Plant Manager

Overview

The Marzetti Company is a manufacturer and marketer of specialty food products for the retail and foodservice markets. Our retail brands include Marzetti®, New York Bakery™, Sister Schubert’s®, and Reames®, in addition to exclusive license agreements for Olive Garden® dressings, Chick-fil-A® sauces and Buffalo Wild Wings® sauces.

Our foodservice business supplies many of the top restaurant chains in the United States. At T. Marzetti, our mission is to make every meal Better through high-quality, flavorful food. Led by our purpose, To Nourish Growth with All that We Do, our more than 3,500 team members are dedicated to innovative and quality products as well as superior service and value for our customers.

At The Marzetti Company, we are The Better Food Company.

Position Summary

The Plant Manager is responsible for overall performance of the manufacturing site, including safety, quality, service, cost, people, and culture. This role owns the site P&L and provides strategic and operational leadership to ensure reliable execution today while building the capabilities required for future growth.

The Plant Manager leads through an operating model, aligning cross-functional teams to deliver business results, develop leaders, and embed continuous improvement and safety as core ways of working.

Responsibilities

Primary Responsibilities

Site Leadership & Business Ownership

• Lead the Site Leadership Team to operate as a unified, accountable leadership system and the entire workforce to maximize productivity and job satisfaction. Leads by organizational operating principles, ultimately defining the culture and level of engagement at the plant location.
• Own full site P&L, including cost, service, and productivity performance.
• Establish site vision, priorities, and goals aligned to enterprise strategies.
• Represent the site to corporate leadership and external stakeholders.

Safety, Quality & Compliance

• Create and sustain a zero-injury culture; ensure compliance with all safety, health, and environmental regulations.
• Serve as the site’s senior leader accountable for food safety, quality systems, and regulatory compliance.
• Ensure audit readiness and strong relationships with customers, auditors, and regulators.

Operations & Reliability

• Ensure safe, predictable, and reliable operations across all value streams and warehousing.
• Partner with Maintenance and Engineering to drive asset reliability and capital planning.
• Oversee production planning, scheduling adherence, and inventory management in partnership with Supply Chain.
• Drive improvements in OEE, uptime, and throughput.

People, Culture & Capability

• Build a high-performance culture rooted in Marzetti Growth Behaviors and an Owner Mindset.
• Develop and coach plant leaders.
• Ensure strong succession planning and leadership pipeline across the site.
• Partner with HR to drive engagement, capability building, and workforce planning.

Continuous Improvement & Innovation

• Champion CI, and operational excellence principles across the site.
• Lead and sponsor breakthrough improvements to processes, technology, and operating models.
• Leverage benchmarking and best practices to keep the site competitive and innovative.

Cross-Functional & Enterprise Collaboration

• Partner with QA, Planning, HR, Finance, Engineering, Procurement, Commercial, and R&D teams.
• Align site priorities with broader supply chain, customer, and enterprise needs.
• Participate in cross-site and enterprise initiatives to drive network performance.

#TMZ23

Qualifications

• Progressive manufacturing leadership experience; food or beverage manufacturing preferred.
• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, operations, or related field required or equivalent experience; MBA preferred.
• Proven success leading multiple value streams or functions.
• Strong financial acumen with full P&L responsibility.
• Demonstrated ability to lead through change while delivering results through operational metrics.

Working Conditions/Environment

This role operates in a manufacturing environment and requires regular presence on the production floor. Ability to work in a fast-paced environment, navigate plant conditions, and engage directly with frontline teams is required.