Field Sous Chef

Upper Crust Food Service • Columbia, MO

31d • Onsite

About The Position

The Field Sous Chef is a campus-wide culinary role that provides agile daily coverage across every house on a qualifying campus and serves as the on-campus bench for permanent Chef openings. Rather than holding a single house assignment, the Field Sous Chef rotates across the campus portfolio — covering chef absences, supporting high-volume service and special events, and building working familiarity with every house's team, clients, and kitchen. That familiarity positions them as the leading internal candidate when a permanent Chef vacancy opens. Promotion is triggered by a vacancy, not a tenure clock; upon promotion, the Field Sous Chef moves into a permanent house with full menu ownership and a dedicated team.

Requirements

• Culinary degree or equivalent professional kitchen experience
• 3+ years in a professional kitchen with at least 1 year at the Sous Chef level
• Demonstrated ability to execute another chef's menu to standard
• Strong food safety knowledge (ServSafe certification or ability to obtain within 60 days)
• Flexibility to work across multiple kitchens on short notice, including early mornings, evenings, and occasional weekends
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to integrate quickly into established teams.

Nice To Haves

• High-volume residential, hospitality, or institutional food service experience
• Menu design, recipe costing, and inventory management
• Exposure to dietary accommodation programs (allergen management, religious and lifestyle diets).

Responsibilities

• Daily coverage & service execution — Take daily assignments from the Area Manager or Ops Coordinator and arrive ready to lead service. When covering an absent Chef, execute the house's planned menu to the standard its clients expect, managing prep coordination, station setup, food safety compliance, and day-of logistics with the front-of-house team.
• Cross-house rotation — Rotate across all houses on campus, building relationships with each team and learning each kitchen's equipment, inventory systems, vendors, and service cadence. Document insights across houses to inform campus-wide best practices.
• Prep, events & onboarding support — On coverage-light days, provide pre-service prep at high-volume houses, support new-house onboarding, and execute special events (philanthropies, recruitment events, formal dinners).
• Development & promotion readiness — Complete structured shadow time with senior chefs, participate in semi-annual development reviews with the Area Manager, and build a portfolio of menu concepts, costed recipes, and service plans in preparation for independent menu ownership.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: Associate degree