Head of Operations

Position Summary

Garden Fresh Produce LLC is a growing fresh produce wholesale company. We are seeking a hands-on operations leader to oversee the day-to-day flow of product through the business, from receiving and quality control to inventory, order fulfillment, routing, and customer delivery.

This is not a corporate desk role. The right person will be comfortable working directly with warehouse staff, drivers, buyers, sales, vendors, and ownership to make sure product moves accurately, safely, and on time. The role requires strong produce knowledge, practical warehouse and transportation experience, and the ability to bring structure, accountability, and consistency to a fast-moving wholesale environment.

Key Responsibilities

Daily Operations Leadership

· Oversee daily warehouse, transportation, inventory, and fulfillment operations.

· Keep the business organized and moving during early mornings, receiving windows, order picking, and delivery preparation.

· Work closely with ownership to set priorities, solve operational issues, and improve execution.

· Create clear routines, checklists, and accountability for warehouse, drivers, receiving, and inventory staff.

· Help build a practical operating structure that fits a small but growing produce company.

Warehouse Operations

· Manage receiving, inspection, put-away, storage, picking, packing, staging, and shipping.

· Ensure orders are picked accurately and loaded correctly.

· Maintain clean, safe, and organized warehouse conditions.

· Monitor cooler space, product rotation, temperature control, and product handling.

· Improve inventory accuracy through cycle counts, daily checks, and disciplined receiving and shipping processes.

· Reduce errors, waste, rework, and unnecessary product movement.

· Ensure the warehouse team understands priorities, deadlines, and quality expectations.

Produce Quality & Food Safety

· Maintain high standards for freshness, appearance, temperature control, and product handling.

· Oversee quality checks at receiving and before shipping.

· Identify product issues quickly and coordinate with buying, sales, and vendors when credits, claims, substitutions, or rejections are needed.

· Support basic food safety, sanitation, traceability, and recall procedures.

· Train employees on proper handling of fresh produce, cooler discipline, cleanliness, and safety.

· Help reduce shrink, spoilage, customer complaints, and rejected product.

Transportation & Delivery

· Oversee daily delivery planning, driver schedules, routing, and loading priorities.

· Make sure customer deliveries are accurate, complete, and on time.

· Coordinate company trucks and third-party carriers when needed.

· Monitor driver performance, vehicle condition, route efficiency, fuel use, and delivery issues.

· Ensure basic DOT, safety, maintenance, and vehicle documentation requirements are followed.

· Work with sales and customer service to resolve delivery issues quickly and professionally.

Purchasing & Vendor Coordination Support

· Work closely with buyers, sales, and ownership to support product availability and replenishment.

· Coordinate receiving schedules for growers, produce markets, local vendors, importers, and specialty suppliers.

· Help plan for seasonal volume changes, market availability, holidays, and customer demand spikes.

· Communicate product shortages, late arrivals, substitutions, quality concerns, and urgent needs across the team.

· Support practical inventory planning without overbuying or tying up cash in slow-moving product.

Team Leadership

· Directly manage and coach warehouse, receiving, inventory, shipping, driver, and operations staff.

· Set clear expectations for attendance, productivity, accuracy, cleanliness, and teamwork.

· Train employees on standard operating procedures and safe work practices.

· Address performance issues quickly and fairly.

· Build a culture of urgency, accountability, respect, and pride in product quality.

· Help ownership identify staffing needs and develop reliable supervisors or lead employees.

Systems, Reporting & Process Improvement

· Use the company’s inventory, order, routing, and accounting systems to improve accuracy and visibility.

· Help implement or improve practical tools such as barcode scanning, inventory counts, routing sheets, receiving logs, and KPI reports.

· Track simple, meaningful operating metrics such as order accuracy, shrink, on-time delivery, inventory accuracy, labor productivity, and customer complaints.

· Identify bottlenecks and recommend realistic improvements that fit the size and budget of the business.

· Bring discipline to daily communication, handoffs, and follow-through.

Financial & Cost Control

· Help control labor, overtime, transportation costs, product shrink, credits, and avoidable waste.

· Monitor warehouse productivity and staffing levels.

· Improve truck utilization and delivery efficiency.

· Support ownership with operational budgeting, equipment needs, and vendor/service provider decisions.

· Protect margins by reducing errors, spoilage, returns, and unnecessary costs.

Qualifications

· 7+ years of operations experience in fresh produce, food distribution, grocery wholesale, foodservice distribution, or a similar perishable goods environment.

· Hands-on experience managing warehouse and delivery operations.

· Strong understanding of fresh produce handling, quality, rotation, cold chain, and spoilage control.

· Experience supervising warehouse staff, drivers, receivers, inventory staff, or operations leads.

· Practical knowledge of routing, delivery scheduling, fleet coordination, and third-party carriers.

· Comfortable working in a fast-paced, early-morning, hands-on wholesale environment.

· Strong communication skills and ability to work closely with ownership, sales, buyers, drivers, and warehouse employees.

· Able to solve problems quickly and make sound decisions under pressure.

· Comfortable using inventory/order systems, spreadsheets, and basic KPI reporting.

· Bilingual English/Spanish or English/Russian is a plus, depending on workforce and customer base.

· Bachelor’s degree is helpful but not required; relevant produce and operations experience is more important.

Preferred Experience

Experience in one or more of the following is strongly preferred:

· Fresh produce wholesale

· Produce terminal markets

· Grocery or independent supermarket distribution

· Foodservice produce distribution

· Perishable inventory management

· Refrigerated warehouse operations

· Local and regional delivery operations

· Small or family-owned business operations