National Director of Culinary

Pay: From CA$150k+ per year

Plaza Premium Group is the global leader in 360-degree airport hospitality and passenger service solutions, operating across 600 international and domestic airports in 150 countries, proudly serving 30 million passengers annually with world-class services and 1.8 million Smart Traveller members.

JOB SCOPE

The National Director of Culinary, based in Toronto, leads the culinary vision, standards, and execution for all lounges nationwide, ensuring consistent, brand-aligned food quality, safety, and Guest Experience.

Plaza Premium currently has 23 lounges and affiliates across 6 airports in Canada and serves over 300,000 meals per month. The National Director of Culinary will own the full culinary lifecycle, from menu design and standardization through implementation, monitoring, and continuous improvement of food, sanitation, and presentation. The role optimizes national food and labour costs through menu engineering, precise recipe standards, yield management, and effective deployment of culinary labour, directly supporting EBITDA and budget targets. The incumbent will develop and maintain scalable menus, recipes, and systems suited to high-volume, non-traditional airport lounge environments, while effectively accommodating diverse dietary and cultural requirements at scale.

The position supports new lounge openings and refurbishments, shaping kitchen design, equipment specifications, and workflows to ensure safe, efficient production. The selected candidate will provide executive leadership and performance management for culinary teams across all stations, using structured reporting, audits, and reviews to align staffing, training, and labour deployment with demand, standards, and financial goals. The role collaborates closely with Operations, Procurement, Health & Safety, Marketing, and F&B to deliver consistent brand execution, support strategic procurement, and advance sustainability, waste reduction, and broader business objectives.

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES

• Strategic Leadership: Foster a high-performance culture across all regions.
• Communication Excellence: Establish and maintain standardized reporting structures for national stakeholders.
• Advanced Menu Engineering: Design and optimize menus based on theoretical vs. actual food cost analysis to maintain a national food cost.
• Strategic Planning & Time Management: Orchestrate national culinary calendars, ensuring all seasonal menu launches and station transitions.
• Financial Forecasting: Direct national culinary budgets and forecasting.
• Supply Chain Management: Support national procurement strategies with the procurement team to leverage economies of scale.
• Network Management: Work with procurement to cultivate a national database of tier-1 suppliers and backup vendors.
• Large-Scale Operations: Apply 10+ years of high-volume experience (Cruise/Hotel/Catering) to standardize production workflows across all national lounges.
• P&L Accountability: Full ownership of the National Culinary P&L, focusing on maximizing EBITDA through labor optimization and waste reduction.
• Tech Integration: Ensure the implementation and 100% adoption of kitchen management software (e.g., inventory and recipe scaling tools) across all stations.
• Labor/Recipe Modeling: Develop recipes with integrated labor-hour allocations to ensure kitchen labor costs remain within the allocated % of total revenue.
• Waste & Yield Analysis: Implement national yield-tracking systems to reduce organic waste.
• Trend Adaptation: Synthesize global travel trends into 4 quarterly "Innovation Reports" tailored specifically to the airport lounge demographic.
• Culinary Vision: Define the brand’s culinary identity through the creation of "National Signature Dishes" program, updated annually.
• Technical Writing: Produce standardized, scalable recipe bibles with 100% accuracy in weights, measures, and plating photos, in cooperation with the Training Chefs.
• HACCP Compliance: Working with the Health and Safety team to ensure 100% of stations pass third-party food safety audits.
• Emotional Intelligence: Demonstrate executive-level maturity by resolving multi-regional interpersonal conflicts and maintaining high retention among Station Chefs.
• Systems Standardization: Develop and audit "Gold Standard" SOPs for every culinary process, from receiving to service.
• R&D Excellence: Manage a formal R&D pipeline.
• Presentation Skills: Deliver quarterly business reviews to executive leadership using data-driven visuals and concise executive summaries.
• Expertise in designing menus that accommodate diverse dietary requirements and allergens (vegan, gluten-free, halal, kosher) at scale.
• Ability to develop and champion sustainability and ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) initiatives, such as reducing carbon footprints and sourcing sustainable ingredients.
• Strong cross-functional collaboration skills to work seamlessly with Marketing, Finance, and Operations departments.
• Ability to leverage customer feedback and data analytics to pivot culinary strategies and improve guest satisfaction.
• Multi-Region Brand Consistency: Conduct bi-annual "National Brand Audits" to ensure flavor profiles and presentation are identical in every lounge across the country.
• Crisis Leadership: Act as the final authority and lead responder for any national-level food safety recalls or large-scale labor disruptions. Experience with crisis management and contingency planning for supply chain disruptions.
• Production Feasibility: Ensure all recipes are optimized for high-volume, airport kitchen execution and central production models
• Last-Mile Standards: Define regeneration, holding, and discard protocols to protect end-product quality
• Service Efficiency Design: Engineer recipes with clear prep time, assembly, and replenishment standards
• Demand-Led Menu Planning: Align menu mix with flight waves, dwell time, and consumption patterns
• KPI Governance: Track menu performance, guest feedback, and actual vs theoretical cost variances
• Airline Customizations: Tailor menus to airline-specific requirements and passenger profiles
• Execution Audits: Validate recipe adherence, portion control, and real-world cost vs theoretical
• Training Integration: Ensure all recipes are aligned with training programs for consistent execution
• Menu Lifecycle Management: Establish structured review cycles to optimize performance and retire underperforming items
• Other related duties, as required

JOB REQUIREMENTS

• Minimum 10 years of relevant experience related hospitality fields; experience in openings, set-up, F&B and lounge management.
• Good knowledge of international lounge business with excellent time management skills
• Sound experience in the formulation of standard operation procedures
• Active Red Seal certification or equivalent at minimum.
• Strong management skills.
• Deep understanding of a non-traditional kitchen environment
• Outstanding communication skills, including verbal and writing skills.
• Excellent organizational skills
• High sense of responsibility
• High level of attention to detail
• Able to obtain Transport Canada clearance for security pass (RAIC) to work at the airport.
• English written & spoken required. Cantonese, Mandarin, French is an asset (French is required for Quebec employees)

Working Conditions:

• R&D in kitchen and Management in office is split roughly equally
• Ability to lift up to 50 lbs.
• Occasionally will be required to work weekends, evenings, early mornings and statutory holidays.
• Travel required up to 35% of the time.

We are committed to providing an inclusive and accessible recruitment process. Accommodations are available upon request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the selection process.

Why Join Us?

At Plaza Premium Group, you’ll be part of a collaborative team that values innovation, excellence, and a shared commitment to delivering exceptional experiences. This is your chance to grow your career in an environment that celebrates your contributions and empowers you to thrive.

Ready to make your next career move?

Apply today and help us shape the future of our workplace.

Plaza Premium Group offers:

• Paid health benefits package
• Access to our Global lounges for you and your family
• Smart Traveler Loyalty Program Recognition

We strive to be inclusive of the diversity of our employees, invest in their development, and foster a collaborative and respectful work environment where all employees feel like they belong and matter.

We are committed to employment equity and encourage applications from women, First Nations peoples, persons with disabilities and members of visible minorities. In accordance with AODA, applicants with disabilities requiring accommodation during the recruitment process are encouraged to make their needs known in advance.

Due to Canadian Immigration regulations, only applications from Canadian citizens or other individuals legally entitled to work in Canada will be considered.

We thank all applicants in advance for their interest, however only those being considered will be contacted.