Sous Chef | Assistant Kitchen Manager | Sign on Bonus $1,000

Heritage Senior Living•Port Washington, WI

About The Position

Heritage Senior Living is seeking a hands-on Sous Chef to help lead the culinary team and provide residents with an excellent dining experience. Reporting to the Executive Chef, the Sous Chef supports daily kitchen operations and is prepared to oversee operations when the Executive Chef is unavailable. The role combines cooking, team leadership, food safety, training, and administrative support in a senior-living dining environment. The Sous Chef leads team members during assigned shifts, maintains a safe and organized kitchen, and helps ensure employees follow company policies, recipes, service standards, and food-safety requirements. The role also involves preparing and presenting meals, accommodating resident dietary requirements, supporting celebrations and special events, training culinary employees, and assisting with inventory, ordering, records, purchasing, and menu-related work. This position requires regular hands-on kitchen work and interaction with residents, guests, coworkers, and community leadership. The schedule is flexible according to resident and community needs and may include weekends, holidays, special events, and additional hours. The position involves extended periods of standing and walking, frequent movement such as bending and reaching, and regularly lifting, carrying, or moving items up to 50 pounds. Reasonable accommodations may be provided as required by law.

Requirements

Previous food preparation and culinary experience is preferred.
Previous leadership, supervisory, lead cook, or Sous Chef experience is strongly preferred.
Ability to prepare and present high-quality, appealing food.
Knowledge of, or willingness to learn, resident dietary requirements and nutritional programs.
Understanding of sanitation, food-safety, and infection-control practices.
Strong communication, organizational, and customer-service skills.
Ability to train, coach, and provide direction to culinary employees.
Ability to work independently and collaboratively with coworkers and community leadership.
Ability to meet applicable pre-employment, training, certification, and regulatory requirements.
Ability to read and follow recipes, menus, dietary instructions, food labels, safety information, policies, and required documentation.
Ability to stand and walk for extended periods and bend, reach, stoop, kneel, push, and pull as needed.
Ability to regularly lift, carry, and move items weighing up to 50 pounds.
Ability to safely handle food, cookware, utensils, kitchen equipment, and cleaning supplies and work around heat, steam, hot surfaces, sharp utensils, cleaning products, wet surfaces, and temperature changes.
Ability to work a flexible schedule that may include weekends, holidays, special events, and additional hours as needed.

Nice To Haves

Senior living, healthcare, institutional food service, hospitality, or restaurant experience is a plus.
Passion for serving older adults.
Interest in developing culinary and leadership skills and advancing a culinary career.

Responsibilities

Assist the Executive Chef with daily culinary, operational, and administrative responsibilities.
Lead and direct culinary team members during assigned shifts and assume the Executive Chef’s responsibilities when the Executive Chef is unavailable.
Help maintain an organized, professional, safe, and productive kitchen and address or report operational or employee concerns as appropriate.
Ensure culinary employees follow company policies, procedures, recipes, service standards, and food-safety requirements.
Prepare, cook, portion, plate, and serve meals according to menus and recipes, maintaining consistent quality, presentation, safety, portioning, temperatures, and timeliness.
Monitor food quality and follow resident dietary requirements and established nutritional standards.
Assist with meals, celebrations, special events, and other community dining experiences.
Help onboard and train culinary employees in food preparation, recipes, plating, equipment, sanitation, and service standards; support cross-training and coach employees on proper techniques.
Help ensure compliance with food-safety, sanitation, infection-control, and regulatory requirements.
Monitor cleanliness and organization in kitchen, food-preparation, storage, and service areas; ensure proper food storage, labeling, dating, rotation, and temperature control.
Help maintain a safe working environment, address or report hazards, and communicate kitchen equipment maintenance or repair needs.
Assist with inventory management, ordering, purchasing, receiving, purchase orders, inventory controls, and accurate records and documentation.
Support menu planning, costing, and pricing as assigned; help monitor food usage, waste, portioning, and operational efficiency.
Collaborate with the Executive Chef and community leadership to support department and resident needs.
Communicate effectively with residents, guests, employees, and community leadership; maintain reliable attendance and follow applicable pre-employment, training, and ongoing requirements.