products that align with market trends, consumer preferences, and company objectives. We are looking to build world leading brands - that have the consumer experience at the core. This individual should be comfortable with all cuisine types - whether helping with recipe development for a world renowned Ramen brand or optimising our fried chicken products.

WHAT WILL YOU DO?

The Culinary Operations Director will develop a world class menu development and optimisation process, pushing us to drive exceptional customer experiences across every menu we develop - an exciting challenge for this role to deliver. They will leverage data analytics and insights to inform strategic decisions throughout the process. They will manage a team of culinary managers / leaders and their team is responsible for cultivating a culture of continuous learning, innovation, and accountability.

New Product Development: Lead the ideation, conceptualization, and development of innovative food products that align with market trends, consumer preferences, and company objectives.

Trends: Conduct thorough market research and trend analysis to identify opportunities for new product innovation and differentiation. Monitor market dynamics, consumer feedback, and competitive landscape to continuously refine brand strategies and enhance market positioning of our brands.

Culinary Excellence: Establish and uphold rigorous quality standards throughout the product development process, ensuring that all Sessions products meet or exceed industry benchmarks.

Brand Guidelines: Develop and own all required materials - SOPs (menu, recipes, suppliers, packaging, COGS, allergens) including management of Apicbase

Relationship Management: Collaborate closely with both internal teams including procurement, brand, and supply chain to bring new products from concept to live efficiently.

Food Safety: Work to establish allergens and food safety compliance for all menus and guide for sites.

Expertise: Provide expertise and advice across every department - franchisees, licence partners, pub residencies - you will be the ‘go to’ on quality or compliance areas.

Data Obsession: Owning the performance of brands once live to continuously monitor menu views, conversion, review data and key performance indicators and tweak accordingly.

Supplier Management: Build and maintain relationships with suppliers and vendors to ensure the sourcing of high-quality ingredients at competitive prices, negotiating contracts and terms as necessary.

Relationship Management: Collaborate closely with both internal teams including procurement, brand, and supply chain to bring new products from concept to live efficiently.

Culinary Excellence: Establish and uphold rigorous quality standards throughout the product development process, ensuring that all Sessions products meet or exceed industry benchmarks.

Leadership and Development: Work closely with the culinary team to mentor, support and cultivate an innovative and high performing team culture

KPIs: Leverage data analytics and insights to inform strategic decisions across all aspects of culinary operations. Establish KPIs and performance metrics to measure the success of new product launches and brand initiatives.

REQUIREMENTS:

Bachelor's degree
Minimum of 6 years of experience in a culinary operations in a fast paced environment
Proven track record of successful new product development, brand management, and culinary innovation within a similar industry
Deep knowledge of kitchen / restaurant operations and able to quickly assess if a concept will be feasible within the various kitchen setups we work with.
Data driven: understands key menu performance metrics and is comfortable with leveraging data analytics and insights to drive results
Excellent leadership and team management skills, with the ability to inspire, motivate, and develop talent.
Exceptional communication, collaboration, and project management abilities.
Strategic thinker with a results-driven mindset and a focus on continuous improvement.
Flexibility to adapt to changing priorities and thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.
Charismatic and energetic with a passion for food
Expert level of English language
Right to work in the UK

DOES THIS SOUND LIKE YOU?
People who thrive at Sessions are....

Excellent problem-solving and analytical skills
Street hustler with lots of tenacity, capable of ‘getting stuck in’ and delivering results in a start-up environment
Enjoys a fast paced ever changing environment
Excited to collaborate and tackle problems outside of one's comfort zone
Well-rounded and willing to flex to take ownership where necessary beyond core responsibilities
Tenacious and assertive
Enthusiastic and natural problem solver
Enjoys working with people (facilitating and collaborating)
Excited by the end game and motivated by building an enormous enterprise
Resilient and loyal
Charismatic and energetic with a passion for food

BENEFITS - What Sessions can offer you

Financial Wellbeing:

💰 Bonus Scheme - All Sessions headquarters employees are given OKRs, understand exactly what is expected of you to reach your 6 month bonus.
🤑 Share Options - Receive an amount of share options for Sessions upon passing probation
💸 Pay day on demand - Choose a payday that suits you best, with the ability to transfer salary for days already worked whenever you like.
💳 Expense card - Don't find yourself short whilst waiting for expenses to be paid, the majority of our headquarters staff will be given their own Soldo company card.
🏠 Mortgage Benefit - Help for first time buyers, Free Broker fees, AI Mortgage Tracker
💷 Save Money on Bills Benefit - Using Nous, money saving experts

Social, Mental & Physical Wellbeing:

🏘 Hybrid Working - We offer the option for work from home days for most head office roles.
🏖 Holidays - We offer 25 days holiday + bank holidays, celebrate different bank holidays? fine by us! Let us know and we'll distribute them as suits you best
👨‍⚕️Preventative Healthcare - Sessions are partnered with Qured, to keep people fit and healthy and regularly tested vs waiting for you to become ill
😇 Volunteering Day - Take a day at full pay to support one of our partner charities
🚨 Employee Assistance Programme - Support for health, finance and legal services for you and your direct family.
🥳 Socials - Sessions run optional weekly social activities, everything from drinks on us socials, team lunches and even events such as Halloween movie night!
🍕 Discounts - Enjoy discounts in our food hall venues and on Deliveroo for our brands
🐶 Dog Friendly - We love our fluffy pals, they're welcome in the office!
👘 Wear what you like - No suits and ties please, that's so 18th century....

Technology Perks:

💻 Laptop - Apple Mac or Windows Laptop? Your choice! and most of us don't judge...
📱 Phone - Apple iPhone and company sim provided where necessary for the role
📺 Additional - Need another screen? Keyboard? Footstool? Our office manager can provide you with an ergonomics assessment to prevent workplace injuries.

Progression & Development:

📈 High Growth Start Up- This is a great chance to be part of a growing company with plenty of progression opportunities and examples of where our people have progressed as fast as we have
🚀 CMI Programme - Sessions runs a Management & Leadership Programme which awards delegates their Chartered Manager status! More letters to add for the signature...
🪄 Be Inspired - Work with industry legends such as the Ex MD of Deliveroo, ex CFO Soho House and ex Global Growth Director of Brewdog.
✏️ Membership & Qualifications - Sessions have helped support a number of our employees by providing funds for work-based qualifications and memberships to relevant associations such as AAT and CIPD.

Join a company looking to change the face of the hospitality industry.

Sessions are a living wage and equal opportunity employer.

We are a living wage and equal opportunity employer - all applicants are reviewed 'anonymously' where only work experience and education will be available for the hiring manager to view - all applicants will be considered for employment without attention to ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, family or parental status, national origin, veteran, neurodiversity status or disability status.

#LI-KD1

Sessions

New Jobs

Culinary Operations Director