Corporate Chef
As the Corporate Chef, you will oversee culinary operations across all PILF Restaurant Group locations, ensuring our kitchens deliver exceptional food, strong financial performance, consistent standards, and well-developed teams. This is a hands-on leadership role that partners closely with restaurant leaders, Operations, and Human Resources to drive results across the group.
Culinary & Operational Excellence
- Maintain consistent food quality, presentation, portioning, recipe execution, and kitchen standards across all locations.
- Develop and roll out new menu items, recipes, and culinary initiatives.
- Conduct regular restaurant visits, tastings, line checks, and kitchen assessments.
- Evaluate kitchen systems, prep processes, equipment, and workflows to improve efficiency and execution.
- Support new restaurant openings, menu rollouts, kitchen transitions, and company initiatives.
Financial Performance
- Review and manage food cost, waste, yields, portion control, purchasing, and inventory performance.
- Review BOH labor costs, productivity, overtime, and staffing levels to ensure locations operate within company standards.
- Partner with restaurant leadership to review BOH schedules and ensure appropriate staffing and deployment based on business needs.
- Identify trends and develop action plans for locations that are not meeting financial or operational expectations.
Leadership & Team Development
- Coach and develop hourly culinary team members, Kitchen Managers, Assistant Kitchen Managers, and salaried restaurant leadership.
- Identify training opportunities, skill gaps, and high-potential team members for continued development and advancement.
- Provide hands-on coaching, feedback, accountability, and follow-up to improve culinary and leadership performance.
- Support the onboarding and development of newly hired and promoted culinary leaders.
- Build a culture of accountability, teamwork, hospitality, and culinary excellence.
Training & HR Partnership
- Partner with Human Resources and Operations to identify training needs and improve culinary training programs.
- Ensure required training is completed and consistently applied within restaurant operations.
- Partner with HR and restaurant leadership on performance concerns, development plans, and corrective action when necessary.
- Support leadership development and succession planning for culinary positions throughout the restaurant group.
Food Safety & Compliance
- Ensure compliance with food safety, sanitation, allergen, health department, and company safety standards.
- Conduct kitchen inspections and ensure locations remain clean, organized, safe, and inspection-ready.
- Partner with restaurant leadership to address deficiencies and ensure corrective actions are completed.
Vendor & Product Management
- Maintain vendor and supplier relationships while ensuring product quality, consistency, availability, and competitive pricing.
- Partner with vendors and Operations to identify cost-saving opportunities without sacrificing food quality or the guest experience.
- Assist with product changes, substitutions, purchasing initiatives, and communication to restaurant teams.
What We're Looking For
- Multi-unit culinary leadership experience, preferably in pizza, casual dining, or high-volume restaurants.
- Strong knowledge of food cost, labor management, inventory, scheduling, and restaurant operations.
- Proven ability to coach and develop both hourly team members and salaried leaders.
- Strong food safety, sanitation, and kitchen operations knowledge.
- Excellent communication, organization, accountability, and problem-solving skills.
- Ability to be both a strategic leader and a hands-on presence in our restaurants.
- Availability to travel between locations and work evenings, weekends, or holidays when business needs require.
