Culinary Director

Culinary Director

Confidential QSR Restaurant Group

Location: Long Island, NY
Position Type: Full-Time | Field-Based / Corporate Culinary Leadership
Experience Required: Culinary Leadership + R&D + High-Volume Fast-Casual / QSR Experience
Language Requirement: Fluent Spanish required. 

We are leading a confidential search for a Culinary Director for a growing fast-casual restaurant group based on Long Island.

This is a highly important culinary leadership role for someone who understands how to protect food quality, build scalable recipes, develop new menu items, and support a growing restaurant brand through both culinary creativity and operational discipline. This person will work alongside ownership.

The ideal candidate must have a strong culinary background with deep knowledge of Italian cuisine and a strong understanding of taqueria-style food, Italian & Mexican inspired flavors, and fast-casual execution. This person must also be fluent in Spanish and Italian, as they will work closely with kitchen teams, vendors, ownership, and culinary leadership across multiple levels of the business.

This role is not just about creating great food. It is about building food and beverage systems that can scale.

Position Overview

The Culinary Director will lead culinary strategy, food and beverage R&D, menu development, recipe standardization, product testing, training support, and BOH execution standards across current and future locations.

This person must be able to balance creativity with consistency. The goal is to create exciting, craveable food and beverage offerings while making sure every item can be executed consistently in a high-volume, fast-paced restaurant environment.

The right candidate will understand flavor, speed, prep systems, kitchen flow, training, vendor partnerships, and cost control.

Great knowledge of equipment to speed up line and or get better quality and consistency.

Deep knowledge of assembly line and most be extremely knowledgeable in running a commissary kitchen since that's something that we are looking for in the near future.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead food and beverage R&D for current and future menu items
• Develop new recipes, LTO's, seasonal items, and beverage programs
• Build scalable recipes that can be executed consistently across multiple locations
• Standardize recipe cards, prep procedures, portioning, plating, and build guides
• Partner with operations leadership to ensure menu items work in real restaurant conditions
• Train and support kitchen leaders on food quality, consistency, execution, and standards
• Evaluate kitchen flow, prep systems, equipment needs, and product execution
• Support New Store Openings from a culinary and BOH readiness standpoint
• Work with vendors on product sourcing, testing, quality, availability, and cost
• Monitor food quality, waste, yield, and theoretical food cost
• Protect brand standards across taste, presentation, speed, cleanliness, and consistency
• Help build a culinary system that supports long-term growth

Food & Beverage R&D

The Culinary Director must be highly proficient in R&D for both food and beverage.

This includes:

• Menu ideation
• Recipe testing
• Beverage development
• Seasonal product development
• LTO creation
• Costing and yield testing
• Product sourcing
• Prep testing
• Shelf-life testing
• Operational execution testing
• Training rollout support

The expectation is that this person can create exciting products while also understanding whether those products are realistic for high-volume store execution.

Required Experience

• Culinary leadership experience in a multi-unit restaurant, fast-casual, QSR, or high-volume hospitality environment
• Strong knowledge of Italian cuisine and Italian flavor profiles
• Strong knowledge of taqueria-style food, Mexican-inspired cuisine, and bold fast-casual menu development
• Fluent Spanish required
• Fluent Italian required
• Proven food and beverage R&D experience
• Experience developing recipes, prep systems, and menu rollouts
• Strong understanding of food cost, portion control, waste, yield, and vendor sourcing
• Ability to train, coach, and support BOH leaders and kitchen teams
• Experience supporting New Store Openings preferred
• Strong communication skills and ability to work cross-functionally with operations, training, vendors, and ownership

Ideal Candidate Profile

This person is:

• Creative but operationally grounded
• Strong in food and beverage development
• Comfortable in kitchens, not just behind a desk
• Fluent in Spanish and Italian
• Deeply knowledgeable in Italian cuisine
• Comfortable working with taqueria-style and Mexican-inspired food
• Strong in recipe standardization and execution
• Able to train kitchen teams clearly and effectively
• Focused on consistency, quality, and scalability
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced, growing restaurant company
• Able to protect the food while supporting growth

What Success Looks Like

Success in this role means the company has stronger culinary structure, cleaner recipe standards, better food and beverage innovation, improved BOH consistency, and a scalable culinary system that supports growth.

• Menu items should be exciting, but also executable.
• Kitchen teams should understand the standard.
• New products should be tested, costed, trained, and rolled out properly.
• Food quality should improve without slowing down operations.
• The Culinary Director will play a major role in protecting the brand's food identity while helping the company grow the right way.

Interested candidates may message directly for a confidential conversation.