FOOD SERVICES MANAGER

Full Job Description

We encourage applications from anyone.

We will be accepting online applications from Monday, February 9, 2026 at 8:00 A.M. (PT) until Monday, February 23, 2026, 5:00 P.M. (PT).

All applications must be received before 5:00 P.M. (PT) on Monday, February 23, 2026, to be accepted.

J4791M

JOIN OUR TEAM, click here to view a video about Food Services Bureau career opportunities: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj-yCqcgx2o

Check Out Our Outstanding Benefits

Los Angeles County offers one of the strongest public-sector benefits packages in the nation: https://hr.lacounty.gov/benefits/

Why work for us?

With more than 10 million residents, Los Angeles County is the most populous county in the nation!

As the largest employer in Southern California, over 116,000 employees in more than 38 Departments provide vital public services as diverse as law enforcement, property assessment, public health protection, water conservation, cultural activities and many more.

We are dedicated professionals committed to preserving the dignity and integrity of the workplace as well as protecting the rights of each employee.

The County has more than 2,300 different job descriptions, offering a lifetime of opportunities and careers! We offer one of the strongest public-sector benefits packages in the country.

Join us and discover a rich selection of health care options, robust retirement plans and the flexibility to work, relax, and rejuvenate to reach your fullest personal and professional potential.

Requirements

• Plans, organizes, and coordinates food ordering, food preparation including pre-portioned meals, culinary and meal service activities, including special therapeutic diets, through established legal requirements, procedures, and standards to ensure achievement of Correctional Services Division's objectives.

• Develops written procedures and instructions for food storage and preparation, including sanitation, safety, equipment maintenance and operation; through subordinate supervisors, monitors quality and quantity of food preparation and initiates corrective action, as necessary.
• Makes recommendations regarding the master menu and food substitutes, as necessary, to accommodate such factors as food item availability, food perishability, food item cost, inmate and employee acceptance, and budgetary production capabilities.
• Standardizes recipes in terms of numbers of portions to be served; adjusts quantities of ingredients and food preparation procedures to ensure maintenance of quality standards when the volume to be prepared is greater or lesser than the standard recipe.
• Plans and directs meal production and serving operations; prepares task lists for culinary workers, organizes and assigns all food preparation and serving tasks, and plans meals tray distribution; and compiles written procedures in manual form.
• Supervises the scheduling and assignment of subordinate kitchen personnel to provide culinary services for all meals and adjusts assignments in accordance with workload demand, work simplification and the availability and capabilities of the staff.
• Analyzes and corrects item cost controls to ensure continued product competitiveness with outside vendors.
• Supervises or performs the ordering of food and supplies to maintain an appropriate inventory; interviews food and equipment vendor representatives regarding new food products or new items of food service equipment; samples or tests new food items and evaluates their potential for use in the custody kitchen, contract cities, and staff meals.
• Provides on-the-job training of cooks, food service personnel and/or inmates in food preparation and service operations, practices, and standards.
• Evaluates, directly or through subordinate supervisors, the work of all personnel assigned to the culinary staff and counsels them on improving their performance; writes performance evaluations and injury reports; directs subordinate supervisors in the effective recommendation or initiation of disciplinary action and the adjustment of employee grievances.
• Confers with facility administrators in order to integrate the food service program with the funding schedule of the penal institutions.
• Conducts studies and implements improvements in methods of ordering, storing, preparing and distributing food; develops solutions to problems of staffing, space, equipment and service levels and prepares budget requests for the section.

For more information, please view the classification specification: Food Services Manager

Qualifications

REQUIREMENTS TO QUALIFY

Option A: Graduation from an accredited college* AND two (2) years' experience at the level of Los Angeles County Head Cook** classification managing the food service operation of a hospital, school, or other industrial or commercial establishment involving the supervision of cooks and food service workers in the purchase, preparation, distribution, and service of several hundred meals a day.

Option B: Two (2) years' experience as a Chief Cook*** or higher.

