Hello Chef
Food Cost Controller
- Permanent
- Dubai, United Arab Emirates
- Experience 2 - 5 yrs
Job expiry date: 01/02/2026
Job overview
Date posted
18/12/2025
Location
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Salary
AED 20,000 - 30,000 per month
Compensation
Comprehensive package
Experience
2 - 5 yrs
Seniority
Experienced
Qualification
Bachelors degree
Expiration date
01/02/2026
Job description
The Food Cost Controller at Hello Chef is a hands-on finance and operations role responsible for building, maintaining, and protecting the accuracy of food and packaging cost data across the full supply chain, from supplier to plate. Operating at the intersection of kitchen, warehouse, and ERP systems, the role ensures that theoretical and actual food costs align with verified recipes, yields, supplier pricing, stock movements, and operational reality. As Hello Chef scales production, launches new brands, and expands its menu, this position plays a critical role in strengthening financial discipline, improving contribution margins, and enabling data-driven decision-making. The role partners closely with Food, Operations, and Finance teams to optimise yields, identify cost leakage, diagnose pricing, waste, mix, and yield variances, and translate analytical insights into tangible cost savings. The Food Cost Controller ensures accurate monthly cost reconciliation, high-quality reporting, and continuous improvement in material cost efficiency within a high-volume food production environment using ERP and WMS systems.
Required skills
Key responsibilities
- Build and maintain accurate theoretical food and packaging costs based on verified recipes, yields, and supplier pricing
- Ensure actual food and packaging costs accurately reflect operational reality through monthly reconciliation of purchases, stock movements, and yields
- Monitor and reconcile inventory movements to eliminate unexplained variances and ensure data integrity
- Develop clear cost reports highlighting variances, trends, and opportunities for cost improvement
- Diagnose cost gaps across pricing, yield, waste, and product mix to reduce cost leakage
- Partner closely with Food, Operations, and Finance teams to drive cost discipline and efficiency improvements
- Engage directly with kitchen, warehouse, and butchery teams to validate processes and ground financial data in operational reality
- Monitor cost and inventory data flow through ERP and WMS systems and resolve discrepancies quickly
- Maintain accurate documentation, data hygiene, and audit-ready cost records
- Support continuous improvement initiatives to strengthen contribution margins as the business scales
Experience & skills
- Demonstrate hands-on experience in food and packaging cost control within structured F&B environments such as hotels, catering, or high-volume production kitchens
- Exhibit strong understanding of recipe costing, yield management, waste control, and inventory reconciliation
- Demonstrate ability to work effectively with ERP and WMS systems to trace cost and inventory data
- Show strong analytical capability to build accurate cost models and variance reports
- Demonstrate operational understanding of kitchen, warehouse, and production processes
- Exhibit high standards of accuracy, documentation, and financial discipline
- Demonstrate ability to collaborate cross-functionally with Operations, Food, and Finance teams
