Chef for International Culinary
About the position
As the Chef for International Culinary, you will oversee Chipotle Culinary and its alignment with our Global Culinary Standards in our International Partnership markets. You will partner closely with our International Partnerships team and our California based Restaurant Support Center (RSC) teams to deliver a consistent Chipotle experience. This is a culinary specific role requiring fluency in Chipotle’s BOH culinary, Chipotle’s 53 Ingredients, Chipotle’s Food with Integrity (FWI) ethos, executing food tastings, calibrating recipes, product benchmarking, monitoring regional culinary quality, and supporting new supplier commercialization of Chipotle ingredients in local markets. This role will be embedded with the International Partnerships team to ensure we are championing Chipotle’s Food with Integrity (FWI) mission across the globe in partnership markets.
Responsibilities
- Execute Chipotle’s Culinary Standards aligned with Chipotle’s Strategy of delivering a consistent global culinary experience.
- Review, approve, and organize regional menu adjustments to support local and regional preferences, cultural nuances, and legislation.
- Manage the culinary content and updates of the Chipotle Playbook, ensuring it remains relevant and effective.
- Act as the Culinary Subject Matter Expert (SME) to facilitate communication between the RSC and international partners.
- Support and address regional specific culinary, supply, and multi-faceted culinary impacted challenges while optimizing tools and processes for improved efficiency.
- Partner with regional/local Brand partners, suppliers, operations, marketing, food safety, and quality assurance stakeholders.
- Support commercialization and localization efforts for partnerships and new ventures as needed.
- Be an expert in Chipotle’s FWI mission, our Real food proposition and our back of house culinary execution.
- Conduct restaurant visits, food demonstrations, deliver strategic feedback, provide shoulder to shoulder training, and offer support to enhance the FWI ethos, skills, knowledge, and performance of restaurant culinary to regional teams.
- Facilitate the successful overall culinary operations and taste of food in new regions, ensuring adherence to Chipotle brand standards.
- Coordinate with other departments to support the successful launch and operation of new locations and menu items in partnership markets.
- Develop and deliver culturally tailored culinary training programs for partner staff and management teams.
- Conduct training sessions, both in-person and remotely, to uphold brand standards and support corrective calibrations.
- Monitor and evaluate culinary performance in international markets, while working with relevant cross functional teams to make necessary adjustments to improve product quality, culinary operations, and customer satisfaction.
- Ensure partner operational KPIs meet or exceed US standards, focusing on taste of food and customer satisfaction.
- Implement, upgrade, and assess quality control measures to maintain consistency in service and product delivery across all locations.
Requirements
- Culinary Arts degree or certification required; bachelor’s degree preferred.
- 7+ years of progressive culinary experience, including 2+ years of international exposure and multi-unit operations.
- 2+ years of supervisory experience preferred, with strong leadership and training development skills.
- Experience with large-scale production, commercialization, product benchmarking, gap analysis, action planning, and product reverse engineering.
- Strong knowledge of food science, food safety, regulations, and quality assurance standards.
- Analytical, adaptable problem solver who can evaluate performance metrics and improve culinary operations.
- Clear communicator who can lead food tastings and present effectively to diverse audiences, including leadership; English proficiency required and additional languages preferred.
- Comfortable using technology for remote monitoring and quality assurance, working in person 4–5 days per week in Newport Beach/Irvine when not traveling, and traveling domestically and internationally approximately 40–60%.
Nice-to-haves
- Additional languages preferred.
Benefits
- medical, dental, and vision insurance
- 401k
- sick leave
- vacation time
- annual cash bonuses
- equity awards
