About Healthy Bites Collective
Healthy Bites Collective is a national K-12 food service platform uniting four regional brands: Healthy Lunch Box (Houston), Twelve Oaks Catering (Dallas), Butter Beans Kitchen (New York), and Gourmet Gorilla (Chicago). We are building a scalable, compliant, and student-focused school nutrition platform.
We serve a diverse mix of public, private, and charter schools across multiple states. Our brands combine local relationships with cross-state infrastructure to deliver high-quality, nutritious meals that make a real difference for students every day.
The Opportunity
Gourmet Gorilla is a high-volume vended school food service operation based in Chicago. We prepare, unitize, and deliver hot meals daily to partner schools across the Chicago metro area. We are looking for a General Manager who can own the full operation: logistics, P&L, team performance, and client relationships.
Gourmet Gorilla has an experienced Director of Operations who oversees production and food quality. What this role requires is an operator who can drive logistics execution, develop and elevate a team with deep institutional knowledge, own the financial performance of the site, and grow the client base in partnership with our platform sales resources.
If you have led large, complex distribution or logistics operations, have owned a full P&L, and know how to build a high-performing team from a strong foundation, this role was built for you.
Key Responsibilities
Logistics and delivery operations
- Own the end-to-end vended meal logistics model: production scheduling, unitization, hot-hold compliance, route management, and on-time delivery to partner schools
- Build and maintain contingency plans for driver, vehicle, and delivery disruptions
- Ensure temperature compliance and food safety standards are met from kitchen to school serving line
- Identify route efficiency opportunities that improve margin and service reliability
Financial performance and P&L management
- Own the full site P&L including food cost, labor, delivery, and overhead
- Build and manage weekly financial reporting, forecasting, and variance analysis
- Track and act on KPIs including cost per meal, labor efficiency, participation rate, and contribution margin
- Partner with the CEO and finance team on budgeting, capital decisions, and performance improvement
Team leadership and culture
- Lead and develop teams across logistics, production support, and customer-facing operations
- Build a performance culture in an operation with a team that has significant institutional knowledge
- Establish clear accountability structures, KPI ownership, and consequence management at every level
- Develop the leadership team and create a path for internal advancement
Client relationships and business development
- Serve as the primary relationship owner for Gourmet Gorilla school accounts
- Partner with platform sales resources to develop new school proposals and close new accounts
- Build retention-focused relationships with school business managers and principals
- Represent Gourmet Gorilla in client meetings, RFP responses, and community events
Compliance and quality
- Ensure compliance with all federal, state, and local food safety and nutritional standards
- Maintain HACCP standards and documentation across the operation
- Oversee procurement in coordination with the Director of Operations
Qualifications & Experience
Required
- 5 or more years of experience in operations, logistics, or distribution leadership with full P&L ownership
- Demonstrated track record of driving financial performance and building accountability in a team environment
- Experience leading large, complex operations with significant daily throughput and time-sensitive execution requirements
- Strong financial acumen including experience with cost management, margin analysis, and KPI reporting
- Proven ability to lead through cultural change in a tenured or entrenched team
- Excellent communication skills with the confidence to present to school administrators, leadership, and investors
Preferred
- Experience in food service, catering, or a regulated production environment
- Familiarity with HACCP, USDA, or local health code requirements
- Background in school food service, K-12 nutrition programs, or NSLP
- Experience developing and presenting business proposals or RFP responses
- Bilingual in Spanish and English
Why Join Us?
Gourmet Gorilla has a strong operational foundation, a platform with active growth ambitions, and a real need for a leader who can take ownership and drive performance. The person who takes this job will shape what Gourmet Gorilla looks like over the next several years. And the mission, feeding kids in Chicago schools every single day, is one you will feel every time you walk in the door.
Benefits
Paid Time Off
Health Care Plan (Medical, Dental & Vision)
Retirement Plan (401k, IRA) with company match
Life Insurance
