Director of Procurement and Facilities

ABOUT US

Rethink Food is a chef-led nonprofit partnering with restaurants to better feed communities.
Through strong partnerships with local restaurants and community-based organizations, we work with a responsive, hyperlocal network that provides culturally celebrated, nutritious meals. Since 2017, we've served over 35 million meals
and reinvested more than $157 million
into local economies.

Our work falls into three core areas:

• Building the Network: We connect restaurants, community-based organizations, and food donors to deliver meals where they’re needed most.
• Setting the Example: Through our Sustainable Community Kitchen, we demonstrate what dignified, community-centered food access can look like.
• Advocating for Change: We champion policy and systems change to create a more sustainable, equitable food future for all.

ROLE SUMMARY

Rethink Food is seeking a Director of Procurement and Facilities to own organization-wide food and non-food procurement, cost control, supplier performance, and the reliable operation of our kitchen and facilities. This leader will build disciplined sourcing, costing, maintenance, food-safety, and compliance systems that improve quality, uptime, audit readiness, and value. The role partners closely with Culinary, Operations, Finance, Programs, and external vendors and regulators.

This is a hands-on, onsite leadership role. The Director is accountable for competitive sourcing and contracts, operating and capital budgets, preventive maintenance, permits and inspections, and compliance across meat processing, HACCP programs and records, sanitation, traceability, and all applicable city, state, and federal requirements.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Procurement Strategy & Sourcing: Own category strategy and purchasing for food, packaging, supplies, equipment, maintenance/repair/operations materials, and facilities and service vendors. Translate program and production needs into clear specifications, volumes, and sourcing plans.
• Competitive Procurement & Contracts: Lead RFPs, RFQs, vendor diligence, competitive bids, negotiations, contracts, service-level agreements, alternate sourcing, and continuity planning. Maintain procurement records, conflicts documentation, cost/price analyses, and required clauses for applicable government- and grant-funded purchases.
• Costing & Financial Performance: Build and maintain ingredient, recipe, meal, unit-cost, and total-cost models covering yield and trim loss, freight, rebates, payment terms, waste, spoilage, and price variance. Track verified savings and report budget risks and opportunities.
• Planning & Inventory: Partner with Culinary and Programs on demand forecasts, PAR levels, purchasing calendars, receiving standards, cycle counts, inventory turns, cold-chain control, and reduction of shrink, spoilage, and emergency buys.
• Supplier Performance: Maintain approved-supplier files, insurance, licenses, certifications, and food-safety documentation. Use scorecards and corrective-action plans to manage quality, service, delivery, and price while developing qualified local, small, and diverse suppliers where practical.
• Facilities & Asset Reliability: Own preventive and corrective maintenance, work orders, asset records, and vendor performance for kitchen, office, cold-storage, refrigeration, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, fire and life-safety systems, security, pest control, waste, grease, and janitorial services. Fleet operations are outside this role.
• Repairs, Projects & Capital Planning: Scope and competitively bid repairs, renovations, equipment replacements, and capital projects; manage licensed contractors, permits, budgets, schedules, commissioning, and inspection closeout.
• Emergency Readiness: Lead facilities incident response, utility and equipment-failure plans, escalation protocols, and business-continuity readiness to protect people, food, and operations.
• HACCP Program Ownership: Maintain and continuously improve HACCP plans and records, including hazard analyses, critical control points, monitoring, verification, deviations, corrective actions, reassessment, record review, retention, and employee training.
• Meat Processing, Sanitation & Traceability: Maintain compliant meat-processing controls, sanitation SOPs, GMPs, approved-source documentation, receiving and production records, lot traceability, temperature controls, storage records, and recall readiness.
• Regulatory Compliance & Audit Readiness: Identify, implement, document, and maintain all applicable requirements, permits, and inspection readiness across NYC DOHMH, DOB, FDNY, and DEP; New York State Agriculture and Markets; FDA/FSMA; USDA-FSIS; OSHA; and government or grant procurement rules. Coordinate inspections, audits, regulators, and specialist advisors.
• Leadership & Reporting: Lead staff, vendors, and contractors through clear SOPs, training, service standards, KPIs, and accountability. Provide reliable procurement, costing, facilities, food-safety, and compliance reporting to Operations, Culinary, Finance, and executive leadership.

