Executive Chef - Custer State Park Resort

Xanterra Travel Collection•State Game Lodge, SD

1d•Onsite

About The Position

The Executive Chef provides creative and operational culinary leadership across Custer State Park Resort’s lodge restaurants and food experiences. The culinary portfolio includes State Game Lodge, Sylvan Lake Lodge, Blue Bell Lodge, and Legion Lake Lodge, with quick-service, casual, and elevated full-service dining, as well as catering, special events, the Chuck Wagon Cookout, mobile food service, and the employee dining room. Reporting to the Director of Food and Beverage, the Executive Chef leads the culinary management team and is accountable for menu creation and execution, food quality, production systems, food cost, culinary labor productivity, sanitation, food safety, and consistent kitchen performance across geographically dispersed and highly seasonal operations. The role translates business and guest experience objectives into location-specific menus, culinary standards, recipes, training, staffing, and daily operating routines. It develops menus for summer, fall, and holiday seasons and quick-service offerings for year-round operations. The Executive Chef leads culinary planning and execution for a substantial wedding and banquet business and signature events including the Buffalo Roundup and Arts Festival. The role partners with location chefs, outlet leaders, catering, purchasing, and support departments to deliver hospitality throughout Custer State Park. The position works across multiple food and beverage locations and requires regular presence in kitchens, restaurants, storage areas, employee dining facilities, catering locations, mobile units, and outdoor event sites. Schedule varies with business and operational needs and includes evenings, weekends, holidays, early mornings, and extended hours during peak periods and major events. Some business travel is required.

Requirements

Minimum seven years of progressive culinary leadership experience, including at least three years as an Executive Chef, Executive Sous Chef, or equivalent leader in a complex, multi-unit, resort, park, destination, club, convention, or high-volume hospitality operation.
Demonstrated experience leading large and/or seasonal culinary teams and developing sous chefs and kitchen managers.
Proven ability to lead and develop culinary leaders in complex, multi-unit, high-volume, or geographically dispersed operations.
Strong culinary and business acumen, including menu engineering, recipe costing, food cost, labor management, inventory control, purchasing, production planning, and margin improvement.
Ability to establish standards, communicate expectations, hold leaders accountable, and drive consistent execution across multiple kitchens.
Strong knowledge of food safety, sanitation, allergens, active managerial controls, and high-volume production and holding practices.
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, including the ability to translate financial, operational, quality, and guest feedback into practical action.
Ability to balance culinary creativity with guest value, operational feasibility, product availability, staffing capability, and financial targets.
Strong organization, communication, and relationship-building skills and ability to manage multiple priorities and operating challenges.
Ability to lead in a highly seasonal environment with multiple locations, major outdoor events, variable weather, and fluctuating business levels.
Strong working knowledge of recipe costing, menu engineering, purchasing, inventory, food and labor cost controls, production systems, food safety, and kitchen equipment.
Proficiency with Microsoft Office and experience with scheduling, payroll/timekeeping, POS, recipe, and hospitality operating systems.
Working knowledge of inventory-management technology is required, including disciplined use of Xanterra’s Inventory Management system for purchasing, recipes, product specifications, transfers, counts, waste, and cost reporting. Xanterra systems may include Infor CloudSuite and Dayforce.
ServSafe Manager certification required, or ability to obtain it within 30 days of hire.
Valid driver’s license and ability to meet Xanterra’s applicable driver safety requirements.
Ability to stand and walk for extended periods and work around heat, steam, cold storage, noise, sharp tools, commercial equipment, uneven terrain, and variable weather.
Ability to lift and carry up to 50 pounds.
Schedule includes evenings, weekends, holidays, early mornings, and extended hours during peak periods and major events; some travel is required.

Nice To Haves

Significant experience leading high-volume wedding and banquet culinary operations is strongly preferred.
Experience with outdoor events, mobile food production, and other large-scale special events is preferred.
Culinary degree or formal apprenticeship preferred; equivalent relevant culinary leadership experience will be considered.
Additional allergen-awareness and responsible alcohol service certification may be required based on assigned duties.

