Vice President, Operations

About La Rocca Creative Cakes

With over 30 years of excellence, La Rocca Creative Cakes is renowned for crafting premium desserts that Canadians are proud to serve and celebrate. As part of the Sammontana Italia family, the company blends European artisan techniques with large-scale production, supplying premium cakes to retailers, foodservice, and specialty food partners. La Rocca is currently undergoing a phase of significant growth and modernization.

Role Overview

La Rocca is searching for a dynamic Vice President of Operations to join their Executive Leadership Team. This role is pivotal in scaling manufacturing capabilities while preserving the brand’s quality, craftsmanship, and culture. The ideal leader balances strategic vision with hands-on management, engaging with teams on the plant floor, fostering leadership development, eliminating operational obstacles, and establishing the processes and leadership necessary for sustainable growth.

Key Responsibilities

• Oversee all aspects of plant manufacturing operations in Richmond Hill, including Production, Quality Assurance, Supply Chain, Maintenance, Sanitation, Logistics, and Warehouse functions within a unionized setting.
• Drive safe, compliant, efficient, and cost-effective manufacturing performance.
• Lead and coach supervisors and managers to cultivate a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.
• Manage capital investments, automation projects, and capacity expansions strategically to support growth objectives.
• Maintain strong labor relations and lead effectively in a unionized environment.
• Build and mentor high-performing leadership teams to sustain long-term operational success.
• Apply industrial engineering principles such as capacity modelling, line balancing, and bottleneck analysis to optimize plant operations and sizing of investments.
• Collaborate with the President and Executive Leadership Team to align plant capacity with long-term growth and expansion plans.
• Work closely with Human Resources on collective bargaining, grievance resolution, labor relations, and workforce planning.

Candidate Profile

• Minimum of 12 to 15 years progressive leadership experience in manufacturing, preferably in food sectors like bakery, frozen desserts, dairy, prepared foods, or confectionery.
• Significant experience managing high-volume, short shelf-life, multi-SKU operations.
• At least 5 years’ comprehensive responsibility for a full manufacturing plant or multiple sites.
• Familiarity with ERP systems, production planning/scheduling tools, and KPI reporting platforms (e.g., Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, Power BI).
• Proficient understanding and application of metrics such as Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), schedule adherence, yield, downtime analysis, changeover time, and unit cost.

Compensation and Opportunity

This is a unique chance to impact one of Canada's premium food manufacturers significantly. Competitive executive salary starting at $170,000 annually plus potential bonuses. Confidential discussions are welcomed and detailed job descriptions available upon request.