Sous Chef

gategroup•Seattle, WA

6d•$80,168 - $82,000

About The Position

The Sous Chef, Operations assists the Executive Sous Chef, Operations or the 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 assistance from Food Supervisors. The position oversees the daily production of hot and/or cold kitchens, ensuring food quality, consistency, specification compliance, and efficient use of labor and food. It supervises and schedules employees, assigns production tasks, orders raw materials, and supports training, performance, employee retention, and compliance with company policies and applicable labor agreements. The role works with production teams and airline customers and may involve travel of up to 25%. The job is full-time. Work typically follows a rotating schedule of more than 55 hours per week, with shifts of 10 or more hours. The work takes place in a production kitchen, where temperature and noise may cause physical discomfort. The role regularly requires standing, bending, lifting, and moving during shifts, including handling items over 25 pounds.

Requirements

At least 1–3 years of experience as a Chef and/or Sous Chef.
At least 7 years of experience as a cook.
Ability to cook meals according to detailed specifications.
Ability to work in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.
Strong and effective leadership skills and ability to manage a team of cooks.
Ability to train others.
Ability to give employees positive and negative feedback daily.
Excellent time-management skills and ability to handle multiple tasks while prioritizing effectively.
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

Associate degree in Culinary Arts or 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 the department for food quality and quantity, and ensure items are produced, dated, and coded according to specifications and applicable FDA, USDA, HACCP, and other governmental regulations.
Track attendance, prepare paperwork, set up shifts, and assign employees to sections to optimize schedules.
Order raw materials from the storeroom and produce additional meals at short notice as needed.
Prepare daily production sheets, assign tasks, and direct employees using production sheets and passenger counts.
Maintain 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 shifts.
Manage daily hot and/or cold kitchen production for quality and consistency.
Ensure compliance with company Wage & Hour policy, including rest and meal breaks, and follow required company processes.
Train and monitor employees on work procedures to maximize productivity while minimizing labor and food expenses.
Monitor daily 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.
Review employees in the chain of command to ensure they are assigned to correct cost centers and job titles.
Verify that union-represented employees’ pay rates are correct according to wage scales and seniority.
Complete all required company training, including ServSafe, and comply with company policies, procedures, and processes.