Production Manager

About Dessert Holdings

Dessert Holdings is a collection of premium dessert companies and brands:
The Original Cakerie, Lawler's Desserts, Atlanta Cheesecake Company, Steven Charles, Dianne's Fine Desserts, Kenny's Great Pies, and Willamette Valley Pie Company. Dessert Holdings is owned by Bain Capital, is headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota, employs more than 3,500 people across ten manufacturing facilities, and is continuing its journey of rapid growth.

Reporting to the Plant Manager, the Production Manager is responsible for overseeing all aspects of daily production operations in a food manufacturing facility (bakery focus), ensuring the highest standards of quality and safety of our employees and products are met. This position serves as a key leader in driving operational excellence, continuous improvement, team development, and achievement of production targets while maintaining full compliance with regulatory and company standards.

This position is responsible for understanding related Quality Management Systems including BRC, HACCP, and GMP to ensure the safety and quality of our employees and products.

• Champion and model Plant Workplace Safety, Food Safety, Food Defense, and GMP initiatives, serving as a visible leader to ensure compliance across all shifts.
• Lead efforts to achieve a zero-injury workplace, ensuring safe working conditions and full adherence to state and federal environmental, health, and safety regulations.
• Support and lead food safety and quality audits (e.g., GFSI/FSSC or equivalent), including execution of corrective actions.
• Maintain the integrity and sustained certification of Food Safety and Quality systems; proactively report and address any potential food safety or quality issues to prevent occurrences.

• Direct daily production operations to consistently meet or exceed targets for safety, quality, service, cost, and productivity.
• Develop, implement, and manage production procedures to ensure all plant goals are achieved.
• Establish and sustain standard work and operating discipline across all shifts.
• Track, analyze, and improve key performance indicators (KPIs); identify variances from standards/plans and implement corrective actions.
• Maintain accurate records for all production phases, including quality, formulation, auditing, order completion, and scheduling (e.g., holiday production).

• Drive continuous improvement initiatives using Lean, Six Sigma, or similar methodologies (e.g., RCA, PDCA, A3, 5 Whys), delivering measurable results in waste reduction, downtime, labor costs, and process variability.

• Develop, coach, mentor, and hold accountable production supervisors, leads, and team members.
• Supervise and train manufacturing leaders on personnel and labor issues; conduct performance appraisals and recommend developmental needs and ongoing training.
• Foster a culture of mutual respect, teamwork, and professionalism, actively supporting the company's values and culture.

• Partner closely with Planning, Maintenance, and Food Safety/Quality (FSQ) teams to improve throughput, equipment reliability, and schedule attainment.
• Own labor performance for direct and temporary staff, ensuring productivity and budget targets are met.
• Achieve budgetary goals for capital investments, productivity, downtime, and waste.

• Bachelor's degree in business, engineering, or related field preferred. A combination of education, training and experience that results in demonstrated competency to perform the work may be substituted.
• 5-7 years of hands‑on management experience and direct manufacturing experience with a consumer goods company preferred.
• Familiarity with the operations of all plant departments: production, quality, maintenance, materials management, and food safety.
• Demonstrated track record of leading the improvement of operations while delivering day to day performance (e.g., productivity gains, waste reduction, labor efficiency, downtime reduction) to improve system reliability.
• Strong working knowledge of food safety systems, GMPs, and regulatory requirements (OSHA, FDA, FSMA)
• Experience…