Kitchen Manager at NAR

The Kitchen Manager is the backbone of NAR’s back-of-house — responsible for ensuring every sandwich, salad, and sauce that leaves the kitchen meets our gold standard. This role combines leadership, organization, and hands-on cooking. You’ll oversee day-to-day BOH operations, uphold food safety and DOH compliance, manage prep and production systems, coordinate with our commissary, and train the team to execute every recipe with precision.

This is a build-phase role: you’ll help set up the kitchen systems, lead training, and support the opening and scaling of NAR’s first NYC location.

Operations & Quality

• Lead all BOH operations to ensure speed, cleanliness, and consistency during service.

• Uphold NYC DOH standards and NAR’s food safety protocols (FIFO, labeling, temp logs, recipe adherence).

• Be able to jump on the line, expedite, and model best-in-class execution.

• Ensure kitchen equipment, storage areas, and prep zones are maintained and organized daily.

Team & Training

• Hire, train, and develop BOH staff with a focus on consistency and pride in product.

• Lead pre-shift meetings, communicate prep lists, and set daily kitchen goals.

• Schedule and manage labor to meet budget targets while maintaining morale and teamwork.

• Support the GM and founders with onboarding, feedback, and performance management.

Inventory & Purchasing

• Oversee ordering, receiving, and inventory control of all BOH ingredients and supplies.

• Maintain detailed cost sheets and ensure accurate daily and weekly counts.

• Manage waste and portioning to hit food cost targets.

• Keep all storage areas (walk-in, dry, freezer) organized and labeled.

Commissary Coordination

• Work closely with NAR’s commissary kitchen to ensure product consistency and quality.

• Verify deliveries and communicate any discrepancies in real time.

• Act as the key link between in-store operations and commissary production.

Financial & Administrative

• Track food and labor costs, identifying trends and areas to improve efficiency.

• Communicate clearly across teams via Slack, email, and in daily check-ins.

• Collaborate with the GM and founders on menu updates, R&D, and scaling processes.

• 3+ years of BOH management experience in a fast-casual or high-volume concept

• Strong grasp of prep systems, recipe scaling, and kitchen organization

• Comfortable in startup environments — proactive, resourceful, and adaptable

• Food safety certified and passionate about operational excellence

• Energized by teamwork, culture, and bringing new ideas to life