Sous Chef / Kitchen Manager

The plate is the promise. In a growing, privately owned restaurant group, guests come back for food that tastes the same on a Tuesday as it does on a slammed Saturday—and that only happens if someone owns the shift. This role sets the standard on the line, builds a crew that can hit it without constant rescue, and keeps the kitchen safe, fast, and on cost.

Performance Objectives

• Run every service so ticket times and plate quality meet house standard through peak volume, with clear expo calls and no silent 86s.
• Staff, schedule, and station the line so each cook can execute the menu without you hovering, including planned days off.
• Hold food cost and waste to target through pars, portioning, prep plans, and weekly inventory you can defend.
• Keep the kitchen inspection-ready: sanitation, temperature control, allergen handling, and closing standards that pass without a scramble.
• Turn recipes and specials into repeatable prep so the menu holds through volume, not last-minute heroics.
• Coach cooks into stronger cooks—cut rework, call-outs, and skill gaps you can see on the plate.
• Partner with the front of house so timing, comps, and guest recovery are handled before they become reviews.

Environment & Resources

You report to the chef or general manager and lead the back-of-house team on your shifts. You will work from station recipes, a POS, and straightforward inventory and ordering tools—not a thick corporate manual. Labor, food, and smallwares budgets are real constraints; you will help set them and live inside them. Early-stage means the systems you build become how the kitchen runs.

Essential Qualifications

• At least three years leading a full-service line, including expo and hands-on cooking during rushes.
• A track record of hitting food-cost or waste targets you can explain with numbers, not stories.
• Current food-safety certification and a habit of running temps, labels, and allergen controls without being asked.
• Experience writing schedules, prep lists, and station setups that hold when you are not on the pass.
• Clear, calm communication with cooks and servers when the board is full.
• Ability to work nights, weekends, and holidays when the dining room is full.

Why This Role

• Shift authority that is real: you call the line, the prep, and the close.
• Craft and management in one job—you still cook, and you also build the team.
• Room to write the playbook while the group is still small.
• A direct line from the pass to decisions on menu, labor, and purchasing.

Apply

If you can leave a busy kitchen tighter than you found it, send your resume and a short note on a service you turned around—what was broken, what you changed, and what the numbers did.