Position Overview
The Vice President, Culinary is responsible for leading the culinary vision, strategy, and execution across Experience Senior Living’s portfolio of senior living communities. This role sets the standard for an exceptional, hospitality-driven dining experience while ensuring culinary operations are scalable, financially responsible, operationally consistent, and aligned with the needs and preferences of residents.
The Vice President, Culinary will provide strategic and functional leadership to community culinary teams and divisional culinary resources. This individual will establish companywide standards, develop culinary talent, drive menu and concept innovation, optimize food and labor costs, and partner closely with Operations, Health & Wellness, Development, and other functional leaders to continually elevate the resident dining experience.
The ideal candidate combines a passion for food and hospitality with strong business and operational leadership. They are equally comfortable developing a culinary vision, coaching senior culinary leaders, evaluating community performance, and using financial and operational data to drive improvement.
Key Responsibilities
Culinary Strategy & Resident Experience
- Develop and lead the organization’s culinary and dining strategy, ensuring alignment with Experience Senior Living’s brands, hospitality philosophy, and resident experience standards.
- Establish a differentiated culinary vision that reflects resident preferences, evolving dining trends, and the expectations of a high-quality senior living experience.
- Create and maintain companywide culinary standards while allowing appropriate flexibility for local markets, resident preferences, and community needs.
- Drive continuous innovation across menus, dining venues, service models, special events, and culinary programming.
- Regularly evaluate the resident dining experience and identify opportunities to improve food quality, presentation, variety, service, and overall satisfaction.
- Partner with community and operational leadership to respond to resident feedback and develop sustainable solutions to dining-related opportunities.
Operational & Financial Leadership
- Provide strategic oversight of culinary operations across the portfolio, including food production, dining services, staffing models, purchasing, inventory, sanitation, and kitchen operations.
- Establish and monitor key culinary performance indicators related to food cost, labor, resident satisfaction, quality, productivity, and operational execution.
- Partner with community and divisional leadership to develop annual culinary budgets and ensure performance against established financial targets.
- Identify opportunities to improve purchasing, food utilization, inventory management, labor efficiency, and overall culinary profitability without compromising quality or resident experience.
- Lead initiatives to standardize and streamline culinary processes, systems, tools, and operating procedures across the portfolio.
- Evaluate community culinary performance and develop action plans for locations requiring additional operational support or improvement.
Menu Development & Culinary Innovation
- Provide leadership and direction for menu development, recipe standards, seasonal offerings, and culinary programming across all levels of care.
- Ensure menus provide variety, quality, nutritional balance, appropriate choice, and an elevated dining experience.
- Partner with Health & Wellness leadership to ensure culinary programs appropriately support residents with specialized dietary, nutritional, or clinical needs.
- Maintain awareness of hospitality, restaurant, foodservice, and senior living dining trends and identify opportunities to incorporate relevant innovations into the organization.
- Support the development of new dining concepts, venues, and service offerings as the portfolio evolves.
Talent & Team Development
- Build a strong culinary leadership pipeline across the organization through coaching, development, succession planning, and performance management.
- Partner with People and Operations teams to attract, develop, engage, and retain high-performing culinary talent.
- Provide mentorship and functional leadership to Executive Chefs, Culinary Directors, divisional culinary leaders, and other culinary team members.
- Identify training and development needs and create programs that strengthen culinary execution, leadership capability, hospitality, and operational knowledge.
- Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, creativity, hospitality, and continuous improvement.
Vendor & Supply Chain Management
- Provide strategic oversight of food, beverage, equipment, and culinary vendor relationships.
- Partner with procurement and operational leaders to negotiate and manage vendor programs that balance quality, availability, consistency, and cost.
- Evaluate product specifications, purchasing practices, and supplier performance to identify opportunities for improved quality and financial efficiency.
- Support communities in addressing significant vendor, supply chain, or product availability challenges.
New Development & Community Openings
- Serve as the culinary subject matter expert for new developments, acquisitions, renovations, and community openings.
- Partner with Development, Design, Operations, and other stakeholders on kitchen design, dining venue concepts, equipment selection, workflows, and operational functionality.
- Develop culinary opening plans, including staffing, training, menu development, vendor setup, operating standards, and readiness assessments.
- Support pre-opening and post-opening activities to ensure new communities successfully launch the intended culinary and dining experience.
Quality, Safety & Compliance
- Establish and maintain standards for food safety, sanitation, kitchen cleanliness, regulatory compliance, and culinary risk management.
- Ensure culinary operations comply with applicable federal, state, and local foodservice and senior living requirements.
- Develop audit and quality assurance processes to evaluate adherence to culinary and food safety standards.
- Partner with Operations and Health & Wellness leadership to address identified compliance, safety, or quality concerns.
Requirements
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Culinary Arts, Hospitality Management, Foodservice Management, Business, or a related field preferred; equivalent combination of education and relevant experience considered.
- 10+ years of progressive culinary, hospitality, or foodservice leadership experience, including significant multi-site leadership responsibility.
- Senior living, hospitality, restaurant, resort, healthcare, or other service-intensive multi-unit experience strongly preferred.
- Demonstrated success developing and executing culinary strategy across multiple locations or markets.
- Strong understanding of food and labor cost management, budgeting, purchasing, inventory management, and operational performance.
- Proven ability to build, lead, coach, and develop high-performing culinary leaders and teams.
- Experience with new openings, culinary concept development, or large-scale operational implementation strongly preferred.
- Strong knowledge of food safety, sanitation, and applicable regulatory requirements.
- Ability and willingness to travel regularly to communities across the Experience Senior Living portfolio.
Leadership Attributes
- Hospitality-driven leader with a genuine passion for creating exceptional resident experiences.
- Strategic thinker who can translate a culinary vision into scalable operating practices.
- Collaborative leader who builds strong relationships across Operations, Health & Wellness, People, Development, and community teams.
- Hands-on and approachable, with the ability to engage effectively from the executive level to the community kitchen.
- Financially disciplined and comfortable holding teams accountable to operational and business objectives.
- Innovative and curious, with a strong awareness of evolving culinary and hospitality trends.
- Skilled at leading through growth and change while creating consistency across a geographically dispersed portfolio.
Benefits
We offer a full benefits package that includes medical, dental, vision, STD/LTD, life and voluntary life, 401k with employer matching, paid holidays, and up to 20 days PTO in the first three years.
Application Deadline: We anticipate reviewing applications through November 27th, 2026.
Compensation: $175,000 - $200,000 annual salary, 30% annual bonus target