Executive Chef - Custer State Park Resort

Internal Career Site•Custer, 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, including State Game Lodge, Sylvan Lake Lodge, Blue Bell Lodge, and Legion Lake Lodge. The culinary portfolio spans 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. The position reports to the Director of Food and Beverage and leads the culinary management team across geographically dispersed, highly seasonal operations. The Executive Chef is accountable for menu creation and execution, food quality, production systems, food cost, culinary labor productivity, sanitation, food safety, and consistent kitchen performance. The role translates business and guest-experience objectives into location-specific menus, practical culinary standards, recipes, training, staffing plans, and daily operating routines. The chef develops menus for summer, fall, and holiday service, as well as quick-service options for year-round operations, and leads culinary planning for weddings, banquets, and major events such as the Buffalo Roundup and Arts Festival. The role works closely with location chefs, outlet leaders, catering, purchasing, the Director of Food and Beverage, and support departments to deliver hospitality throughout Custer State Park. It operates across kitchens, restaurants, storage areas, employee dining facilities, catering locations, mobile units, and outdoor event sites. The 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

At least 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 within 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, organization, communication, and relationship-building skills; ability to manage multiple priorities and 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.
Ability to lead effectively in a highly seasonal, multi-location environment with 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.
ServSafe Manager certification required, or ability to obtain it within 30 days of hire.
Additional allergen-awareness and responsible alcohol service certification may be required based on assigned duties.
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.

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.
Experience with systems that may include Infor CloudSuite and Dayforce.

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, supervisory, and food-safety training and 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 recovery from operating issues 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 operating priorities.
Develop and maintain standardized recipes, yields, portions, plating guides, production pars, prep lists, and specifications for outlets and events; manage changes and related training.
Preserve distinct dining identities for each lodge while standardizing recipes, ingredients, 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, portions, 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, costing, implementation, evaluation, and adjustments.
Establish food production, receiving, storage, 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 and provide nutritious, timely, consistent, high-quality meals.
Lead culinary planning and production for the Buffalo Roundup and Arts Festival, including viewing-site breakfasts, Corrals lunch service, 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; manage menu development, event-order review, production planning, staffing, execution, and service coordination.
Plan and oversee culinary use of mobile kitchen trucks for events and peak periods, as approved by SDGFP.
Create culinary operating plans for major events covering staffing, production quantities, equipment, food-safety controls, transportation, contingencies, and financial targets; conduct after-action reviews and apply lessons learned.
Partner with the Director of Food and Beverage to develop culinary budgets, forecasts, operating targets, and capital priorities.
Manage food cost, waste, kitchen labor, overtime, productivity, inventory accuracy, and controllable kitchen expenses; establish and monitor performance indicators and take corrective action as needed.
Develop seasonal staffing plans and labor schedules aligned with forecasts, menu complexity, service standards, operating hours, and productivity targets; review and adjust staffing, hours, overtime, and deployment.
Partner with Supply Chain on product specifications, bids, vendor performance, pricing, substitutions, availability, receiving standards, and purchasing strategies.
Oversee receiving, storage, requisition, transfer, inventory, and waste-control practices using Xanterra’s Inventory Management system; ensure accurate inventories, recipe and item setup, purchasing controls, and timely investigation of variances.
Use 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 other applicable regulations and standards.
Maintain active managerial controls and food-safety standards covering sanitation, employee health, temperatures, allergens, cross-contamination, labeling, storage, and temporary food service; conduct regular kitchen, storage, mobile-unit, and event-site reviews.
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, with appropriate flexibility for each location.
Support sustainability goals through local and sustainable purchasing, food-waste reduction, responsible seafood and protein sourcing, recycling, composting where available, and food donation.
Build productive relationships with SDGFP, local health officials, vendors, community partners, and internal support departments.
Perform other duties and projects as assigned.