Chief Operating Officer (COO)
Full-Time | Executive Leadership Team | Belleville, NJ
Most COO roles are about maintaining operations.
This one is about strengthening them.
Yellow Picnic is a Latina-owned meal delivery company serving New York and New Jersey.
We believe eating healthy shouldn't feel restrictive, boring, or impossible to keep up with.
We create healthier takes on the meals people already love, made with real ingredients, balanced portions, and the kind of care you can taste. Every meal is prepared fresh and delivered weekly, making it easier for our customers to eat well without spending hours planning, shopping, cooking, or cleaning.
Over the past several years, we've built a loyal customer base, an incredible team, and a business that continues to grow year after year.
Now we're looking for the operator who can help us strengthen the foundation for what comes next.
We're searching for someone who loves creating order from complexity. Someone who can take founder vision and turn it into systems, accountability, structure, and execution. Someone who understands that operational excellence isn't about bureaucracy—it's about creating an environment where great people can consistently do great work.
The right person won't simply manage operations.
They'll help create the structure, leadership, and accountability that allows the entire organization to perform at a higher level.
The Opportunity
This role will serve as the operational counterpart to the founders and play a critical role in shaping the future of Yellow Picnic.
You will help strengthen leadership across departments, improve visibility into performance, create accountability throughout the organization, and build the systems needed to support continued growth.
Success in this role means creating a company that operates with greater discipline, consistency, and clarity—without sacrificing the quality, culture, and customer experience that got us here.
What Success Looks Like
Twelve to twenty-four months from now:
- Managers are stronger leaders
- Team accountability is clear and consistent
- Operational performance is measured through meaningful KPIs
- Food quality and customer experience continue to improve
- Inventory, forecasting, and purchasing are more predictable
- Hiring, onboarding, and performance management are structured and repeatable
- Department leaders operate with greater ownership
- Fewer decisions rely on founder involvement
- The organization is operating at a significantly higher level than it is today
What You'll Own
- Overall operational strategy and execution
- Kitchen operations, production planning, fulfillment, and delivery
- Organizational structure, accountability, and management development
- Food safety, quality assurance, compliance, and operational standards
- Inventory management, forecasting, purchasing, and cost controls
- Hiring, onboarding, performance management, and leadership development
- SOP creation, implementation, and continuous process improvement
- KPI development, reporting systems, dashboards, and operational visibility
- Cross-functional alignment between operations, customer experience, marketing, finance, and leadership
- Strategic initiatives that improve efficiency, profitability, scalability, and customer experience
- Building the systems and processes that allow the business to continue growing without sacrificing quality
Skills & Experience
- 10+ years of operational leadership experience
- Experience leading managers and developing leadership teams
- Proven track record of improving operations in a growing organization
- Strong experience creating systems, processes, SOPs, and accountability frameworks
- Experience building KPIs, scorecards, reporting systems, and performance management processes
- Strong financial and operational acumen
- Excellent communication and leadership skills
- Ability to identify root causes and solve complex operational challenges
- Ability to move seamlessly between strategic thinking and hands-on execution
- Strong decision-making skills and comfort operating in fast-moving environments
- Experience working closely with founders or executive teams
Ideal Background
Experience in one or more of the following is highly preferred:
- Meal delivery
- Food manufacturing
- Commissary kitchens
- Hospitality
- Restaurants
- Logistics and fulfillment
- Consumer packaged goods (CPG)
- Supply chain and distribution
- Founder-led businesses undergoing rapid growth
Spanish fluency is a plus.
This Role Is Probably For You If...
- You naturally create structure where others see chaos
- You care deeply about quality, consistency, and customer experience
- You know how to hold people accountable while earning their respect
- You enjoy developing leaders and strengthening teams
- You are energized by growth and continuous improvement
- You are equally comfortable discussing strategy in a leadership meeting and solving problems on the floor
- You believe strong systems create strong organizations
- You want your work to have a meaningful impact
Why This Role Matters
Yellow Picnic has built a strong foundation.
The next chapter of growth will depend on strong leadership, operational excellence, and the systems that allow great people to do their best work consistently.
The person who steps into this role will help shape our team, our systems, our customer experience, and ultimately the future of the company itself.
If you're excited by the challenge of helping a growing company reach its next level, we'd love to hear from you.
Compensation
$150,000–$200,000 base salary, depending on experience, plus performance-based incentives.
To Apply
Please submit:
- Resume or LinkedIn profile
- A brief note introducing yourself
Pay: $150,000.00 - $200,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Paid time off
- Parental leave
Work Location: In person
