Head of Production

Job Title

Head – Production (Pan-India)

Location: Mumbai, with travel across India

Reports to: Executive Director & CEO

Role Purpose

The Head – Production & Product Quality is the custodian of Mad Over Donuts’ product experience across India. This role leads all aspects of donut and related product production – planning, capacity, quality, and food safety – to ensure every donut served in any city delivers the same “bite into happiness” experience, at the right cost and at scale in a fast-paced QSR environment.

Key Responsibilities

1. Product Quality & Brand Standards

• Own end-to-end product quality across all central and city kitchens, ensuring consistent recipes, taste, texture, appearance, and freshness for every SKU.
• Translate brand standards into robust SOPs and visual specifications for dough, fillings, toppings, finishing, holding, and dispatch.
• Partner with R&D/Innovation to industrialise new products while protecting brand quality and operational feasibility.

2. Pan-India Production & Supply

• Lead production planning and scheduling across all units to meet demand by channel (dine-in, takeaway, delivery, gifting, B2B), ensuring high fill rates and minimal stock-outs.
• Oversee raw material planning, supplier approvals, and inventory control in collaboration with supply chain and procurement, with a strong focus on quality, yield, and cost.
• Support new city expansion and capacity ramp-ups with scalable production systems and layouts.

3. Food Safety, Compliance & Audits

• Ensure full compliance with FSSAI, HACCP, GMP, and GHP standards across all production units, including documentation and audit readiness.
• Design and run a structured audit program (scheduled and surprise checks) covering hygiene, process adherence, equipment, and product quality.
• Lead root-cause analysis and corrective/preventive actions for any deviations, incidents, or serious customer complaints.

4. Efficiency, Cost & Continuous Improvement

• Improve production efficiency by optimising workflows, batch sizes, line balancing, equipment utilization, and staffing models.
• Monitor and manage key KPIs: output per hour, yield, wastage, rework, labour productivity, and cost per unit.
• Drive continuous improvement projects to enhance quality, throughput, and cost without diluting the brand experience.

5. Team Leadership & Culture

• Lead, coach, and develop production managers, supervisors, and teams across all kitchens, building a discipline- and quality-first culture.
• Ensure structured onboarding and ongoing skills training for production teams, including product standards, hygiene, safety, and equipment handling.
• Strengthen collaboration with Operations, R&D, Supply Chain, and Marketing to ensure a seamless “kitchen-to-customer” experience.

6. Customer & Stakeholder Interface

• Work closely with Customer Care, Operations, and Quality to track and resolve product-related complaints; convert insights into process and recipe improvements.
• Provide regular updates and recommendations to leadership on production performance, capacity constraints, risks, and investment needs.

Education & Experience

• Graduate / Diploma in Food Technology, Bakery Science, Culinary Arts, or related field.
• 10–12+ years’ experience in food manufacturing, QSR, bakery or confectionery, with strong exposure to central kitchens and multi-site operations.
• Demonstrated experience in quality systems (HACCP/GMP/GHP) and managing large production teams across geographies.

Skills & Competencies

• Strong technical knowledge of bakery production processes, equipment, and ingredient functionalities (doughs, fillings, toppings, chocolate, icings).
• Proven expertise in quality management systems, food safety, and regulatory compliance (FSSAI, HACCP, hygiene audits).
• High competence in production planning, capacity management, and cost control; comfort with data, KPIs, and dashboards.
• Strong leadership and people management skills; ability to build and lead high-performing, multi-location teams.
• Collaborative, solutions-focused mindset; able to work closely with R&D, Operations, Marketing, and Supply Chain in a high-growth, agile QSR setup.