Executive Sous Chef

Maryland Food Bank • Baltimore, MD

13d • Hybrid

About The Position

The Executive Sous Chef partners with the Director, Meals Program & Logistics/Executive Chef to lead daily FoodWorks meal operations. This role supervises the kitchen team, oversees production and food safety, and ensures meals meet quality, nutrition, program, and organizational standards. The Executive Sous Chef also drives continuous improvement in menus, processes, food quality, and resource use.

Requirements

• High school diploma or equivalent.
• At least five years of food-service experience, including work in a high-volume commercial kitchen or meal-production environment.
• At least two years of culinary leadership or supervisory experience, such as Lead Cook, Kitchen Supervisor, Sous Chef, or similar role.
• Experience supervising, coaching, training, and developing culinary or food-production staff.
• Strong knowledge of high-volume food production, commercial kitchen equipment, food safety, sanitation, and quality control.
• Ability to lead daily kitchen operations; prioritize and assign work; and adapt to staffing, inventory, and production needs.
• Ability to read, scale, test, and standardize recipes; calculate quantities, yields, portions, and substitutions; and maintain accurate operational records.
• Strong communication, leadership, problem-solving, and sound decision-making skills.
• ServSafe Manager Certification upon hire or within 90 days of hire.
• Successful completion of required pre-employment drug screening and background check.

Nice To Haves

• Completion of an accredited culinary arts, food-service management, hospitality management, or related program; an equivalent combination of education and experience will be considered.
• Experience in high-volume meal production, catering, healthcare or institutional food service, or community-based meal programs.
• Experience with menu and recipe development, production planning, inventory management, food-cost awareness, waste reduction, and food-safety compliance.
• Experience translating new program ideas into practical recipes, production processes, staffing plans, training, and standard operating procedures.
• Proficiency using technology for ordering, inventory, scheduling, documentation, reporting, and communication.
• A collaborative, creative, adaptable approach to improving food quality, operational efficiency, and program outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Lead daily kitchen operations, ensuring efficient, timely, and high-quality meal production.
• Supervise, coach, and develop kitchen staff; establish clear expectations for safety, quality, teamwork, and performance.
• Oversee meal production to ensure recipes, portions, nutrition requirements, and quality standards are consistently met.
• Maintain daily production schedules, assignments, and priorities for the kitchen team.
• Ensure compliance with food-safety, HACCP, sanitation, allergen, and health-department requirements.
• Monitor inventory, ingredient usage, product availability, waste, and ordering to support production needs.
• Coordinate allergen-related meal substitutions and ensure accurate documentation and safe production practices.
• Support menu planning and the development, testing, and standardization of recipes and production procedures.
• Identify and implement improvements to food quality, production efficiency, resource utilization, and waste reduction.
• Serve as the Executive Chef’s key operational partner, providing updates on production, staffing, equipment, and food-safety priorities.

Benefits

• background check
• drug screen

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager
• Education Level: High school or GED