Operations Sous Chef

gategroup•Las Vegas, NV

About The Position

The Operations Sous Chef assists the Executive Sous Chef, Operations, or Executive Chef, Operations, in designing and preparing meals for airline customers. The role provides culinary expertise and leadership, promotes quality food services, ensures food safety and sanitation requirements are followed, and drives food production with the assistance of Food Supervisors. The position oversees production in hot and/or cold kitchens, ensuring quality, consistency, customer specifications, and labor objectives. It coordinates staffing and schedules, assigns production tasks, orders raw materials, trains employees, monitors productivity and expenses, and supports employee retention and performance. The role also ensures compliance with applicable food-safety regulations, company policies, wage-and-hour requirements, and union agreements. This is an exempt, full-time role with a rotating schedule typically exceeding 55 hours per week and shifts of 10 or more hours. The role involves travel up to 25% and requires passing a 20-year FBI fingerprint-based criminal history records check for Harry Reid International Airport. The anticipated job closing date is November 10, 2026.

Requirements

Minimum 1–3 years of experience as a Chef and/or Sous Chef.
Minimum 7 years of experience as a cook.
Asian culinary experience.
Ability to cook meals according to detailed specifications.
Ability to work in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.
Strong leadership skills and ability to successfully manage a team of cooks.
Ability to train others.
Ability to provide employees with positive and corrective feedback on a daily basis.
Excellent time-management skills and ability to manage multiple tasks while maintaining focus on priorities.
Strong organizational, analytical, communication, and leadership skills.
Basic computer skills.
Excellent written and oral communication skills.
Ability to pass a 20-year FBI fingerprint-based Criminal History Records Check (CHRC) for Harry Reid International Airport.
Ability to stand, bend, lift, and move intermittently during shifts of 10 or more hours; lift, push, pull, and move items exceeding 25 pounds.
Ability to work in a production kitchen where temperature and noise may cause physical discomfort.

Nice To Haves

Associate degree in Culinary Arts or a Culinary Arts certification.
Previous 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.
Current or previous labor-relations experience.
Experience with menu design.
Working knowledge of Microsoft Office products.
ServSafe certification.
Bilingual Spanish skills.

Responsibilities

Ensure food specifications and labor objectives meet company and customer requirements.
Supervise department food production for quality and quantity; ensure items are produced and dated to specification and that coding systems and applicable FDA, USDA, HACCP, and other governmental requirements are followed.
Track attendance, prepare shift paperwork, organize shifts, assign employees to sections, and optimize schedules.
Order raw materials from the storeroom and produce additional meals at short notice when needed.
Prepare daily production sheets, assign tasks, and direct employees using production sheets and passenger counts.
Take responsibility for food items after requisitioning them from the storeroom.
Train and provide recurrent training to employees on proper preparation procedures.
Ensure safety procedures are followed and maintain cleanliness throughout the shift.
Manage daily production in hot and/or cold kitchens for quality and consistency.
Ensure compliance with company wage-and-hour policy, including employee rest and meal breaks and required company processes.
Train and monitor employees on work procedures to maximize productivity while controlling labor and food expenses.
Monitor manpower planning and schedule employees.
Support employee retention and reduce employee turnover.
Coach and counsel employees and prepare corrective actions in compliance with applicable union or collective bargaining agreements.
Ensure employees in the chain of command are assigned to the correct cost centers and job titles.
Verify that union-represented employees’ pay rates correspond to wage scales and seniority.
Complete all company-required training, including ServSafe-related training where applicable, and comply with company policies, procedures, and processes.