Head – Kitchen & Dining

Rishihood is India's first national transformation university. It prepares learners to solve the big problems of tomorrow. Our transformative education is built on three pillars:

•Personal Impact – developing physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual strength.

•Professional Impact – building real-world skills through industry-integrated, practice-based learning.

•Public Impact – fostering interdisciplinary thinking and a commitment to nation-building.

At Rishihood, we nurture leaders who will transform themselves, their professions, and the nation.

Position | Head – Kitchen & Dining

Reports to

Director – Operations

Direct reports

Dining hall supervisors; day-to-day oversight of the outsourced Food & Dining partner’s on-campus team

Function

Kitchen & Dining

The vision is explicit that food at Rishihood must move from “campus service” to “campus experience” — every meal should nourish the body, cultivate awareness, strengthen community and make holistic living effortless. This role is the internal owner of that philosophy: it sets and enforces the Rishihood dining standard, manages the day-to-day relationship with the outsourced Food & Dining partner, and turns the dining hall into a genuine learning environment rather than just a place to eat.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

•    Own the Rishihood Dining Standard — nutritious, safe, fresh, beautiful, efficient and dignified — and hold the outsourced Food & Dining partner accountable to it day-to-day.

•    Design and continuously improve menus in consultation with nutritionists/dieticians, balancing holistic nutrition with taste, variety and cultural relevance.

•    Build out the Farm → Kitchen → Nutrition → Plate → Awareness → Waste → Compost → Farm loop — including food-waste tracking, composting, and where possible, local/farm sourcing.

•    Turn the dining hall into a learning environment: nutrition communication, mindful-eating practices, and community-building around meals as part of holistic living.

•    Own food safety and hygiene compliance across the kitchen and dining operations — FSSAI licensing, hygiene audits, staff health checks — in partnership with the outsourced partner.

•    Manage dining hall ambience, service flow and efficiency at peak hours, ensuring a dignified, unhurried dining experience.

•    Track food cost, wastage and quality metrics; work with Head – Procurement on ingredient sourcing and with Campus 2.0 Experience on feeding results into the Campus Excellence Scorecard.

•    Handle escalations on food quality/safety and drive continuous improvement with the outsourced Food & Dining partner, including periodic performance reviews against SLA.

KEY RESULT AREAS & SUCCESS METRICS

Key Result Area

How Success Is Measured

Nutrition & quality

Menu nutrition-adequacy review score; taste/quality feedback from learners and staff

Food safety

Hygiene/FSSAI audit pass rate; zero food-safety incidents

Waste & sustainability

Food waste as % of meals served; volume composted and returned to campus use

Guest/learner satisfaction

Dining satisfaction scores, including ambience and service

Cost discipline

Cost per meal against budget, without compromising the standard

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE

•    Degree in Hospitality Management, Culinary Arts, Food Technology or Nutrition/Dietetics.

•    8–12 years of experience in institutional catering, large-scale kitchen operations or F&B leadership — experience managing an outsourced catering partner is a strong plus.

•    Working knowledge of food safety regulations (FSSAI) and large-volume kitchen hygiene standards.

•    Exposure to sustainable/holistic food practices (composting, farm-to-table, waste reduction) is a plus.

SKILLS & ATTRIBUTES

•    Deep understanding of nutrition and holistic wellbeing, not just food service.

•    Strong vendor/partner management — able to hold a large outsourced kitchen accountable without running it directly.

•    Communication skills to build a food-awareness culture among learners.

•    Comfortable balancing cost discipline with quality and experience.