LICENSE
A valid California Class C Driver License or the ability to use an alternative method of transportation when needed to carry out job-related essential functions.

PHYSICAL CLASS
Physical Class 2 - Light: This class includes administrative and clerical positions requiring light physical effort that may include occasional light lifting to a 10-pound limit and some bending, stooping, or squatting. Considerable ambulation may be involved.

SPECIAL REQUIREMENT INFORMATION

*To receive credit for the required degree, you MUST include a legible copy of the official degree, official transcripts, or official letter from the accredited institution which shows the area of specialization with your application at the time of filing, or within seven (7) calendar days from the last day of filing.

Documentation should be submitted to sheriffexamsunit@lasd.org and indicate your name, the exam title, and exam number.

Failure to provide the required documentation will result in application rejection. Unofficial transcripts will not be accepted to meet the education requirement.

The document should show the date the degree was conferred and be in English; if it is in a foreign language, it needs to be translated.

For more information on our standards for educational documents, please visit:

https://file.lacounty.gov/SDSInter/dhr/070812_PPG123.pdf

To qualify under Option A, candidates must meet the education requirements by Monday, February 23, 2026 in order to be considered for this examination.

**For a full description of the class specification of Los Angeles County's class Head Cook (Item #4791), please click the hyperlink on the job title under Requirements OR go to the Department of Human Resources website at https://hr.lacounty.gov/and type in the job title or item number under the "FIND JOB DESCRIPTIONS" search box.

***To qualify under Option B, applicants must have County status in this class as evidenced by holding or having held such a payroll title. NO OUT-OF-CLASS EXPERIENCE WILL BE ACCEPTED.

SUPPLEMENTAL QUESTIONNAIRE

As part of this application process, applicants will be required to complete a supplemental questionnaire.

The questionnaire contains a pre-investigative questionnaire which will be used as part of the background investigation process to ensure applicants meet the standards set forth by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Applicants who fail the pre-investigative questionnaire will be disqualified and will have to wait three (3) months from the date of the disqualification in order to reapply.

DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS

Credit will be given to applicants who possess the following DESIREABLE qualifications and indicate so on their employment application at the time of filing.

• Experience beyond the requirements

Additional Information

EXAMINATION CONTENT
This examination will consist of two (2) parts:

PART IA structured interview weighted 70% assessing: Leadership, Safety Concerns, Delegation, Interpersonal Relations, Adaptability, Coaching and Mentoring, Computer Experience, Oral Communications, and Written Communications.

As part of the interview, candidates will also be required to complete a brief writing exercise. Candidates who do not submit a writing sample will be disqualified from this examination.

APPLICANTS MUST ACHIEVE A PASSING SCORE OF 70% OR HIGHER ON PART I IN ORDER TO PROCEED TO PART II.

PART II
An evaluation of training and experience based on application information and desirable qualifications weighted 30%.

APPLICANTS MUST RECEIVE A PASSING SCORE OF 70% OR HIGHER IN EACH WEIGHTED PART OF THE EXAMINATION IN ORDER TO BE PLACED ON THE ELIGIBLE LIST.

TESTING ACCOMMODATION

If you require an accommodation to fairly compete in any part of the examination process, you will be required to submit documentation from a qualified medical provider or other qualified professional to support your request for a testing accommodation.

Please note, you will be contacted at a later time by a Sheriff’s Department representative that will guide you through the process.

You will be provided with an initial deadline to submit documentation.

Failure to submit the required documentation by the deadline will delay your participation in the examination process and consideration for initial placement on the eligible list.

VETERAN'S CREDIT

If you are a veteran, you may be eligible for veteran's credit, which is an additional 10% of the total points added to a passing score.

We will need a copy of your form DD214 to review, so please include that with your application or email it to sheriffexamsunit@lasd.org within seven (7) calendar days from the last day of filing.