QUALIFICATIONS

• 8+ years of progressive experience in procurement, supply chain, facilities, or operations, including at least 5 years leading people, vendors, budgets, and complex cross-functional work.
• At least 3 years in a regulated food-production, commissary, food-manufacturing, meat-processing, or high-volume foodservice environment with cold-chain responsibility.
• Demonstrated ownership of significant spend, competitive sourcing, vendor negotiations, contract lifecycle management, and measurable cost savings.
• Advanced food and total-cost analysis skills, including specifications, yields, trim loss, landed cost, freight, rebates, waste, spoilage, inventory, and purchase-price variance.
• Hands-on facilities leadership covering preventive maintenance or CMMS, refrigeration and kitchen equipment, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, fire/life safety, repairs, contractors, and capital projects.
• Formal HACCP training and demonstrated responsibility for HACCP plans, logs, verification, deviations, corrective actions, reassessment, and record retention.
• Direct experience with meat-processing controls, sanitation SOPs, GMPs, approved sources, traceability, temperature control, recall readiness, and regulatory inspections or audits.
• Working knowledge of applicable NYC, New York State, and federal food, facility, workplace-safety, and procurement requirements, with the ability to determine jurisdiction and maintain compliant permits, records, and procedures.
• Experience with public or grant-funded procurement, including competition, conflicts controls, cost/price analysis, documentation, allowability, and audit readiness; familiarity with 2 CFR Part 200 and NYC or New York State contracting is strongly preferred.
• NYC Food Protection Certificate required by the start date or within 30 days of hire if the role supervises food operations; ServSafe Manager is preferred.
• PCQI qualification and experience with USDA-FSIS grant-of-inspection, 9 CFR Parts 416 and 417, or equivalent meat/poultry inspection systems are strongly preferred.
• CPSM, ASCM CSCP, CFM/FMP, PMP, or a comparable procurement, supply-chain, facilities, or project-management credential is preferred.
• Strong command of procurement/ERP, inventory, and CMMS tools, plus advanced Excel or Google Sheets skills and clear operational reporting.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of education and substantial relevant experience.
• Excellent judgment, negotiation, problem-solving, communication, and change-management skills; able to work independently and cross-functionally in a fast-moving environment.
• Able to work onsite, respond to urgent facilities or compliance needs outside normal hours when necessary, and stand, bend, stretch, lift, and carry materials up to 50 pounds.
• Commitment to Rethink Food’s mission and core values.

WHAT YOU BRING TO THE TABLE: Commitment to embodying our values of -

Inventiveness: At our core, we are relentlessly curious about solving problems. As our name suggests, we’re a team of creative thinkers, but we’re also hands-on doers, challenging norms with humility to find practical solutions that can create lasting change.

Vulnerability: Guided by an “always be better” mindset, we are a team that intentionally reflects on what we are doing well and where we need to improve. We hold ourselves and each other accountable, every day. No blame, no shame — we just want to be sure we’re always doing the right thing.

Thoughtfulness: Our vision for a nourished and thriving world starts with nourished and thriving individuals in each of our communities. Our work is centered on the needs of the people that bring our communities to life. We don’t pretend to have all of the answers. We are committed to listening and learning in order to identify and scale solutions that ensure stable and reliable access to healthy food for all so each and every community can thrive.

Kindness: At Rethink, we show up every day with empathy and compassion and believe everyone should be treated with dignity. Kindness goes a long way — we are all about just being kind

COMPENSATION

The annual salary range for this position is $90,000- $115,000, depending on experience and education. We also offer a complete benefits package including medical, dental, vision, disability, life insurance, PTO, paid holidays, two weeks per year for an organization-wide office closure to recharge, a retirement plan with employer match, a progressive parental leave plan, and free nutritious lunch everyday! 

EEO STATEMENT

Rethink Food is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer.  We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, gender (including gender identity or expression), pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, sexual orientation, marital status, domestic violence, sexual violence or stalking victim status, ancestry, national origin, alienage or citizenship, age, disability, military or veteran status, genetic information or predisposing genetic characteristic, or other protected status. The organization is an Equal Opportunity Employer, drug-free workplace, and complies with ADA regulations as applicable.