Job Description:
The Executive Chef Operations Manager provides oversight and decision-making for all areas of food production, including patient, retail, and catering services. The position leads the culinary production teams with a roll up of greater than 100 caregivers, focusing on advanced training, coaching, and mentoring to foster a culture of excellence and continuous improvement. This role collaborates with the IMC Nutrition Services director to set and manage consistent expectations and performance for all food production positions, both direct and dotted-line reports, ensuring the highest standards of quality and consistency throughout the department.
This position is responsible for coordinating and managing food production according to system recipes, menus, therapeutic diet requirements, department standards, and regulatory agencies, ensuring that all foods and beverages meet the highest expectations for nutrient content, appearance, freshness, variety, and choice, while maintaining cost containment and exceeding patient and customer expectations. This position champions innovation, leads product evaluation and pilot processes to drive best practice and elevates culinary offerings. The role includes direct responsibility for chef development and succession planning, ensuring a robust talent pipeline and future leadership capacity, as well as providing leadership in culinary training and development beyond the facility, supporting enterprise-wide learning opportunities, cross-site collaboration, and the advancement of culinary standards across Intermountain Health.
This is the top chef position, reporting to the Nutrition Services Facility Level Director with a dotted-line reporting structure to the Corporate Executive Chef and facility leadership. Responsible for the comprehensive culinary operations and management of food service production within the facility, this role oversees production of 1.9 million meals and $6.6 million in retail/catering sales annually.
Position Details
Essential Functions
- Provides leadership to the culinary teams at a facility and is responsible for staffing, performance, coaching and development of the team. Assists with performance evaluations for chef leaders and cooks within the department.
- Responsible for implementation and adherence to all system recipes and menus across patient meals, retail, and catering services, ensuring elevated standards for food quality, presentation, and consistency.
- Ensures strict adherence to the Nutrition Services (NS) managed order guide and proactively adjusts purchasing strategies to meet high-volume demands.
- Responsible for oversight of the procurement of premium-quality food products while maintaining alignment with facility budgetary guidelines.
- Develops and manage chef and cook staffing models based on production volumes and service complexity, ensuring labor efficiency and operational excellence.
- Contributes to strategic decisions regarding capital equipment needs, supporting innovation and expansion initiatives including new tower development and high-profile catering operations.
- Partners with the facility department leader to manage the NS food budget, applying advanced financial oversight to support large-scale operations and cost containment.
- Ensures full compliance with Joint Commission standards and public health regulations related to kitchen operations, food safety, sanitation, and temperature control, setting the standard for system-wide best practices.
- Implements and enforces system standards for food preparation, equipment use, kitchen safety and security, culinary skill requirements, and sanitation protocols, with heightened expectations for consistency and excellence.
- Partners closely with the Corporate Executive Chef and enterprise committees to support system-wide initiatives, including product standardization, recipe development and testing, and enterprise culinary training efforts.
- Works with the Facility Manager to develop and maintain Emergency and Disaster Preparedness plans that ensure uninterrupted foodservice operations in high-volume, high-risk scenarios.
- Leads utilization of departmental computer-based menu and production management systems to forecast demand, prepare production lists, manage inventory, and perform recipe costing with precision and scalability.
- Oversees culinary education and skill development for chefs and cooks, with a strong emphasis on succession planning, talent pipeline development, and leadership readiness.
- Collaborates with the facility NS Director and Corporate Executive Chef to support recruitment efforts, including candidate evaluation, onboarding, and mentorship for culinary roles.
- Leads quality monitoring and directs improvement initiatives based on performance metrics and quality control data, driving continuous improvement across all service lines.
- Leads and support large-scale catered events, including high-volume events, ensuring execution excellence and alignment with organizational standards.
- Participates in local social and media events as needed, representing the culinary program and supporting brand visibility and community engagement.
Skills
- Leadership
- People Management
- Collaboration
- Team Building / Coaching
- Food Safety & Sanitation
- Follows Instruction
- Communication – Written and Verbal
- Culinary Arts
- Recipes – ability to understand, execute and develop
- Food Production
- Menu Development
- Large Scale Event Planning
Qualifications
- Food Handler Permit (as required by State) or ServSafe certification is required by first day of work. ServSafe certification obtained within 90 days of hire date if not current.
- Associate’s degree in culinary arts or related field. Education must be obtained through an accredited institution. Degree will be verified. (preferred)
- Five years of culinary leadership as an Executive Chef or similar within Intermountain or similar industry related culinary operations (preferred)
- Demonstrated experience working as an Executive Chef or culinary leadership roles.
- Demonstrated business and financial skills in restaurant or healthcare foodservice industry.
- Demonstrated creative and appealing recipe and menu development skills and culinary skills.
- Demonstrated strong verbal, written, and interpersonal communication skills
- Proficiency in using word processing, spreadsheet and database applications, internet and e-mail, scheduling applications, and computerized tracking systems.
Physical Requirements
- Ongoing need for employee to see and read information, labels, monitors, identify equipment and supplies, and be able to assess customer needs.
- Frequent interactions with customers that require employee to communicate as well as understand spoken information, alarms, needs, and issues quickly and accurately.
- Manual dexterity of hands and fingers to manipulate complex and delicate equipment with precision and accuracy. This includes frequent computer, phone, and cable set-up and use.
- Expected to lift and utilize full range of movement to transport, pull, and push equipment. Will also work on hands and knees and bend to set-up, troubleshoot, lift, and carry supplies and equipment. Typically includes items of varying weights, up to and including heavy items.
- Remain standing for long periods of time to perform work.
- Tolerate extremes in temperature such as performing work at a grill or in a refrigerator and tolerate exposure to cleaning chemicals.
Location:
Intermountain Health Intermountain Medical Center
Work City:
Murray
Work State:
Utah
Scheduled Weekly Hours:
40
The hourly range for this position is listed below. Actual hourly rate dependent upon experience.
$34.01 - $52.51
We care about your well-being – mind, body, and spirit – which is why we provide our caregivers a generous benefits package that covers a wide range of programs to foster a sustainable culture of wellness that encompasses living healthy, happy, secure, connected, and engaged.
Learn more about our comprehensive benefits package here.
By applying for a position with Intermountain, I acknowledge that I will comply with all applicable Intermountain policies and expectations. If applying for a remote or hybrid role, this includes remote work expectations related to confidentiality, information security, work schedules, conflicts of interest, and use of company equipment. I further acknowledge that outside employment or activities may not interfere with job responsibilities or create a conflict of interest with Intermountain. Actual or reasonably perceived conflicts may be grounds for disqualification from consideration or, if hired, corrective action up to and including termination of employment.
Intermountain Health is an equal opportunity employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status.
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