ABOUT LA COCINA | La Cocina (“The Kitchen”) is an award-winning San Francisco-based nonprofit business incubator for food businesses. La Cocina’s original home, which opened in October of 2005, is a 2200 sq ft shared-use commercial kitchen located in the Mission District at 2948 Folsom Street. In April 2021, La Cocina opened The Municipal Marketplace, a 7,000-sq.-ft multi-use space located in the Tenderloin at 101 Hyde Street. Initially, it was the nation's first women-led food hall. In September 2023, the space transformed and is now a shared-use commercial kitchen and event space. The mission of La Cocina is to cultivate low-income food entrepreneurs as they formalize and grow their businesses. We provide (1) commercial kitchens they can use for the development and ongoing operations of their business; (2) professional food industry technical assistance designed to improve their business operations, market penetration, profit, economic scale and sustainability; and (3) access to sales opportunities. Over the last 19 years, La Cocina has incubated more than 140 small businesses, created and ran the iconic San Francisco Street Food Festival for a decade, published the We Are La Cocina cookbook, amplified the voices of program participants via its Voices From the Kitchen show and Week of Women in Food dinner series, and supported nonprofits worldwide to implement similar incubators in their communities. You can learn more about the organization at www.lacocinasf.org. 

VISION VALUES | La Cocina was born out of a belief that a community of talented natural entrepreneurs, given the right resources, can create self-sufficient businesses that benefit themselves, their families, their community, and the whole city. We center our entrepreneurs in everything that we do, including making working directly with entrepreneurs a requirement of all employees at the organization, and including current and former entrepreneurs among our staff and board. The food that has come out of our kitchen since 2005 reflects that aspiration and, quite simply, tastes amazing. Our vision is that entrepreneurs gain financial security by doing what they love to do, creating an innovative, vibrant and inclusive economic landscape. At La Cocina, everything we do is done with hospitality, for our community, and in the service of opportunity and inclusivity. These are our values. Distributed and collaborative leadership is our culture. In practice, this can look like joining a committee or task force, covering for your team members when they are out, and completing work which may not be in your job description but for which the area or type of work aligns to your skills and expertise.

Job Summary | As the Director of Finance and Operations at La Cocina, you'll play a pivotal role within our organization, reporting directly to the Executive Director and serving as an integral part of our Leadership team. Your primary responsibility will be to lead the newly formed Operations Team, which includes Finance, General Operations, and Human Resources/People & Culture.

In this role, you'll also act as the Controller, working closely with external accountants to ensure the accurate preparation and analysis of Financial Statements. You'll be a catalyst for change, driving process and systems improvements to support our evolving organization, while working closely and frequently with key members of the Leadership Team, including the Deputy Director of Impact and the Development Manager. Together, you'll provide critical analysis and guidance to the Executive Director and Board of Directors, shaping the future of La Cocina and empowering food entrepreneurs to thrive.

GENERAL DUTIES

Centering Entrepreneurs

• Embrace La Cocina’s mission, placing entrepreneurs in our program at the heart of every strategy and initiative.
• Serve as a trusted resource for entrepreneurs, offering strategic advice and practical solutions to operational challenges.
• Host dynamic workshops in your areas of expertise, helping foster a vibrant learning environment.
• Oversee your team’s sharing of specialized industry knowledge with our community of entrepreneurs.

• Directors at La Cocina are active participants in the strategic and operational leadership of the organization. You’ll meet regularly as a Leadership Team to communicate proactively about your department and any issues with org-wide implications. Your thought leadership and candor are critical to La Cocina’s strategic planning and tactical visioning, of which you’ll play a key role.
• As a people leader of La Cocina, you’ll be responsible for up to 3 employees, acting as a champion for professional development opportunities for your team and also delivering thoughtful and candid feedback to support their growth. You’ll take the lead on delivering annual reviews and for hiring for open roles in your department.
• All members of the La Cocina staff display leadership by participating in the annual review process for other members of the staff, and by supporting recruiting initiatives for open roles within the organization. This culture of feedback leads to our collective team’s growth and success.
• As the Director of Finance and Operations, you’ll be responsible for the management of external resources that support your work: a consulting CFO, an accounting and bookkeeping form, an external auditor, and an IT specialist.
• You’ll actively shape the direction and impact of strategic plans, helping ensure our ongoing relevance and financial sustainability and contribute to the development and execution of long-term financial strategy through a multi-year budgeting process. As a department head, you’ll own the operating budgets for the Operations, HR and Finance functions of the organization.
• Manage the Operations Team in increasing efficiency and integration of organizational, operational and digital systems.
• Partner with the Director of People and Culture to ensure proper support of the human resources function, and lead La Cocina’s ability to model an organization dedicated to equity, opportunity and hospitality as an employer.

• Ensure timely delivery of accurate financial statements in line with GAAP standards.
• Coordinate annual audits of financial statements and tax return filings.
• Build positive relationships with and communicate financial information and insights effectively to stakeholders, including board members, senior leadership, and external partners.
• Lead annual organization-wide budgeting process.
• Build a comprehensive reporting framework to provide valuable insights into financial trends of the organization.
• Manage end of month reconciliations, including problem solving and streamlining.
• Optimize accounts control processes for La Cocina’s Impact team including commercial kitchen facilities, catering, retail and other programmatic operations which can include cash management, tips payable, gift card programs, inventory control, kitchen-use billing, and revenue passthrough.
• Manage Non-Profit Accounts Control, reconciling donations restrictions in collaboration with Accountants and the Development team.
• Manage bank relationships and bank account access, including signatory authority.
• Ensure compliance with regulatory requirements and internal policies.
• Lead efforts to integrate and optimize financial systems and tools for enhanced performance. La Cocina currently uses the following technologies on this team: Quickbooks, Bill.com, Shogo, Triple Seat, Toast, Food Corridor, and Shopify/Square. 

• Use of technology systems including Google Suite, Slack and Zoom are required to ensure smooth and effective communication across a complex organization with two locations, and staff with a mix of digital and physical duties and abilities. 
• Reporting on activities using technology systems including Salesforce is an essential part of La Cocina’s ability to tell the story of the work we do and the impact we are having. 

• Love for food and supporting culture, diversity, equity and justice in the Bay area food industry.
• Five years of progressively responsible finance and operations managerial experience. 
• Impeccable analytical and organizational skills. A strategic thinker with a proven track record at highly effective organizations, ability to think creatively and collaboratively at a dynamic organization.
• Bachelor’s degree in accounting, finance or business, master’s degree in finance or accounting preferred. CPA is highly preferred.
• Three plus years of nonprofit, social enterprise, restaurant or retail industry accounting experience preferred.
• Highly proficient in QuickBooks Online, spreadsheets, Bill.com and POS platforms.
• Knowledge of App Integration and Accounting Technologies with an aim to integrate and improve systems.
• Strong managerial, interpersonal and communication skills.
• Self-motivated and self-directed.
• Working on site at multiple La Cocina locations in San Francisco is required at least 3 days per week.

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY | La Cocina is an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to hiring a diverse workforce. All openings will be filled based on qualifications without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, marital status, veteran status, disability, age, religion or any other classification protected by law.

We appreciate your interest in this position and welcome the opportunity to learn more about you. You'll receive communication from La Cocina on the status of your application throughout our hiring process.