Restaurant Food Safety Specialist jobs

The Food Safety Culture & Compliance Specialist is a key leader responsible for embedding, strengthening, and championing food safety culture throughout Embassy Ingredients. This role ensures all food safety, regulatory, and customer requirements are met while driving behavioral engagement through the Food Safety Culture Mentorship Program. The Specialist promotes proactive risk awareness, continuous improvement, and cross-functional accountability, ensuring that food safety is understood, valued, and practiced by every team member.

Core Responsibilities:

Food Safety Culture Leadership

• Serves as the Food Safety Culture Lead, championing behavioral expectations, positive reinforcement, and coaching.
• Facilitates the Food Safety Culture Mentorship Program, supporting mentors and mentees, tracking progress, and providing tools to strengthen leadership behaviors.
• Drives plant-wide engagement initiatives: culture themes, posters, trainings, storytelling, and Gemba-style culture walks.
• Uses data—near misses, audit results, NC trends, behavioral observations—to identify culture gaps and implement targeted improvement actions.
• Provides monthly KPI First Pass and Audit Ready data to management.
• Promotes a “Say Something, Do Something” culture: encourages reporting, rapid response, and visible accountability.
• Facilitates cross-department learning sessions to build cultural ownership (Ops, Sanitation, Warehouse, R&D, Maintenance).

Food Safety Compliance

• Ensures compliance to BRCGS, GFCP, Kosher, Halal, SFCR, FDA, and customer standards.
• Acts as Facility Lead Internal Auditor, maintaining and executing the internal audit schedule.
• Leads root cause investigations using structured RCA methods (cause & effect, 5-Why, barrier analysis). Ensures opportunity investigations are on-track and completed on time.
• Manages audit readiness and supports all external inspections.
• Coordinates Kosher inspections with the Rabbi.
• Oversees verification records, environmental monitoring, and trending analysis.
• Conducts annual vulnerability risk assessments for raw materials and packaging.
• Orders and monitors metal-detectable tools and equipment.
• Drives continuous improvement of food safety and food safety culture programs.
• Acts as the Food Safety Team lead – hosts monthly food safety meetings.

Training & Embassy University Leadership

• Serves as the Lead Administrator of Embassy University, ensuring the platform is current, organized, user-friendly, and fully aligned with food safety culture priorities and organizational training needs.
• Maintains, updates, and publishes all Quality, Food Safety, and Regulatory training materials, ensuring accuracy, version control, and compliance with BRCGS, GFCP, HACCP, Kosher, Halal, SFCR, FDA, and customer requirements.
• Develops and delivers clear, engaging, and accessible training across multiple formats (in-person, digital modules, toolbox talks, micro-learnings).
• Designs training content that incorporates practical examples, real case studies, and behavior-based culture principles to strengthen food safety culture engagement.
• Collaborates with cross-functional teams (Operations, R&D, Warehouse, Sanitation, Maintenance) to ensure training reflects real operational needs and supports consistent execution.
• Acts as a role model trainer, promoting a safe, respectful learning environment and simplifying complex concepts for staff at all levels.
• Supports and coaches leaders through the Food Safety Culture Mentorship Program, reinforcing leadership behaviors, food safety accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Continuously enhances the Embassy University platform by adding refresher modules, culture boosters, updated SOP trainings, and new learning tools to strengthen retention and capability across the organization.

Service Supplier Management

• Verifies the quality and compliance of all service suppliers.
• Reviews service supplier reports, action items, and ensures documentation is current.
• Leads pest-related investigations and corrective actions.
• Manages the Visitor System and front-desk food safety compliance protocols.

Additional Responsibilities

• Inspects incoming RMAs and communicates findings.
• Supports regulatory compliance, new item approvals, and customer documentation requests.
• Provides real-time support to Operations to troubleshoot and prevent food safety risks.
• Ensures all activities uphold product safety, authenticity, legality, and quality.
• Completes other duties as assigned.

What You Bring to Embassy

• College diploma or university degree in Chemistry, Food Science, or Microbiology (or equivalent experience).
• Minimum 5 years of food safety and regulatory experience.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• High sense of urgency, attention to detail, and professionalism.
• Ability to manage time well under pressure and meet tight deadlines.
• Flexibility in work schedule to meet business needs.

This position is for a current vacancy with a compensation range of $70,000-$90,000.

Embassy Ingredients is committed to providing accommodations for applicants with disabilities through the recruitment, selection and/or assessment process. If contacted for an employment opportunity, please advise the People and Development Department of the nature of any accommodation(s) that you may require. We thank all applicants in advance for their interest in an Embassy career, but only those selected for an interview will be contacted.

Pay: $70,000.00-$90,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• Casual dress
• Company events
• Dental care
• Disability insurance
• Extended health care
• Life insurance
• On-site parking
• Paid time off
• RRSP match
• Vision care
• Wellness program

Work Location: In person