Kitchen Molding Manager

Astor Chocolate is a 4th generation privately held, family-owned company and has been a leading purveyor of chocolate for over 90 years with our core strengths being innovation, creativity, and dedication to creating premium products. The company services multiple industries ranging from Hospitality, Travel Retail, Food Service, ASI, and Gourmet specialty retailers. Astor, with our energetic team atmosphere, believes the success of our growth is our strong commitment to developing our employees' potential. We are committed to building the company with talented and motivated individuals who will uphold our mission of being a market leader by innovating and servicing our customers with extreme dedication.

Location: Lakewood, NJ - Onsite
Schedule: Monday–Thursday (8–10 hours/day); Friday (3–6 hours, typically R&D-focused)

Position Overview

Astor Chocolate Corp. is seeking a Kitchen Molding Manager to lead daily operations within our chocolate kitchen. This role is responsible for overseeing personnel, equipment, and production scheduling for molding and enrobing lines.

The ideal candidate will combine strong leadership skills with hands-on food manufacturing experience, ensuring production runs efficiently while maintaining the highest standards of safety, quality, and productivity.

This is a high-impact role with strong growth potential, offering the opportunity to shape processes, develop teams, and contribute to continuous improvement initiatives.

Essential Function

Production Scheduling & Planning

• Develop and manage daily and weekly production schedules based on order timelines, ingredient availability, allergen requirements, equipment capacity, and staffing.

• Review scheduling communications and prioritize SKUs for production.

• Enter and manage production work orders in Astor’s ERP system (Minted), ensuring accurate access to batch details, specifications, and materials.

• Coordinate ingredient availability and submit requests to warehouse teams as needed.

• Participate in daily production meetings and adjust schedules based on operational needs.

• Track priorities, timelines, and project progress.

Team Leadership & Development

• Lead daily startup meetings and assign tasks to kitchen personnel.

• Drive accountability for performance, ensuring adherence to safety, quality, and efficiency standards.

• Coach, mentor, and develop team members to improve productivity and engagement.

• Ensure all operators are properly trained on equipment and processes.

• Conduct performance reviews and provide constructive feedback.

• Enforce company policies, including progressive discipline when necessary.

Operational Efficiency & Continuous Improvement

• Oversee daily kitchen operations to maximize uptime, throughput, and yield.

• Collaborate with Production, R&D, and Chocolatier teams on new product launches and process improvements.

• Coordinate with Maintenance to ensure equipment reliability and schedule preventative maintenance.

• Partner with Quality to resolve product issues and ensure compliance with standards.

• Manage rework processes and optimize sequencing for efficiency.

• Analyze and report on labor, material usage, efficiencies, and production metrics.

• Lead and participate in continuous improvement and cross-functional initiatives.

• Ensure compliance with Safety, GMP, HACCP, and SQF standards.

• Conduct regular safety and GMP training sessions.

Qualifications

Required

• 3–5+ years of experience in food manufacturing (chocolate or confectionery preferred).

• Prior leadership or supervisory experience in a production environment.

• Strong organizational, planning, and problem-solving skills.

• Ability to work in a fast-paced, high-demand manufacturing setting.

• Proficiency in Microsoft Office (Excel, Word, PowerPoint) and ability to learn ERP systems.

• Excellent communication and team leadership skills.

Preferred

• Bilingual (English/Spanish).

• Experience with chocolate processing, molding, or enrobing equipment.

Benefits