Chief Operating Officer

While we are a bakery and food company at our core, O&H operates a diverse, multichannel business serving customers through retail, ecommerce/mail order, and wholesale. We view operational excellence, continuous improvement, and customer experience as key differentiators in sustaining our reputation as a top-tier provider of scratch-made, high-quality Danish bakery products.

We are seeking a hands-on, values-driven leader who thrives in a fast-growing, family-owned environment-someone who can build and develop teams, strengthen collaboration across functions, and deliver outstanding results. As part of a 76-year legacy built on craftsmanship and care, this role offers the opportunity to help lead O&H into its next era of growth, innovation, and operational excellence.

The COO is the operational and cultural leader responsible for driving the company's results from a people, process, and financial perspective. This role ensures O&H delivers on its strategic vision by harmonizing the leadership team, running the day-to-day business, and instilling a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.  The COO oversees all operational, retail, financial, customer, and growth functions, leading a team of seven direct reports (Director of Human Resources, Financial Controller, Director of Retail Stores, Director of Baking Operations, Director of IT, Director of Fulfillment Operations, and VP Sales & Marketing).

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Key Accountabilities

Runs the day-to-day business: Drive execution across all departments and ensure operational excellence in every channel.

Drives accountability: Establish clear metrics, responsibilities, and performance management across the leadership team.

Harmonizes the leadership team: Build trust, alignment, and collaboration between leaders and departments.

Prioritizes and executes the vision: Translate the company's strategic goals into short- and medium-term objectives with measurable outcomes.

Delivers P&L results: Manage budgets, forecasts, and cost control to achieve profitable growth.

Leadership, Culture & Strategy

• Lead, coach, and develop the senior leadership team; ensure "Right People, Right Seats" alignment.
• Promote O&H's family values and mission while professionalizing systems and processes for scale.
• Foster a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, and team collaboration.
• Support succession planning and leadership development at all levels.
• Serve as a bridge between ownership's vision and the leadership team's execution.
• Translate strategic priorities into annual and quarterly objectives.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to ownership, balancing legacy culture with forward-thinking execution.
• Support succession planning and leadership development at all levels.
• Strengthen current strategic company partnerships and create new business relationships with suppliers, service providers and customers.
• Collaborate with HR to develop strong talent pipelines and organizational development.
• Operational Excellence
• Oversee bakery production, warehousing, and fulfillment operations to ensure quality, safety, and efficiency.
• Develop and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) to ensure accountability and progress.
• Ensure operational readiness and scalability across all channels: wholesale, e-commerce, catalog, and retail.
• Implement systems and processes that support scale, compliance, and innovation.
• Manage operational budgets and work closely with the Controller on financial planning and cost control.
• Support store-level execution and operational consistency through scalable systems for staffing, training, merchandising, and service.
• Commercial & Customer Operations
• Ensure seamless, high-quality customer experience across retail, ecommerce, catalog, and wholesale channels.
• Partner with IT, Finance and Sales & Marketing to integrate systems and automation that improve efficiency, scalability, and visibility across the customer journey.
• Leverage data, analytics, and reporting to inform operational and commercial decision-making.
• Champion cross-departmental communication and collaboration to ensure alignment between operations, sales, marketing, and fulfillment.
• Ensure operational readiness to support new product launches, market expansion, and promotional campaigns.
• Collaborate with the VP of Sales & Marketing to align supply and demand planning, ensuring coordination between marketing initiatives, sales forecasts, and production capacity - while driving pricing discipline and margin growth across all channels.
• Maintain a close partnership with leadership to honor O&H's heritage while advancing innovation and continuous improvement.