Exec. Sous Chef

gategroup•San Francisco, CA

About The Position

The Executive Sous Chef supports the Executive Chef in monitoring daily preparation of pre-designed meals for multi-customer accounts. The role provides culinary expertise and manages Chefs, Cooks, and production employees across food production areas in a large catering unit. It helps ensure quality food services for airline clients and manages products and waste in a high-complexity hub unit or facility, characterized by high volume and an international customer mix. The Executive Sous Chef reports to the Executive Chef and serves as lead chef when the Executive Chef is absent. The position oversees food preparation, production, menu presentations, recipe and portion compliance, inventory, and waste reduction. It supports culinary operational objectives, audits, problem resolution, quality improvements, employee coaching, training, onboarding, and retention. The role also maintains culinary equipment, promotes efficient production techniques, prepares reports, and ensures compliance with food safety, sanitation, and company standards. This is a full-time, exempt position with up to 10% travel. The work takes place in a production kitchen and involves shifts of 10 or more hours, a rotating schedule typically exceeding 55 hours per week, and exposure to temperature and noise. Employees regularly stand, bend, lift, and move during shifts, and must be able to lift, push, pull, and move items weighing more than 25 pounds.

Requirements

Associate or bachelor’s degree in Culinary Arts or a related field; formal culinary education is required.
CCC certification from ACF, ProChef II certification, or equivalent.
Seven to ten years in progressively responsible Chef positions.
One to three years of supervisory experience in a high-volume manufacturing, food production, restaurant, or catering environment.
In-flight catering experience or experience in a high-volume food service environment.
Ability to cook meals according to detailed specifications.
Ability to work in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.
Strong leadership skills and ability to manage a staff of two to three Sous Chefs and production employees.
Ability to train others and provide employees with positive and negative feedback daily.
Comfort working with employees at all levels and ability to drive positive program change.
Excellent time-management skills and ability to manage multiple tasks while maintaining focus on priorities.
Strong organizational, analytical, communication, and leadership skills.
Innovation and ability to make operational changes to improve the work environment and unit performance.
Basic computer skills.
Excellent written and oral communication skills.
Ability to stand, bend, lift, and move intermittently during shifts of 10 or more hours.
Ability to lift, push, pull, and move products, equipment, and supplies weighing more than 25 pounds.

Nice To Haves

Current or previous labor relations experience.
Working knowledge of Microsoft Office products.
ServSafe certification.
Multilingual ability.

Responsibilities

Support the Executive Chef in driving menu and product quality across production areas by overseeing food preparation and production and consulting with buyers, chefs, cooks, and team leaders.
Minimize waste through portion control, overboarding and overproduction management, and inventory control.
Serve as the unit’s culinary lead in the Executive Chef’s absence.
Plan and support menu presentations, including setup and review of specifications for compliance with customer recipes and portion requirements.
Understand menu and product specifications and ensure employee training is completed.
Oversee portioning and production management and use a pull system to ensure accurate, timely inventories and demand-based requisitions.
Contribute information and analysis to operational plans and reviews; prepare and complete action plans; and implement production, productivity, quality, and customer-service standards.
Identify and resolve problems, complete timely audits, and support operational change.
Support menu presentations and work with the Executive Chef to manage products, production, and costs efficiently and identify variances.
Coach and counsel employees and prepare corrective actions.
Maintain a safe, secure, and healthy work environment by enforcing standards and procedures, complying with applicable sanitation and legal requirements, overseeing food preparation and safety, and reviewing and implementing accident and disaster plans.
Ensure production quality standards are maintained and employees comply with HACCP, FDA, safety, and company requirements.
Communicate meal cycles accurately and on time, and monitor product yields to maximize usage.
Work with management staff to improve unit performance.
Maintain professional and technical knowledge through educational workshops, publications, networking, benchmarking, professional contributions, and sharing knowledge with direct reports.
Ensure cooks and Sous Chefs have the skills to meet cooking and food preparation requirements for all airline accounts serviced by the unit.
Train and monitor employees in work procedures and product production to maximize productivity while minimizing labor and food expenses.
Assist in developing and training cooks, and support culinary employee onboarding and retention.
Complete required company training, including ServSafe Sanitation Manager Certification.
Maintain culinary equipment by following operating instructions, instructing staff in equipment use, troubleshooting breakdowns, maintaining supplies, arranging preventive maintenance and repairs, and evaluating equipment needs.
Initiate and support NPT and time-saving production techniques and train others in specialty techniques.
Improve menu quality and consistency by analyzing production records and menu expenses, promoting quality improvement, evaluating and redesigning processes, and implementing changes.
Prepare menu and food-preparation reports by collecting, analyzing, and summarizing food, dining, customer, and trend data.