Chief Operating Officer (Lawrence)

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICERCosmo's Superior Foods is looking for a hands-on, scrappy, small-business COO who can move comfortably from the production floor to a customer call to a spreadsheet. This is not a "stay in the office and delegate" operations role. We need a practical operator, problem solver, and jack-of-all-trades leader who can help us keep the business moving every day while building the systems, people, and processes we need to grow.The COO will work directly with ownership and leadership to oversee day-to-day operations across manufacturing, drying, raw material processing, packaging, fulfillment, logistics, food safety, maintenance, vendors, and customer delivery. The right person is organized, accountable, resourceful, and willing to jump in wherever the business needs help.This role requires someone who can bring structure without slowing the company down. You should be able to create simple processes, hold teams accountable, solve bottlenecks, manage outside partners, protect quality and food safety, and make smart decisions with limited resources. We value honest communication, integrity, respect, hard work, and a true roll-up-your-sleeves mindset.What You'll OwnLead daily operations across production, drying, raw material flow, packaging, fulfillment, logistics, maintenance, and vendor coordination.Work closely with the raw material production manager to maximize drying capacity, improve throughput, reduce waste, and keep materials moving.Oversee the Logistics and Fulfillment Manager and help coordinate labor, packaging, inventory, and shipping needs to hit customer timelines.Build simple, practical systems for scheduling, purchasing, inventory, production planning, maintenance, food safety, and order fulfillment.Identify operational bottlenecks, make decisions quickly, and personally help solve problems when the team is stretched.Own key operating metrics including safety, food safety, quality, on-time delivery, productivity, waste, labor efficiency, and margin impact.Develop and maintain a strong food safety and workplace safety culture, including training, documentation, audits, corrective actions, and accountability.Support customer needs by ensuring orders are produced, packed, and shipped accurately, efficiently, and on time.Manage relationships with suppliers, co-manufacturing partners, freight providers, equipment vendors, service providers, and local agencies.Help recruit, train, coach, and retain a small but growing operations team where everyone is expected to contribute and take ownership.Create and maintain basic reporting for leadership, including production performance, labor needs, inventory status, delivery risks, and cost opportunities.Assist with capital planning, facility improvements, equipment maintenance, and expansion projects with a practical eye toward return on investment.Keep the site organized, compliant, clean, safe, and ready for customers, auditors, employees, and partners.What Success Looks LikeThe team knows the plan for the day, the week, and the customer orders that matter most.Production, packaging, and fulfillment are coordinated instead of reactive.Food safety and quality expectations are clear, documented, and followed.Problems get surfaced early, solved quickly, and prevented from repeating.Inventory, labor, vendors, and equipment are managed with discipline and common sense.Leadership has a clear view of operational priorities, risks, costs, and opportunities.The business gets more organized without becoming bureaucratic.Ideal Background5+ years of hands-on operations experience in food, pet food, meat, dairy, contract manufacturing, consumer products, logistics, fulfillment, or a similarly fast-moving environment.Experience in a small or growing business where resources are limited and leaders are expected to wear multiple hats.Strong understanding of production flow, labor planning, inventory, purchasing, food safety, quality, maintenance, shipping, and customer service.Comfortable using spreadsheets, simple dashboards, production reports, and financial information to make decisions.Experience developing practical processes, SOPs, checklists, training plans, and accountability systems.Ability to lead hourly team members, managers, vendors, and cross-functional partners with direct, respectful communication.Bachelor's degree in business, engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, food science, or a related field preferred, but equivalent hands-on experience matters most.Who You AreA scrappy operator who does not wait for perfect information or unlimited resources.A jack-of-all-trades leader who is willing to help with whatever the business needs, from strategy to scheduling to sweeping the floor when necessary.A practical builder who can create structure, but keep it simple enough for a small team to actually use.A calm problem solver who can prioritize, make decisions, and keep people moving during busy or messy days.A team-first leader who holds people accountable without ego, drama, or politics.A financially aware operator who understands that waste, downtime, labor inefficiency, rework, and late shipments all matter.A clear communicator who can work with ownership, employees, customers, vendors, inspectors, and partners.A high-integrity person who leads with honesty, respect, flexibility, tenacity, and hard work.