Head Chef

Position Overview

Kitchen and Culinary Operations

• Oversee daily preparation, cooking, plating, service, cleaning, storage, and closing; plan production around reservations, forecasts, events, and business levels.
• Maintain recipe, specification, portion, presentation, quality, freshness, temperature, and service-time standards.
• Develop menus, recipes, specials, seasonal offerings, and promotional dishes; maintain standardized procedures, plating guides, and kitchen SOPs.
• Coordinate with restaurant and front-of-house teams on menu availability, allergens, special requests, service requirements, and guest feedback.
• Manage purchasing, receiving, suppliers, inventory, storage, food usage, stock levels, yields, and discrepancies.
• Control food costs, expenses, waste, and consumption; improve yield, portion control, and ingredient utilization.
• Coordinate kitchen operations for banquets, catering, events, VIP guests, dietary needs, allergies, and customized orders.

Safety, Staff, and Performance

• Enforce food safety, hygiene, sanitation, HACCP, temperature-control, allergen-management, health, and workplace-safety requirements.
• Inspect kitchen areas and equipment; maintain temperature, cleaning, inventory, production, wastage, and food-safety records.
• Schedule, recruit, train, coach, motivate, and develop kitchen staff; conduct briefings and provide feedback.
• Maintain kitchen equipment and arrange repair or servicing; monitor productivity and correct bottlenecks, delays, quality issues, and operational risks.
• Review performance reports and support budgeting, forecasting, menu costing, purchasing strategy, and continuous improvement.

Candidate Requirements

• Proven experience as a Head Chef, Executive Chef, Chef de Cuisine, Sous Chef, or senior culinary professional in a restaurant, hotel, resort, catering operation, or similar environment.
• Strong culinary expertise in food preparation, cooking, menu development, presentation, and kitchen operations.
• Knowledge of food costing, portion control, inventory, purchasing, suppliers, waste reduction, food safety, HACCP, sanitation, allergens, and health regulations.
• Demonstrated ability to lead, supervise, train, motivate, and develop a diverse culinary team.
• Strong organization, time management, communication, problem-solving, decision-making, teamwork, and commercial awareness.
• Relevant diploma or bachelor's degree in culinary, hospitality, food and beverage, hotel management, or a related field is preferred.
• Kitchen, inventory, recipe, POS-related, or Microsoft Office systems experience is advantageous; relevant culinary, food safety, HACCP, or hospitality certifications are advantageous.
• Able to work flexible hours, including evenings, weekends, public holidays, and extended hours during busy periods or events.