Executive Chef

Position Overview

The Executive Chef is responsible for overseeing all culinary operations, ensuring exceptional quality of food preparation and presentation while managing kitchen staff, controlling costs, and maintaining food safety standards. This leadership role requires culinary expertise, creativity, and strong management skills to deliver outstanding dining experiences.

Essential Functions

To perform this job successfully, an Executive Chef must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily.  Reasonable Accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Leads kitchen management team.
• Provides direction for all day-to-day operations.
• Understands employee positions well enough to perform duties in employees' absence or determine appropriate replacement to fill gaps.
• Provides guidance and direction to subordinates, including setting performance standards and monitoring performance.
• Utilizes interpersonal and communication skills to lead, influence, and encourage others; advocates sound financial/business decision making; demonstrates honesty/integrity; leads by example.
• Encourages and builds mutual trust, respect, and cooperation among team members.
• Serving as a role model to demonstrate appropriate behaviors.
• Ensures property policies are administered fairly and consistently.
• Reviews staffing levels to ensure that guest service, operational needs and financial objectives are met.
• Supervises and coordinates activities of cooks and workers engaged in food preparation.
• Develops and implements guidelines and control procedures for purchasing and receiving areas.
• Establishes goals including performance goals, budget goals, team goals, etc.
• Communicates the importance of safety procedures, detailing procedure codes, ensuring employee understanding of safety codes, monitoring processes and procedures related to safety.
• Manages department expenses including food cost, labor cost and controllable cost.
• Participates in the budgeting process for areas of responsibility.
• Conducts menu development to maintain interest from tenants
• Determines how food should be presented and create decorative food displays.
• Ensures compliance with food handling and sanitation standards.
• Follows proper handling and right temperature of all food products.
• Ensures employees maintain required food handling and sanitation certifications.
• Maintains purchasing, receiving and food storage standards.
• Improves service by communicating and assisting individuals to understand guest needs, providing guidance, feedback, and individual coaching when needed.
• Displays leadership in guest hospitality, exemplifies excellent customer service and creates a positive atmosphere for guest relations.
• Identifies the developmental needs of others and coaching, mentoring, or otherwise helping others to improve their knowledge or skills.
• Trains kitchen associates on the fundamentals of good cooking and excellent plate presentations.
• Manages employee progressive discipline procedures for areas of responsibility.
• Ensures disciplinary procedures and documentation are completed according to company standards.
• Provides information to executive teams in a timely manner

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to work as a team with internal departments, external vendors, suppliers, and customers.
• Knowledge of menu creation.
• Professional demeanor and appearance with ability to handle confidential issues with discretion.
• Self-motivated and able to make decisions and exercise prudent judgement with minimal guidance.
• Ability to work under pressure and to prioritize workload, adapt to changing priorities, and meet aggressive deadlines.
• Ability to see the big picture.
• Ability to create and manage an event from the planning stages through clean up while staying within budget.
  • Proven leadership skills with the ability to inspire and motivate a diverse team.
  • Exceptional organizational and multitasking abilities.
• Knowledge of Microsoft Office programs with ability to learn in house programs.

Education/Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Culinary Arts, Hospitality Management, or a related field.
• 7+ years of experience in culinary and catering management, with a strong track record of success.
• Strong financial acumen, with experience in budget management and cost control.
• Knowledge of current food trends and dietary restrictions.
• Certification in food safety and sanitation (e.g., ServSafe) is preferred.

Personal Competencies

Self-Development: Actively seeks new ways to grow and be challenged using both formal and informal development channels. 

Relationship management and Teamwork: The ability to leverage interpersonal skills to establish rapport and develop relationships as part of a multifunctional team in a fast-paced, collaborative and deadline driven environment. 

Time Management: Ability to multi-task to meet goals, good time management skills and ability to take ownership for project deliverables. 

Communications & Problem Solving: Ability to remain optimistic and enthusiastic while creatively solving problems.  Convey information to all key stakeholders in both written and verbal formats.  Determine and utilize the appropriate communication channels. 

Empathy, Involvement & Support: Listen and respond with empathy.  Ability to understand issues and different perspectives of others.  Ability to ask for help and encourage others. 

Physical Demands & Work Environment

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the functions. While performing the duties of this position, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear. The employee frequently is required to use hands or fingers, handle or feel objects, tools, or controls. The employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; sit; and reach with hands and arms. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 15 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this position include close vision, color perception, distance vision, and the ability to adjust focus. The noise level in the work environment is usually low to moderate. Regularly works with others face to face, over the phone and email in an office environment with moderate noise.  Nature of work may require time spent out of the office; reliable transportation required.  Periodically works outside and may work around moving objects, dust, and dirt.