Bakery Director

Aspire Bakeries is a North American baking company with a leadership position in specialty frozen baked goods. Formed from leading bakery companies, its innovative food portfolio includes breads, artisan breads, buns, cookies, donuts, muffins and pastries from beloved brands like La Brea Bakery®, Otis Spunkmeyer®, and Oakrun Farm Bakery®. With 13 bakeries in North America, we are committed to driving innovation, predicting upcoming consumer trends and flavors, and exceeding our customers’ expectations. Aspire Bakeries champions the values of Integrity, Ownership, Customer Focus, Creativity and Care to help us deliver on People Safety, Food Safety, Quality and Collaboration.

The Bakery Director oversees and directs all aspects of bakery operations including production, finance, quality assurance, continuous improvement, and environmental/safety compliance. This leadership role is responsible for establishing performance goals, developing policies and procedures to maximize efficiency and minimize costs, ensuring regulatory adherence, and managing personnel to drive safety, quality, customer service and productivity metrics. The Bakery Director provides strategic direction, implements financial plans, cultivates customer relationships, and spearheads operational excellence initiatives across the bakery facility. Strong leadership, communication abilities, process knowledge and proficiencies in areas like budgeting, data analysis and supply chain management are vital for success.

Responsibilities:

• Lead managers and staff to deliver and exceed performance metrics in areas of safety, quality, customer service, costs, inventory management and production.
• Establish goals for facility performance metrics in safety, quality, productivity and cost.
• Manage, analyse, create reports, and develop recommendations from the key metrics of bakery operations.
• Oversees the coordination and scheduling of production to meet sales and marketing demand levels to established service expectations.
• Develop policies and procedures targeted to eliminate downtime and improve bakery efficiencies.
• Supports and directs location Continuous Improvement programs.
• Perform production area walkthroughs, investigate problem areas, determine cause, mitigate to ensure policy conformance.
• Ensure bakery is inspection ready at all times.
• Oversee Warehouse FEFO (First Expired First Out) practice, and adherence to cleanliness and operational standards.
• Set forth standards for safety.
• Ensure accident/loss prevention and security policies are followed.
• Ensure bakery is compliant with all local, state and federal environmental regulations.
• Develops and implements financial and non-financial objectives for the location including the annual budget, financial forecasts and operating plans.
• Ensure all departments perform within budgeted operating standards.
• Plans and directs customer relations activities through development of effective relationships with key customers.
• Along with FSQA will manage customer complaint resolution; manage vendor issues; ensure product meets customer specifications and expectations.

• Coordinates the selection, motivation and development of the employees of the bakery to ensure all positions are ably staffed and future management is developed.

• Foster positive employee relations.
• Drive improvements in employee retention and skill development
• Perform other duties as assigned or required. Supports and participates in special projects as assigned

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree (Business, Engineering, Operation Management, Finance) and 7 years food manufacturing experience, including managerial experience OR Associates Degree (Business, Engineering, Operation Management, Finance) and 10 years of food manufacturing experience, including managerial experience.
• Quality, accounting, engineering, or production background in food manufacturing.
• Excellent leadership, communications (both written and verbal) and team building skills.
• Ability to manage vendors at the local level.
• Experience working in a TPM (Total Productive Management) Environment.
• General knowledge of process equipment and regulatory compliance.
• Budgeting experience in manufacturing.  General overall P&L knowledge.
• Good writing, mathematics, analytical and critical thinking skills.
• Basic accounting knowledge.
• Computer literate with proficiency in spreadsheet and word applications.

Salary Range: $156,000 - $180,000

Food Allergen Information: Our bakeries handle ingredients and produce foods that may contain food allergens such as Eggs, Milk, Peanuts, Sesame, Soybean, Tree Nuts, and Wheat.

Aspire Bakeries LLC values the contribution each Team Member brings to our organization. The final determination of a successful candidate’s starting pay will vary based on a number of factors, including, but not limited to location, shift, education, skill, and experience within the job or the industry. The pay scale listed for this position is generally for candidates that meet the specified qualifications and requirements listed In this specific job description. Additional pay may be determined for those candidates that exceed these specified qualifications and requirements. We provide a competitive compensation package that recognizes your experience, credentials, and education alongside a robust benefits program to meet your needs. For union-represented postings, wage rates and ranges are governed by applicable collective bargaining agreements.

Aspire Bakeries is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or veteran status.