Head Chef

Head Chef

Job Purpose:  

Head Chef leads all aspect of the kitchen. You will deliver a high-quality food and motivate our staff to provide excellent customer service.

Head Chef responsibilities include maintaining the restaurant’s revenue, profitability and quality goals. You will ensure efficient restaurant operation, as well as maintain high production, productivity, quality, and customer-service standards.

To be successful in this role, you’ll need to manage both front and back of the house. You will need to know how to oversee the dining room, check-in with customers and balance seating capacity. Front of the house management experience is also essential, as you will need to supervise Cooks and Wait Staff, set work schedules, oversee food prep and make sure we comply with health and safety restaurant regulations.

We’ll expect you to lead by example and uplift our staff during busy moments in our fast-paced environment. Ultimately, you will ensure our restaurant runs smoothly and customers have pleasant dining experiences.

Responsibilities Overview:

• Customer-Service: Food service managers might have to interact with customers. Being friendly and courteous will help keep customers coming back.
• Attention to Detail: Food service managers have to keep their eyes on a lot of elements: food standards, costs, safety, etc.
• Leadership: Managers must be leaders in the front and back of house, rallying their team during heavy shifts, resolving conflicts and getting the job done.
• Management Skills: Food service managers not only deal with food, they also have to deal with costs, pricing, creating work schedules and more.
• Organizational Skills: Keeping work schedules, shipments, cleaning schedules and more organized is crucial to the job.
• Problem-Solving Skills: Dealing with employee conflict, irate customers and wrong stock orders is part of a food service manager's job. Being able to come up with a solution quickly is a needed skill.
• Speaking Skills: Food service managers need to accurately and easily communicate standards and cooking methods to staff, give orders and speak with customers clearly.
• Stamina: Food service managers can expect long days around hot cooking elements, much of it on their feet.

Responsibilities also include: 

• Coordinating daily Kitchen management operations
• Kitchen staff weekly roster to approve.
• Monitoring and management of Inventory Management Software – BevSpot. This includes the approval of ALL purchase orders for kitchen.
• Follow up with Sous chef that all kitchen procedures check list are being completed e.g. Temperature log of food, chillers/freezers, meat log and Equipment service log.
• Ensure that all restaurant opening procedure are completed when working the opening shift.
• Monthly review of menu item sales.
• Update and acquire all increase in prices on items used by the kitchen.
• Menu development and costing.
• New menu training for kitchen staff and FOH including demos.
• Overall cleanliness and maintenance follows up of the kitchen.
• Coaching and counseling of all kitchen associate including Sous Chef.
• Maintain quality of Food and speed of service from kitchen.
• Responding efficiently and accurately to restaurant customer complaints

• Coordinate daily Front of the House and Back of the House restaurant operations
• Deliver superior service and maximize customer satisfaction
• Respond efficiently and accurately to customer complaints
• Regularly review product quality and research new vendors
• Organize and supervise shifts
• Appraise staff performance and provide feedback to improve productivity
• Estimate future needs for goods, kitchen utensils and cleaning products
• Ensure compliance with sanitation and safety regulations
• Control operational costs and identify measures to cut waste
• Create detailed reports on weekly, monthly and annual revenues and expenses
• Promote the brand in the local community through word-of-mouth and restaurant events
• Recommend ways to reach a broader audience (e.g. discounts and social media ads)
• Train new and current employees on proper customer service practices
• Implement policies and protocols that will maintain future restaurant operations
• Must maintain personal hygiene in accordance to Trinidad and Tobago Public Health Department standards for Food Service Employees.

Requirements:

Proven work experience as a Head Chef, Restaurant Manager, Hospitality Manager or similar role

Proven customer service experience in Management role

Extensive food and beverage (F&B) knowledge, with ability to remember and recall ingredients and dishes to inform customers and wait staff

Familiarity with restaurant management software, BevSpot, Lightspeed and M.S. Office

Strong leadership, motivational and people skills

Acute financial management skills

BSc degree in Business Administration; hospitality management or culinary schooling is a plus