Ark Foods is known for popularizing Shishito Peppers, but now we’re deep in product development for our future lineup, including Sweet Acre Squash with Ginger Maple Syrup, Honey Peppers, and others.
We are a startup going through a period of massive growth, so this is a large job. The Production Manager will be responsible for tracking inventory of production inputs, scheduling and overseeing fresh cut production runs, making sure our equipment / machinery is functional and well maintained, and ensuring quality of finished runs. This role will be our primary liaison between the company and the packing facility.
-
Experience leading production runs of packaged, fresh cut produce items
-
Experience working with basic produce machinery, e.g., bag sealers, dicers, washers
-
Strong communication and organization skills
-
Dexterity with numbers
-
Strong working knowledge of best food safety practices, e.g., SQF, HACCP, QC
-
Basic computer skills, e.g., spreadsheets and emails
-
Ability to lift 30-40 pounds
-
Ability to work in a cold, refrigerated environment (34F-36F) for long stretches at a time
-
Comfort with irregular work hours, such as weekends, evenings, or nights (we don’t expect this to be the norm)
-
Bilingual Spanish / English would be a bonus
-
Comfortable spending most days on the floor at our NJ production facility, with a willingness to come into our Brooklyn, NY office ~2-3 days per month
This is a tough role, but a really exciting one. Basically, the Production Manager needs to turn customer orders from a purchase order into finished, palletized product ready for loading onto our trucks. The Production Manager will need to oversee and manage a production team who cuts and packs the orders. The role will involve answering all sorts of questions:
Do we have all inputs necessary for Wednesday’s run of Sweet Acre Squash? What is the best kill step for fresh cut butternut squash? What about fresh cut broccoli? How should we set up our production line for a one-pallet order vs. a 20-pallet order? How does quality look on the raw squash we that just received into inventory? How many shifts and how many workers will we need to complete orders this week? Is our band sealing machine running correctly? Has the date coder been prepped to mark the lot number on each sealed bag? What is our biggest production bottleneck and how do we fix it?
