The Kitchen Manager is accountable for the successful delivery of all back-of-house operations for Clock & Fork,ensuring the kitchen consistently operates with high-speed precision and uncompromised food safety.
This role owns the execution of “The Charcoal Feast” culinary concept, ensuring every flame-grilled item is cooked to perfect brand standards, served in record time, and produced within target food cost margins. As the business establishes its fast-casual footprint, the Kitchen Manager will play a critical role in maintaining food quality consistency, managing inventory efficiency, and developing a high-performing, fast-paced kitchen crew.
The role requires a high level of operational agility, peak stamina during high-volume service windows, and hands-on leadership over the open-coal grilling lines, including evenings, weekends, and holidays where required.
The role:
Department: Back of House / Operations
Reports to: Director
Main responsibilities include:
Culinary Execution & Grill Mastery
Own the day-to-day back-of-house operations, ensuring absolute consistency, portion control, and flavour quality across all charcoal grill items.
Lead the kitchen line during high-pressure service rushes, maintaining optimal order ticket times without sacrificing the presentation of “The Charcoal Feast.”
Master and maintain open-coal grilling equipment, ensuring the kitchen team adheres to proper temperature management and smoke profiling.
Ensure every dish reflects the Clock & Fork brand standards, maintaining a clean, highly organized, and efficient production line.
Operational Readiness & Compliance
- Ensure the kitchen is fully prepared for service daily across raw inventory, prep quotas, equipment calibration, anddigital ticketing systems.
- Plan, conduct, and oversee daily food safety audits, maintaining strict compliance with local health regulations,allergen management, and HACCP standards.
- Identify inventory or operational blockages early and act decisively to prevent stockouts or wastage on core items.
- Manage daily and weekly deep-cleaning schedules for all extraction units, charcoal grills, and cold storage zones.
- Manage inventory levels, ordering raw materials and custom packaging efficiently to optimize cash flow and food cost percentages.
- Track and minimize kitchen wastage metrics, ensuring optimal utilization of premium meat stocks and ingredients.
- Conduct structured weekly stock counts, analyzing variances and embedding process corrections to protect profit margins.
- Build, lead, and develop a high-performing kitchen team capable of working collaboratively at record-breaking speeds.
- Ensure robust onboarding, food assembly training, and equipment safety inductions are delivered consistently for all new kitchen staff.
- Foster a high-energy, positive kitchen environment built on mutual respect, urgency, and pride in food quality.Stakeholder & Supply Chain Management.
- Work cross-functionally with the front-of-house team and delivery drivers to ensure seamless transition from grill to final packaging.
- Act as the primary point of contact for local food suppliers, ensuring incoming stock meets exact quality specifications and delivery timelines.
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