Hospitality Confidential is thrilled to present an exciting opportunity for a Chef de Cuisine to take the helm at one of San Francisco’s most iconic neighborhood restaurants. Celebrated for its seasonal, ingredient-driven cooking and enduring influence on the city’s culinary landscape, this role also includes oversight of a lively adjoining concept that has become a favorite in its own right. It's a chance to lead with vision, craft, and a deep connection to the spirit of hospitality.

● Exceptional food and dining experiences in keeping with and expanding on the style of food and service established over the past two decades

● Efficient, financially-sound, clean and organized operations

● Healthy, successful, engaged teams of employees

ATTRIBUTES: 

● Highly Organized

● Resilient

● Able to delegate- get work done through others

● Work Ethic

• Grit- stick to it...
• Ownership!
• Stamina

● Detail oriented but sees the big picture

● Takes Initiative

● Ability to prioritize

● Leader

• Motivate and inspire
• Lead by example (ish)
• Mentor, teach

● Intelligent

● Great communicator:

• Respectful
• Detailed and organized
• Direct
• Motivating

● Great cook and palate

● Great trainer-teacher-mentor

● Patient, empathetic

● Respectful

RESPONSIBILITIES: 

Food and Menu: Work with all cooks and the entire BOH team to create delicious, craveable, cost-effective food that is consistent with the restaurant’s style and vision.

● Local and seasonal.

• Traditional but not bound to tradition.
• Simple but not simplistic.
• Playful but not silly- not looking for shock value.
• Italian- as if the Bay Area was a region of Italy.

● Continue underlying spirit but evolve, develop, explore.

● Respect and honor the past 20 years of dishes, food, customers, staff and place in (local and national) community.

● Drive creative menu development: Develop new dishes, tweak existing dishes, keep menus exciting and in a constant state of evolution and improvement. Develop and maintain a constant atmosphere of evaluation and critical, analytical of food.

● Continuous updating of menu wording and pricing.

● Constant critical analysis of all food.

● Write recipes, document new recipes and menu items with thought to the future.

● Keep kitchen focused on cost control and proper product utilization, with a constant focus on hitting food cost targets.

● Oversee all menu mix, descriptions, phrasing, and pricing.

● Keep each restaurant committed to sourcing the best ingredients and always following the best practices of sustainability.

● Invite and analyze all feedback from guests and staff.

● Create holiday menus and special event menus.

● Go to Farmers markets.

● Seek out new items and incorporate into menu,

Staff and HR: Lead, Mentor, Teach, and Inspire all staff constantly. Work with all BOH, FOH, and admin management to create a consistently strong, supportive, dynamic, cohesive environment.

● Attract and retain talented, ambitious staff,

● Ensure everyone on the team is engaged, challenged, learning, and growing.

● Maintain/create great staff morale.

● Write and post weekly schedules two weeks in advance. Respond to/plan for and manage staff expectations re vacations and time off requests.

● In charge of hiring, firing, promoting, reviews and discipline.

● Ensure all HR SOPs are followed.

● Maintain positive and healthy relationships and constant communication with all FOH management. Work closely with GM, and maintain a collaborative teamwork environment.

● Proactively plan for staff promotion, cross training and hiring needs.

● Develop and mentor the team- plan ahead.

● The chef schedule will be based on the needs of the restaurant and must change often.

Property and Maintenance: Work with BOH management to ensure all operations and administration are thorough, complete, and timely. Ensure that cleanliness, organization, efficiency, and cost-control are all priority and treated as such.

● All Repairs and Maintenance: Janitorial, responsible for mechanical, graffiti removal, dining room, patio, façade, roof, plumbing, electric.

● In conjunction with GM- Waste removal, janitorial, prev maintenance, R&M.

● Oversee the general upkeep and R&M of each location.

● Manage and guide Chefs/Managers to ensure that tasks are being completed thoroughly, precisely, and on time.

● Oversee each location’s general organization and efficiency.

● Oversee each location’s overall cleanliness, ensure sanitation practices exceed Health Department standards.

Admin, Cost Control

● Oversee and manage cost control at each location, obsessively pursue meeting set financial goals.

● Lead and drive BOH meeting agendas and follow up.

● Lead and drive Manager meeting agendas and follow up.

● Attend/Lead P&L meetings, regular manager meetings.

● Follow up with BOH/FOH managers to ensure appropriate actions or adjustments are followed-through-on with urgency and thoroughness.

● Oversee and manage all end of period protocol; inventory, transfers, eop notes, Inventory, Break logs.

● Meet deadlines.

Events and Catering: Oversee all events, on premise or offsite, paid and unpaid, small and large.

● Oversee all Holiday menus, ensure they are creative, enticing, on-time, and thorough.

● Buyouts and onsite parties.

● Oversee all events. Ensure they are well conceived, properly executed, and profitable (when applicable)!

● Work collaboratively with GM, wine director, sous chefs and owners to ensure success.

● Maintain proper execution of pizzeria catering orders.

Community: Maintain consistent involvement and presence in the Bay Area food and dining community.

● Keep up to date on the current restaurant/food scene, trends, developments.

● Participate regularly in community-based events and programs.

● Maintain at all times a respectable, positive professional image in the community.

● Actively engage with guests, stay connected with the spirit of service and hospitality.

● Participate in PR/media opportunities as appropriate.

● Ensure the stability of the restaurants are not compromised by involvement in outside-of restaurant endeavors.

Day to Day, and Personal:

● Ensure that all of the above responsibilities are met.

● Maintain healthy physical, emotional, mental fitness.

● Maintain a constant presence that is inspiring, supportive, respectful, analytical, and that keeps a gentle pressure on everyone involved to excel at what they do.

● Focus as necessary on problem areas and projects that will take more in-depth time, work, and attention.

● Always act in a professional manner as a role model, in a way that is honest, direct, humble, fun, supportive, and constantly improving, with a positive energy that is infectious to the organization as a whole.

● Constantly learn and develop professionally, always searching out new information.

● Accept feedback enthusiastically.

● Enthusiastically drive change and development. Excitedly attack every new project, challenge and opportunity that presents itself.

● Maintain and surpass Restaurant’s star, (numerical or other) rating in all publications and ratings systems: James Beard, Michelin, Chronicle, Zagat, Yelp, and others.

Compensation & Benefits:

● $100k - $115k base salary + bonus

● 100% medical insurance coverage with opt-ins for dental and vision

● 2 Weeks PTO

● 2 meals comped monthly with a guest onsite and offsite

● Balanced schedule with an empathetic leadership team!

Our client is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. They do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, gender (including gender identity or expression), pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, sexual orientation, marital status, domestic violence, sexual violence or stalking victim status, ancestry, national origin, alienage or citizenship, age, disability, military or veteran status, genetic information or predisposing genetic characteristic, or other protected status.