🔥 Kitchen Manager Wanted — Run Mobile Fire Camp Kitchens Across the Western U.S.

🍽 Opportunity Ridgeline Wildland Support Services — the sister company to longtime catering outfit Houston's Too, contracted with the U.S. Forest Service — needs a Kitchen Manager to run food operations out of its fleet of tractor-trailer mobile kitchens, feeding wildland firefighters at camps across the western U.S. The pitch is blunt and unusual for hospitality: six months of work, June through October (prep starts mid-April), for $75,000–$120,000 once bonuses are factored in. This isn't a restaurant post. It's fire camp logistics — staffing, food cost, and daily operations, run out of the road rather than a fixed kitchen. 👨‍🍳 Role Manage staffing for the kitchen unit on a day-to-day basis Oversee food cost and ordering across the assignment Run camp catering logistics — from supply lines to service timing — as fires and crew needs shift Handle daily fire camp kitchen operations from mobile tractor-trailer kitchen units Drive tractor trailers in the fleet, or work toward a CDL to do so Operate within a compressed, high-intensity season rather than a year-round schedule 🌎 ChefJobs Abroad Analysis This one won't suit anyone chasing a plating career, and it isn't meant to — it's a trade of glamour for money and time off. You're on the road for the full six-month window, living out of camp, working long and sometimes brutal hours feeding crews under real pressure, with extended stretches away from home built into the job by design. What you get back is six months' pay condensed into a single season and the rest of the year genuinely free, plus hands-on logistics experience — fleet management, high-volume food cost control under field conditions — that doesn't come up in a normal kitchen. It's a strong fit for someone who wants the operational side of food service without the front-of-house or fine-dining trappings, and who's fine trading comfort for a short, intense season and real money. ✅ Best Fit This opportunity is ideal for chefs and kitchen managers who: Want a condensed six-month season with real income, followed by genuine time off Are comfortable being away from home for extended stretches without regular breaks Already hold a CDL, or are willing to get one to drive the fleet Have experience managing staffing, food cost, and logistics rather than just running a line Can stay level-headed through long hours and the unpredictability of active fire response Are drawn to field or camp-based food service over a traditional restaurant setting Live in, or are open to relocating near, the western U.S. for easier access to the SLC-area warehouse