Sous Chef - Pastry

Role overview

Production and quality

• Plan daily production and complete orders accurately and on time; monitor recipe adherence and finished-product quality.
• Resolve quality issues before dispatch and decide whether products require rework, should be held, or are ready for release.
• Own escalations involving design, product quality, rework, and delivery timelines.

Team and operations

• Schedule staff and allocate workloads according to order volumes and production requirements; lead and coach section heads and teams.
• Run daily production briefings and coordinate training and development with HR.
• Manage inventory with Procurement and Inventory teams, reduce stockouts and waste, and control labor, ingredient, and wastage costs against budget.
• Enforce food-safety, hygiene, sanitation, and HACCP standards and work with QC to maintain consistent standards.
• Monitor and report output, quality, and on-time completion; plan for peak capacity and improve workflows, equipment, and productivity.
• Coordinate with Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing, and other teams on launches, seasonal collections, and production planning; maintain a clean, safe, organized kitchen.

Experience and skills

• 7–10 years of professional kitchen, bakery, or food-production experience, including management of a multi-section kitchen or high-volume production facility.
• Strong cake production and decoration knowledge, including expert-level fondant and cake-craft skills.
• Experience managing and developing a multi-person team, including scheduling, coaching, performance management, and team development.
• Working knowledge of inventory, food cost, wastage, and production planning; strong food-safety, hygiene, sanitation, and HACCP knowledge.

Candidate attributes

• Able to manage changing order volumes and tight deadlines with strong problem-solving and decision-making skills.
• Strong leadership, communication, organization, attention to detail, and commercial awareness, including understanding kitchen budgets and cost control.
• Comfortable in a fast-paced, high-volume production environment and willing to take a hands-on leadership role.