Food Service Director

Quest Food Management Services, Inc. is a privately owned, full service, foodservice management company located in Lombard, Illinois . Founded in 1985, Quest has served schools (elementary, middle, high schools, college/universities) throughout the Midwest guided by its mission to provide the communities we serve with fresh, high-quality food, exceptional responsiveness and intensely personal service.

It has been Quest’s team members who have been the cornerstone of our growth. Quality people, quality food, and quality clients are our recipe for success. Led by our vision to create the most enduring relationships in the industry by what we do and how we do it; with integrity, responsiveness, accountability, respect and excellence.

Our Promise

Balance - Quest fosters a fun, supportive environment that puts people first and strives for both culinary excellence and enduring relationships. Our flexible work opportunities encourage a healthy life balance for all of our valued team members.

Meaning - Quest believes that every aspect of what we do has significance, and therefore, our food is fresh and made from scratch, using high quality and responsibly sourced ingredients. We nourish our communities with wholesome meals and through our genuine and personal connections.

Recognition - Quest provides competitive compensation and benefits and celebrates the fulfillment of our collective values at all levels of the organization. We support professional growth through training, development and access to highly visible leadership.

Position Summary

Responsible for leading the Quest nutrition and guest experience efforts, in order to provide vision, leadership and strategic guidance to the company in these areas. Ensures that Quest vision, values and founding principles are effectively communicated and practiced. Manages assigned company locations and team members.

Essential Duties And Responsibilities

• Cascades the vision of Quest Food Management Services ensuring the Quest vision, values and founding principles are effectively communicated, understood and practiced.
• Demonstrates commitment to Quest vision, values and missions through actions on a daily basis.
• Manage staff to include selection, work allocation, training, coaching and mentoring, problem resolution, performance evaluation and feedback, and corrective action.
• Lead development of the food experience offered by Quest, including developing Quest’s food “brand” via recipes, menus, concepts, and merchandising.
• Lead development of systems and processes to ensure all food experiences are operationally and financially executable.
• Champion and advance Quest's nutritional standards in recipe, menu, and brand development.
• Provide expertise in nutrition and wellness throughout Quest, including nutrition counseling for customers, operational advice and guidance regarding dietary needs, and nutrition and allergen information sharing.
• Support Quest’s purchasing efforts to ensure product selection is aligned with food experience.
• Lead Quest’s food safety and sanitation efforts, ensuring every meal is served with the highest levels of attention to safety for our guests.
• Provide leadership in Quest’s corporate marketing and sales strategies.
• Serve as Quest’s internal subject matter expert on sustainability, identifying ways for Quest to partner with clients to deliver onsite sustainability solutions and participate in industry best practices regarding sustainability.
• Provide hands-on support as needed for special events and coverage for gaps in management presence at the account level.
• Provide support in sales and marketing efforts for account retention and acquisition.
• Education and Experience: The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.
  
  

Required

• Dietetics, Nutrition, Hospitality Management, or any field with equivalent work experience
• K12 food service experience strongly preferred
• Three years of experience in food service management
• Experience in developing and managing budgets
• Experience in food safety leadership within a food service or restaurant environment
• Experience in building and leading a high performing team
• Strong client relations experience
• Proficient in MS Office
• Strong knowledge of the food service and hospitality industry
• Requires extensive hours at times and frequent local travel
• Responsible for meeting and maintaining state and local certification requirements (Food Service Manager)
  
  

Essential Qualifications: To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactory. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Demonstrated commitment to Quest vision, values and mission through actions on a daily basis
• Ability to maintain professionalism and a positive attitude in the workplace
• Demonstrated skill with developing long-term strategic plans and lead/participate in short-term operational implementation (ability to be both strategic and tactical)
• Keen analytic, organization and problem-solving skills
• Demonstrated ability to consistently communicate a clear understanding of internal and external customer expectations and adapt as appropriate to exceed their needs
• Proven ability to focus attention on determining what can be done to make progress
• Proven skill to anticipates the needs of coworkers and proactively assists them to meet a common goal
• Demonstrated ability to understand and determine priorities, effectively manage time and develop work plans in order to accomplish tasks and/or projects
  
  

Language Skills

• Ability to read, write and speak English
  
  

Physical Demands: The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by a team member to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Specific vision requirements include the ability to see at close range, distance vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus
• While performing the duties of this job, the team member is regularly required to talk and hear
• Possess the ability to fulfill any office activities normally expected in an office setting, to include, but not limited to: remaining seated for periods of time to perform computer based work, participating in filing activity, lifting and carrying office supplies (paper reams, mail, etc.)
• Frequently required to stand, walk, sit, use hands to feel, and reach with hand and arms
• Occasionally lift and/or move up to 20-25 pounds
• Exposure to odors, noise, heat, steam, in/out walk-in freezer, cleaning chemicals and detergent
• Fine hand manipulation (keyboarding and knife skills)
  
  

Work Environment: The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those team member encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Kitchen environment
• Noise level is low to moderate
  
  

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of this position. The team member must provide medical evidence for reasonable accommodation.