Responsibilities

Recruit, hire, train, mentor, and develop location chefs, sous chefs, kitchen managers, and culinary employees; build accountability, teamwork, safety, continuous improvement, and culinary excellence.
Set and communicate expectations for food quality, production, sanitation, labor productivity, cost control, leadership, and daily kitchen execution, and hold culinary leaders accountable for results.
Develop culinary bench strength, succession plans, seasonal employee development, and practical training and onboarding programs.
Partner with the Director of Food and Beverage and Human Resources on leadership, technical, food safety, and supervisory training and required employee certifications.
Maintain a visible leadership presence in kitchens, coach leaders, and sustain standards across shifts, locations, and changing business levels.
Coordinate front- and back-of-house priorities, service pacing, staffing, menu execution, and operational recovery with outlet managers and catering leadership.
Partner with the Director of Food and Beverage on culinary standards, menu strategy, product specifications, pricing inputs, and kitchen priorities.
Develop and maintain standardized recipes, yields, portion standards, plating guides, production pars, prep lists, and specifications for outlets and events.
Preserve each lodge’s distinct dining identity while standardizing recipes, ingredients, production methods, and systems where beneficial; maintain approximately 60% unique menu offerings by location.
Develop menus featuring regional South Dakota ingredients, including bison and regional game, with varied price points, portion sizes, children’s options, and dietary- and allergen-friendly choices.
Ensure menus meet food-cost and contribution-margin targets while delivering guest value, quality, consistency, and operational feasibility.
Lead menu testing, tastings, recipe costing, implementation, and post-launch evaluation; adjust menus based on guest feedback, cost, availability, throughput, and execution.
Establish food production, receiving, storage, thawing, preparation, cooling, reheating, holding, and service systems that protect quality and safety and minimize waste.
Oversee culinary quality and production standards for the employee dining room.
Lead culinary planning and production for the Buffalo Roundup and Arts Festival, including viewing-site breakfasts, Corrals lunch, festival food stations, pre-ordering, production schedules, transport, holding, and supplemental staffing.
Provide direct culinary leadership for weddings, banquets, group and corporate functions, the Governor’s banquet, and other catered or special events; oversee menu development, banquet event order review, production planning, staffing, execution, and service coordination.
Plan and oversee culinary use of mobile kitchen trucks for events and peak operating periods, as approved by SDGFP.
Create culinary operating plans for major events covering staffing, production quantities, equipment, food safety, transportation, contingencies, and financial targets.
Participate in after-action reviews following major events and apply lessons learned to future event and Buffalo Roundup plans.
Partner with the Director of Food and Beverage to develop culinary budgets, forecasts, operating targets, and capital priorities.
Manage culinary performance in food cost, waste, kitchen labor, overtime, productivity, inventory accuracy, and controllable expenses; take corrective action as needed.
Establish and monitor culinary performance indicators, including food cost, yield, waste, inventory variance, production accuracy, labor hours, overtime, productivity, and quality.
Develop seasonal staffing plans and labor schedules aligned with business forecasts, menu complexity, service standards, operating hours, and productivity targets; review and adjust staffing and deployment as conditions change.
Partner with Supply Chain on product specifications, bids, vendors, pricing, substitutions, availability, receiving standards, and purchasing strategies.
Oversee receiving, storage, requisitions, transfers, inventory, and waste control through Xanterra’s Inventory Management system; ensure accurate inventories, recipe and item setup, purchasing controls, and investigation of material variances.
Maintain use of approved products and purchasing channels and prevent unauthorized substitutions, overproduction, excessive waste, and avoidable spoilage.
Ensure compliance with the SDGFP concession contract, South Dakota food requirements, OSHA requirements, Xanterra policies, and applicable regulations and standards.
Maintain active managerial controls and food safety practices, including sanitation, employee health, temperature controls, allergen management, cross-contamination prevention, labeling, storage, and temporary food service requirements.
Conduct regular reviews of kitchens, storage areas, mobile units, and event production sites and maintain satisfactory inspection results.
Ensure preventive care and appropriate use of culinary equipment, smallwares, vehicles, and facilities; report repair needs and coordinate maintenance priorities with Facilities.
Establish culinary SOPs, opening and closing routines, cleaning schedules, checklists, and communication practices while allowing appropriate location-specific flexibility.
Support sustainability goals through local and sustainable purchasing, food waste reduction, responsible seafood and protein sourcing, recycling, composting where available, and food donation.
Build working relationships with SDGFP, local health officials, vendors, community partners, and internal support departments.
Perform other duties and projects as assigned.