{"id":1116389,"url":"https://alion.io/job/yay-lunch-operations-manager-northeast-region","title":"Operations Manager Northeast Region","company":{"id":691448,"name":"Yay Lunch","domain":"yaylunch.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/yaylunch","size_band":"201-500","is_staffing_agency":false,"is_intermediary":false,"ats_vendor":"Breezy","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":83,"open_postings":3,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0.667,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":null,"computed_at":"2026-09-23T05:45:00Z"}},"role":"Management","role_family":"Management","seniority":"senior","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":[],"countries":[],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":{"min_usd":105000,"max_usd":196000,"period":"year","method":"role_seniority_country_remote_cell","sample_n":1570},"experience_years_min":5,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"Slack","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-09-22T14:24:15Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-09-22","last_verified_at":"2026-09-23T19:48:16Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":1,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":1},"description":"Operations Manager - Northeast Region\nAbout the Role:\nThe Yay Company is looking for an experienced, hands-on Operations\nManager to own the performance of our Northeast area markets. These will consist of\nlocations in Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut.\nYou are in your markets, at your schools, and with your teams on a rotating basis,\nensuring every location runs to Yay's standards and every school feels great about the\nprogram.\nThis region operates primarily through Yay-produced hub kitchens, meaning you are\nmanaging real food production, kitchen teams, and distribution logistics - not just\ncoordinating third-party vendors. You will be responsible for standing up new kitchen\nlocations, managing Kitchen Managers and Lunch Coordinators across multiple\nmarkets, and owning the financial performance of your region.\nThis role is based in Pennsylvania. The ability to lead remote teams with high trust and\nclear expectations is as important as your ability to show up in person.\nThis is a high-accountability, high-visibility role at a company that is scaling fast. If you\nlove being in the field, own outcomes rather than activities, and thrive in an\nenvironment where every day is different, this role is for you.\nWhat You'll Own\nDirect Margin & Financial Performance: You are accountable for the direct margin\nof every school in your region. That means actively managing the inputs - food cost,\nlabor, waste, and sales - and knowing exactly where each market stands at all times.\nLabor & Scheduling: You own the labor budget for your region. You build and manage\nschedules for your Kitchen Managers, ensuring every market is staffed correctly based\non actual production volume - not habit. You approve overtime, monitor clock-in\ncompliance daily, and hold your team accountable to being on time, on location, and on\ntask - including markets you are not physically in that week.\nSales & School Experience: You own the sales number for your markets. You\nunderstand participation rates at every school, you know which locations are\nunderperforming, and you proactively address the barriers - whether that's a school\nrelationship issue, a service gap, or an execution problem. Your schools should feel like\nYay's most important partners, whether you are there in person or managing remotely.\nInventory & Waste: You oversee weekly and monthly inventory counts across all\nschools in your region. You are physically present for inventory on a rotating basis in\nyour core markets, and you hold Kitchen Managers in remote markets accountable to\nrunning accurate counts on schedule without your physical presence. You investigate\nany variance before it hits the margin report.\nRemote Market Management: New York and Connecticut teams run their schools\nday-to-day with significant autonomy. Your job is to set the standard, stay close through\ndaily Slack communication and weekly market calls, conduct site visits, and ensure\nnothing drifts without you knowing about it.\nNew Location Launches: As we bring on new kitchen schools in your region, you own\nthe launch process end-to-end alongside your Kitchen Managers - from health\ndepartment coordination and equipment procurement to staffing plans and operational\nsetup.\nTeam Management & Development: You directly manage Kitchen Managers across\nthe region and are accountable for all ground-level staff. You set clear expectations,\ndevelop your team, address performance issues directly, and build a culture of\nownership in every market you cover - in person and remotely.\nField Presence: Your time in the field is concentrated where it matters most.\nPhiladelphia is your home base. You are always reachable, always informed, and always\naccountable - regardless of which market you are physically in.\nWhat We're Looking For\n5-7 years of experience in multi-unit operations management, ideally in food\nservice, hospitality, or a similarly fast-paced field environment\nExperience managing kitchen or food production operations - you understand\nfood cost, labor scheduling, and what it takes to run a kitchen at margin\nProven ability to manage remote teams effectively - you know how to lead\npeople you are not standing next to every day\nStrong people manager - you have led teams in the field, held people\naccountable, and developed talent\nFinancially fluent - you can read a P&L, understand direct margin, and connect\ndaily operational decisions to financial outcomes\nSelf-directed and highly organized - you manage multiple markets across a large\ngeography and nothing falls through the cracks\nComfortable with ambiguity and growth - Yay is scaling and this region is\nexpanding. You build as you go and you enjoy that\nServSafe Manager certification or willingness to obtain within 30 days of hire\nMust be based in Philadelphia or within commuting distance\nValid driver's license and reliable transportation - this role requires regular\ntravel across your markets\nWhat We Offer\nCompetitive salary commensurate with experience\nA high-growth, mission-driven company where your work directly impacts what\nkids eat every day\nA leadership team that values accountability, transparency, and operators who\nown their outcomes\nReal career growth as we expand into new markets and continue building our\nleadership team\nAbout The Yay Company \nWe are on a mission to fundamentally change school food\nfor the better. We are a culinary-first school food company - we cook fresh, nutritious,\nand genuinely delicious meals in school kitchens every day. Since launching in 2018, we\nhave expanded across multiple markets and are backed by experienced venture capital\npartners. This is school food the way it should be - and we are just getting started.","description_format":"text","description_chars":5717,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":5,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":[],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":[],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-09-22T16:01:19Z"}],"liveness":{"score":86,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.86,"p_room":1,"age_days":0,"expected_fill_days":46,"reasons":["conf:1","win:early"],"computed_at":"2026-09-23T05:45:00Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/yay-lunch-operations-manager-northeast-region","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/yay-lunch-operations-manager-northeast-region.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-09-23T20:26:59Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers"}}