Chef de Cuisine

University of Washington Medical Center•Seattle, WA

1d•$84,000 - $84,000•Onsite

About The Position

Housing and Food Services (HFS) has an outstanding opportunity for a Chef de Cuisine to join their team. Housing & Food Services (HFS) supports over 10,000 student residents and operates 40+ dining locations on campus. With a team of over 1,200 staff and students, HFS is dedicated to enhancing student life through teamwork and excellent service. In Housing & Food Services, our DEI statement reads: HFS will become an organization that prioritizes inclusive workplace communities, centered on belonging and opportunity for all staff. All HFS staff must accept responsibility to identify and interrupt biases, privilege, barriers, and power dynamics. We challenge ourselves to engage in open dialogue, active listening, and empathic learning. PURPOSE Manages the day-to-day culinary operations and is responsible for culinary performance and leadership of staff of assigned unit.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in hospitality or related.
Experience and references must demonstrate:
Two years of sous chef-level management experience in culinary operations.
Leadership experience working within a high-volume seated restaurant, hotel, or university dining venue.
Effective execution of cook to order menu items in a restaurant setting.
Effective expediting on the kitchen and service sides of a restaurant.
Depth and breadth in concept development, kitchen management, food and labor cost controls, and plating and presentation.
Effective training and leadership of staff.
Depth and breadth in concept development, kitchen management, food and labor cost controls, and plating and presentation.
Effective interpersonal, organizational, analytical, communication and critical thinking skills.
Effective supervision of staff, including training, giving constructive feedback, and addressing performance through progressive, corrective action.
Proficiency with Microsoft Office (such as Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Project).
Equivalent education/experience will substitute for all minimum qualifications except when there are legal requirements, such as a license/certification/registration.
A satisfactory outcome from the employment reference check processes and education verification.
Possession of a Washington State Food Handler’s Card.
ServSafe certification within three months of hire and maintenance of certification thereafter.
Maintenance of a valid Washington State Driver’s License to drive UW vehicles.

Nice To Haves

Success working in a contemporary college/university dining environment.
Possession of a valid Washington Driver’s License to drive UW vehicles.

Responsibilities

Develops and maintains positive and professional relationships with students.
Provides outstanding customer service and ensure specialty diets and other nutritional needs are met.
Develops and maintains positive and professional relationships with guests and department colleagues.
Develops and maintains positive and professional relationships with culinary and front-line service staff through two-way communication, timely feedback, collaboration and consistent visibility in the kitchens and work units.
Leads weekly culinary planning and/or production meetings, tastings, and other meetings with staff.
Monitors performance in unit safety, cash handling, customer service and food safety as assigned.
Identifies and utilizes multiple venues for soliciting customer feedback and responding to complaints, questions, and special requests.
Consults appropriately with HFS Human Resources to ensure that UW, HFS and bargaining unit policies, guidelines are followed in administering progressive, corrective action principles and union contracts are followed in addressing employee performance problems.
Effective presentation skills that demonstrate preparation, research and delivery are scaled for small, large, and diverse groups.
Directs staff on dining operation policies and procedures.
Maintains proper controls over resources, including cash, inventory, and labor.
Manages the inventory from ordering to utilization, including purchasing, receipt, storage, payment processing, distribution, production, and sale.
Monitors attendance and adjusts staffing to meet daily production needs.
Establishes and ensures that inventory par levels are maintained to minimize waste; manage the documentation and disposal of waste.
Ensures that displays, freezers and prep and storage areas are in clean and orderly condition and meet health department standards.
Identifies and corrects unsafe conditions, such as, poor equipment or work habits that might lead to an accident.
Utilizes the Online Accident Reporting System (OARS) for every work accident and injury, notifying appropriate authorities and personnel.
Works with students and student groups in planning special events.
Monitors performance of products, services and programs and collaborates with vendors to make adjustments as necessary to meet established sales and service goals.
Contributes to the unit’s business plan and budget in collaboration with Food Services leadership.
Monitors and reviews reports, including financial statements, production records, staffing schedules and inquiries from the HFS Financial team.
Identifies probable causes for budget variances or financial discrepancies and contributes to implementation of corrective action.
Ensures that there are appropriate controls on resources, including separation of controls between purchasing, receiving, and counting inventory.
Develops menus, product consistency, and costs out recipes in collaboration with the campus executive chef and the Administrator.
Collaborates with the executive chef, onsite management team and Dining Administrator in the development of menus and services.
Trains staff in food preparation, production, and display.
Designs and implements quality control measures to ensure consistent taste, presentation, and food safety.
Ensures that displays and presentations of prepared food, deli items, meat and seafood are attractive and designed to encourage sales, including appropriate labels and signage.
Monitors performance indicators for production, quality, and service.
Intervenes when necessary to ensure goals are met.
Develops and implements new concepts and products that align with customer needs, as well as the promotion of campus and HFS activities and events.
Keeps up with dining trends and communicates new ideas to the leadership team.
Provides product information for newsletters, promotions, and customer inquiries through the Communication & Marketing department.
Interviews and selects staff, and ensures staff are on-boarded at the work unit and attend required HFS and UW-required training.
Supervises the work completed by direct reports, ensuring appropriate productivity, quality, customer service and adherence to UW and departmental policies and procedures.
Provides guidance to direct reports on requirements and/or opportunities for learning and professional development.
Engages when necessary in performance management of employees within the organization.
Prepares and conducts ongoing and timely performance appraisals for all employees, providing proper performance-based feedback.
Supervises culinary staff.
Under the general direction of the Campus Executive Chef, supports the recipe input and validation process for CBORD FSS.
This may include drafting recipes following established format and process, answering clarifying questions for Dining Systems team, and performing or facilitating production testing for accuracy.
Supports the recipe input and validation process for CBORD FSS.
Writes recipes for input following established process, answer clarifying questions for Dining Systems team, and performs or facilitates production testing for accuracy.
Performs periodic reviews of system data and reports related to recipe costing and production methods to inform decisions related to menu, recipe, and pricing changes.
Works with Dining Systems team to make updates to system data.
Reviews current system data and reports to inform decisions on vendor and product selection.
Runs and/or reviews system reports to analyze KPIs related to recipe costing, menu mix, and operational compliance with recipe specifications and/or established purchasing practices.