Careers

CULTIVATE A BETTER WORLD

Food served fast does not have to be a typical fast-food experience.  Chipotle has always done things differently, both in and out of our restaurants. We are changing the face of fast food, starting conversations, and directly supporting efforts to shift the future of farming and food. We hope you will join us as we continue to learn, evolve, and shape what comes next on our mission to make better food accessible to everyone.

THE OPPORTUNITY

As the Chipotle Culinary Lead for Chipotle International you will oversee Chipotle Culinary and its alignment with our Global Brand Standards which includes oversight of the Chipotle equity owned and operated markets in Europe and our other global partnerships. You will partner with our international Chipotle team, strategic regional suppliers, regional operations team, and our USA based leadership team to deliver a consistent Chipotle experience globally.

This is a leadership role involving the fluency in culinary skills, Chipotle’s culinary execution, and Chipotle’s Food with Integrity (FWI) ethos. The ability to partner strategically with suppliers to match our commercialized products and understanding large scale production is vital. An understanding of Food Safety, Quality Assurance, and Commercialization protocols is essential.

You will partner with the regional culinary operations teams to ensure restaurant culinary recipes and standards in local markets are maintained and meet the aligned-on Global Brand Standard. You will also lead any regional culinary and menu work required to support local menu adjustments by leveraging a combination of local market and consumer insights.

Developing and implementing processes and protocols to drive consistency in our proprietary products, food quality, and in restaurant execution will be essential.

This role reports directly into the Vice President for Chipotle Culinary and will partner with the leadership team in Europe and our licensed partners to ensure we are championing Chipotle’s Food with Integrity mission across the globe.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

1.     Maintain Global Culinary Standards: Develop and execute a comprehensive Global Culinary Standards strategy aligned with Chipotle’s objectives of delivering a consistent culinary experience. This will account for strategic suppliers, regional operations, marketing, food safety, and quality assurance stakeholders. The strategy will include a comprehensive process to calibrate on the Chipotle Core menu standards in addition to the review, approval, and organization of regional menu adjustments to support local and regional preferences, cultural nuances, and legislation.

2.     Strategic Supplier Partnerships: You will partner closely with the international supply chain team and strategic suppliers to ensure core menu ingredients meets our global culinary FWI standards. This includes liaising with the US teams and suppliers to understand the core ingredients.

3.     Restaurant Operations Support: Partner with the Operations Services team to drive culinary capability and brand standards internationally. This means leveraging the stage-gate process to support the ops services efforts impacting culinary. 

4.     Teach & Taste Chipotle: As the Director of Culinary International, you will be an expert in Chipotle’s FWI mission and our Real food proposition. Our value of Teaching and Tasting is critical and is supported with restaurant visits, food demonstrations, delivering strategic feedback, and providing support to enhance the FWI ethos, skills, knowledge, and performance of restaurant culinary to regional teams.

5.     Kitchen Innovation and Procurement: Partners with the global business on culinary process and equipment innovation initiatives to bring efficiency to international markets. Oversight of kitchen equipment and technology procurement to support consistency and drive cost efficiencies. 

6.     Cross-functional Collaboration: Operationalise culinary innovation and change via effective collaboration with operations, FSQA, brand marketing, training, finance and procurement to align culinary initiatives with overall business objectives and ensure seamless integration of culinary strategies.

7.     Consumer Testing and Validation: Partner with the regional marketing and consumer insights team to develop and implement a consumer testing protocol for Core menu ingredients and recipe adjustments

8.     Budgeting and Cost Control: Manage culinary budgets, monitor costs, and identify opportunities for cost-saving initiatives without compromising quality or guest experience.

WHAT YOU’LL BRING TO THE TABLE

·       A Passion for people, hospitality, and Real Food with Integrity

·       Culinary Arts Degree/Certification

·       Bachelor’s or Master’s degree preferred

·       Language skills (English + 1-2 European languages) preferred

·       A minimum of 10 years of progressive culinary experience, including international exposure and leadership roles

·       Experience in multi-unit operations in regional European markets preferred

·       Experienced and knowledge in large scale commercialization and production environments

·       Strong understanding of food science, food safety, and quality assurance standards

·       Strong understanding of international food regulations, health and safety standards, and food handling practices

·       Proven track record in menu development, culinary innovation, and successful implementation of culinary strategies across multi-location operations

·       Excellent communication and interpersonal skills to foster collaboration and build strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders. Highly articulate and able to present to diverse audiences including leadership with proficiency in food tastings, PowerPoint and other impactful presentation formats

·       Strong business acumen, with experience in budgeting, cost control, and financial analysis

WHO WE ARE

Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE: CMG) is cultivating a better world by serving responsibly sourced, classically cooked, real food with wholesome ingredients without artificial colors, flavors or preservatives. Chipotle has over 3,000 restaurants in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Germany and is the only restaurant company of its size that owns and operates all its restaurants. Chipotle is ranked on the Fortune 500 and is recognized on the 2022 list for Fortune's Most Admired Companies. With over 100,000 employees passionate about providing a great guest experience, Chipotle is a longtime leader and innovator in the food industry. Chipotle is committed to making its food more accessible to everyone while continuing to be a brand with a demonstrated purpose as it leads the way in digital, technology and sustainable business practices. For more information or to place an order online, visit www.chipotle.com

Primary Location: England - Marylebone - 9013 - International Operations-(09013)

Work Location:
9013 - International Operations-(09013)
83 Baker Street
Marylebone W1U 6AG