Butcher Shop / Culinary Manager
All butcher-shop employees; the Butcher Production Leader serves as first-line
Open availability, including early mornings, nights, weekends, events, and seasonal
Department: Butcher Shop - Department 500
Location: Foothills Butcher Shop
Reports to: Owner / DOO
Direct reports: floor leader
Status: Salaried; expected 45-55 hours per week
Work allocation
Approximately 80% floor support and 20% administrative work
Position Summary
The Butcher Shop / Culinary Manager is accountable for the financial, operational, people, and compliance performance of the butcher shop. The Manager establishes company-aligned priorities, approves spending, creates the employee schedule, manages customer and vendor commitments, and coordinates wholesale and event production. Most working time is spent on the floor collaborating with the Butcher Production Leader and taking work from the Leader's needs list, while the Leader retains control of routine day-to-day floor execution.
PRIMARY ALIGNMENT
The Manager has final authority for business priorities, spending, staffing, formal discipline, and external
commitments. Routine floor instructions flow through the Butcher Production Leader. When priorities
change, the Manager communicates the change to the Leader rather than directing the team through a
second chain of command, except during an emergency or immediate food-safety concern.
Foothills Farm & Butchery | Position Description | Page 1BUTCHER SHOP / CULINARY MANAGER
Key Responsibilities
Financial and Business Performance
- Own the butcher shop's financial success, operating within the labor and spending budgets provided by Owner / Company Leadership.
- Approve purchasing spend before the Butcher Production Leader places routine orders.
- Set and monitor sales, labor, food-cost, inventory, yield, waste, and margin targets; act on unfavorable trends.
- Approve pricing, promotions, product assortment, and merchandising strategy for the retail meat case.
- Review preventable waste and hold both systems and individual execution accountable when actions conflict with approved direction.
- Escalate major spending and capital requests to Owner / Company Leadership for approval.
Production Leadership and Floor Support
- Collaborate with the Butcher Production Leader in a brief daily production huddle and a scheduled weekly review of inventory, waste, events, staffing, and priorities.
- Support floor execution by taking work from the Production Leader's needs list without creating a competing line of direction for employees.
- Redirect production when broader company needs require it, after hearing the Leader's staffing, timing, quality, and safety constraints.
- Make the final operational call after collaboration, while maintaining established food-safety and quality standards.
- When product does not meet the intended specification, approve an appropriate alternate use ordelay the order rather than release substandard product.
- Remove barriers involving staffing, equipment, purchasing, communication, and cross-department coordination.
Inventory, Purchasing, and Vendors
- Share responsibility for accurate physical counts with the Butcher Production Leader and own the financial accuracy of recorded inventory.
- Review order quantities and approve spend; the Production Leader places the approved orders.
- Manage invoice discrepancies, credits, vendor performance, pricing conversations, and supplier changes.
- Review product movement, rotation, shrink, utilization, and internal transfers to protect margin and availability.
- Do not authorize independent emergency spending by the Production Leader; if a true emergency cannot wait, contact Owner / Company Leadership by phone and identify it as a '911' decision.
Retail, Wholesale, and Event Coordination
- Set standards for retail-case assortment, pricing, promotions, appearance, merchandising, and upkeep; delegate execution and verify that standards are maintained.
- Own wholesale customer relationships, pricing, commitments, account service, delivery coordination, and production-capacity communication.
- Consult the Production Leader about labor, inventory, and capacity before committing to a large wholesale order, event request, or deadline.
- Coordinate BEO requirements, quantities, timelines, and communication with culinary and catering leadership.
- Facilitate the butcher shop's production of items needed for events and provide hands-on event support when business needs require it.
- Coordinate with culinary and catering employees through their existing managers; this role does not directly supervise those teams.
People Leadership and Scheduling
- Create and own the employee schedule using the labor budget provided by Owner / Company Leadership.
- Approve timecards, planned time-off requests, overtime, and schedule changes that affect the labor budget.
- Own recruiting, hiring, onboarding standards, cross-training plans, performance evaluations, and documented employee development.
- Handle recurring or serious performance issues, formal discipline, and required documentation; suspensions and terminations require Owner / Company Leadership involvement.
- Support the Production Leader's handling of call-outs, routine coverage, basic coaching, and immediate floor corrections.
- Maintain a respectful, professional environment with one clear chain of command on the production floor.
Food Safety, Sanitation, and Equipment
- Own the HACCP program, compliance records, health-department readiness, inspections, and corrective-action documentation.
- Set opening, closing, cleaning, temperature, handling, and storage standards; audit daily checklist completion and correct systemic gaps.
- Ensure ServSafe practices and workplace-safety requirements are consistently applied.
- Arrange equipment repairs, approve maintenance spending within authority, and submit larger capital requests to Owner / Company Leadership.
- Immediately intervene in any food-safety or workplace-safety risk, regardless of normal floor-direction protocol.
Communication and Guest Recovery
- Write in the shared operational log every day worked, documenting business, staffing, vendor, event, and cross-department matters.
- Review the Production Leader's daily update on completed work, shortages, waste, quality concerns, and next-day needs.
- Report financial performance, staffing issues, and larger operational risks to Owner / Company Leadership.
- Take care of the guest first when a complaint occurs; document the resolution and address coaching, pricing, or process corrections afterward.
Decision Rights and Escalation
- Final decision authority: company priorities, spend approval, schedules, timecards, hiring, formal discipline, vendor changes, wholesale and event commitments, and the shop's overall financial performance.
- Required consultation: production capacity, labor, inventory, timing, technical methods, and product-quality implications before major commitments or priority changes.
- Required Owner / Company Leadership involvement: suspension, termination, major spending, capital commitments, and emergency '911' decisions that cannot wait.
- Non-negotiable standard: the final management decision may redirect or delay work but may not lower food-safety or product-quality standards.
Success Measures
- Sales, labor, food cost, margin, and overall butcher-shop financial performance
- Inventory accuracy, internal-transfer accuracy, yield, shrink, and total waste performance
- Wholesale and event fulfillment accuracy, readiness, and customer communication
- Schedule quality, labor-budget compliance, staffing stability, and employee development
- Retail-case standards, product availability, merchandising execution, and guest experience
- Food-safety, HACCP, sanitation, workplace-safety, and health-department compliance
- Consistent removal of operational barriers and clear collaboration with the Butcher Production Leader
Recommended Qualifications
- At least 3 years of leadership experience in butchery, culinary production, food manufacturing, retail food operations, or hospitality; multi-function management experience preferred.
- Strong working knowledge of protein fabrication, whole-animal utilization, yield, rotation, storage, and product-quality standards.
- Demonstrated ability to manage budgets, labor, inventory, purchasing, vendors, and operating results.
- Experience coordinating wholesale fulfillment, catering, events, BEOs, or cross-department production is preferred.
- Strong judgment, communication, conflict-resolution, coaching, documentation, and organizational skills.
- ServSafe and HACCP certification are required; a candidate who is not currently certified must obtain the required certification within the company's established timeline.
- Ability to lift at least 50 pounds and work safely in refrigerated, wet, and active production environments.
Schedule and Availability
This is a salaried leadership role expected to work approximately 45-55 hours per week. Open availability is required, including early mornings, nights, weekends, events, seasonal peaks, and schedule adjustments based on business needs. Compensation is addressed separately and is not part of this document.
Pay: From $52,000.00 per year
Benefits:
Work Location: In person
