Director of Culinary — Restaurant and Product Development

Job overview

The Director of Culinary role is onsite in the Metro Detroit area. Compensation is $75,000–$100,000 per year. The role supports a restaurant and consumer packaged goods brand with a long history and products spanning restaurant menus and frozen retail offerings. The director protects established recipes while developing new menu items and frozen products, and builds repeatable standards for quality, training, food safety, and execution. The position connects culinary development with restaurant operations, marketing, purchasing, finance, and manufacturing partners.

What you'll do

• Maintain and document brand recipes and specifications
• lead restaurant menu development and launches
• develop frozen products from bench through plant trials and production sign-off
• conduct quality checks
• partner on recipe costing, pricing, ingredients, and suppliers
• develop kitchen training
• maintain catering menus
• support food safety, allergen, nutrition, and labeling requirements
• monitor culinary trends and competitors.

What we're looking for

Skills & competencies

full-time

director of culinary

restaurant menu development

frozen product development

metro detroit mi

gecko hospitality

recipe standards

food costing

food safety

kitchen training

pizza and dough

$75,000–$100,000/year

regular regional travel

Work arrangement

• Weekend coverage required

Benefits & perks

• Compensation of $75,000–$100,000 per year.

Why this role

Combines multi-unit restaurant culinary leadership with hands-on frozen product formulation, plant trials, and commercial production work.

About the employer

Gecko Hospitality is hiring for this role. Industry: Full-Service Restaurants. Sector: 72.