Sous Chef

North Italia•Walnut Creek, CA

21d

About The Position

The Sous Chef reports to the Executive Chef and helps lead a culinary team preparing dishes from scratch with a focus on quality, flavor, and excellence. The role supports North Italia’s mission of delivering great hospitality every time and contributes to restaurant operations, financial performance, team development, and a safe, clean kitchen. The Sous Chef manages shifts, including daily decisions, scheduling, and planning; oversees labor expectations; and works with the management team on sales and labor budgets and profit-and-loss discussions. The role also maintains kitchen cleanliness and organization, cares for and maintains equipment, manages unexpected requests calmly, and fosters continuous learning through open feedback and corrective action. This position is suited to a service-oriented leader who can coach and develop a restaurant team in a high-volume environment.

Requirements

At least 2 years of high-volume culinary management experience.
Demonstrated working understanding of business operations and financials.
Experience with POS systems and inventory control systems.
Ability to work shifts of ten hours or more.
Ability to work closing shifts, weekends, and holidays as needed.
Ability to stand, sit, squat, or walk for extended periods.
Ability to grasp, reach overhead, push, lift, and carry up to 50 pounds.
Finger and hand dexterity to operate kitchen machinery and knives.
Ability to work amid temperature changes, occasional smoke, steam, and heat, and in a confined space.
Hearing, visual, and sensory abilities to observe and detect emergency situations and distinguish food product, taste, texture, temperature, and presentation.

Nice To Haves

Prior experience with POSitouch and Crunchtime.

Responsibilities

Manage shifts, including daily decision making, scheduling, and planning.
Demonstrate ingredient knowledge and awareness of culinary trends.
Help the restaurant reach financial goals by controlling cost of goods and identifying solutions when targets are not met.
Maintain kitchen cleanliness and organization, and ensure equipment care and maintenance.
Manage on-the-fly requests calmly and help create a positive work environment.
Foster continuous learning, open and honest feedback, and corrective action as needed.
Manage labor expectations and plan each scheduled shift accordingly.
Understand sales and labor budgets and discuss profit-and-loss performance with the management team.
Coach, lead, and develop the restaurant team while supporting memorable guest experiences and high standards for product quality and cleanliness.