ELIGIBILITY AND VACANCY INFORMATION

The names of applicants receiving a passing grade in the examination will be placed on the eligible list in the order of their group for a period of six (6) months from the date of promulgation.

The list of successful applicants developed from this exam will be used to fill vacancies within the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Custody Services Division, Custody Food Services.

SPECIAL INFORMATIONSUCCESSFUL CANDIDATES MUST COMPLETE A THOROUGH BACKGROUND INVESTIGATION, INCLUDING FINGERPRINT SEARCH.

Examples of disqualifying factors include: Any felony convictions; job related misdemeanor convictions; certain serious traffic convictions or patterns of traffic violations (3 moving violations in one year; failure to appear; at fault accidents; suspended license; driving under the influence); poor credit history; poor employment history; substance abuse; anyone on probation.

ZERO TOLERANCE POLICY IF HIRED

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (Department) has a "zero tolerance" policy for its employees for the following:

• use of narcotics, controlled substances, and/or prescription drugs without a prescription.

Any employee found in violation of this policy will be subject to discharge.

AVAILABLE SHIFT: Any Shift

APPOINTEES MUST BE WILLING TO WORK ANY SHIFT, INCLUDING EVENINGS, NIGHTS, WEEKENDS, AND HOLIDAYS.

APPLICATION AND FILING INFORMATION

We only accept applications filed online. Applications submitted by U.S. mail, fax, or in person are not accepted. Apply online by clicking on the "Apply" green button at the top right of this posting.

This website can also be used to get application status updates. Your application and supplemental questionnaire must be submitted electronically before 5:00 P.M., PT, on Monday, February 23, 2026.

Please fill out the application completely. Provide relevant job experience including employer's name and address, job title, beginning and ending dates, number of hours worked per week, and description of work performed.

We may verify information included in the application at any point during the examination and hiring process, including after an appointment has been made.

Falsification of information could result in refusal of application or rescission of appointment.

Copying verbiage from the Requirements or class specification as your work experience will not be sufficient to demonstrate meeting the requirements.

Doing so may result in an incomplete application and may lead to disqualification.

We will send notifications to the email address provided on the application, so it is required that you provide a valid email address.

If you choose to unsubscribe or opt out from receiving our emails, it is possible to view notices by logging into governmentjobs.com and checking the profile inbox.

It is every applicant's responsibility to take steps to view correspondence, and we will not consider claims of missing notices to be a valid reason for re-scheduling an exam part.

Register the below domains as approved senders to prevent email notifications from being filtered as spam/junk mail.

• jbarco@lasd.org
• noreply@governmentjobs.com
• info@governmentjobs.com

New email addresses need to be verified. This only needs to be done once per email address and can be done at any time by logging in to governmentjobs.com and following the prompts. This is to enhance the security of the online application and to prevent incorrectly entered email addresses.

NO APPLICATIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED OUTSIDE OF THE OFFICIAL APPLICATION FILING PERIOD, NO EXCEPTIONS.

TO ENSURE THAT YOUR APPLICATION HAS BEEN SUCCESSFULLY SUBMITTED, YOU MUST HAVE RECEIVED A CONFIRMATION EMAIL AS VERIFICATION.

SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER:

Federal law requires that all employed persons have a Social Security Number, so include yours when applying.

COMPUTER AND INTERNET ACCESS AT PUBLIC LIBRARIES:

For candidates who may not have regular access to a computer or the internet, applications can be completed on computers at public libraries throughout Los Angeles County.

NO SHARING OF USER ID, EMAIL, AND PASSWORD:

All applicants must file their application using their OWN user ID and password. Using a family member or friend's user ID and password may erase a candidate's original application record.

California Relay Services Phone: (800) 735-2922
ADA Coordinator Phone: (213) 229-1621
Teletype Phone: (213) 626-0251
Department Contact Name: Professional Examinations Unit
Department Contact Phone: (323) 526-5611
Department Contact Email: sheriffexamsunit@lasd.org