Executive Chef

Executive Chef

Meritage Resort & Spa

The salary for this position is $155k-165k

At Meritage Resort & Spa, our culinary team creates memorable dining experiences across luxury restaurants, banquet and catering events, weddings, conferences, resort celebrations, and special activations. Every culinary experience is an opportunity to showcase exceptional food, thoughtful presentation, and the gracious hospitality of Napa Valley.

We're looking for our next Executive Chef to lead a resort-wide culinary operation and a team of approximately 100 culinary professionals. This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced, strategic, and hands-on culinary leader who thrives in a dynamic resort environment and understands how to deliver exceptional quality and consistency across restaurants and large-scale events.

Reporting directly to the resort's Director of Food & Beverage, the Executive Chef will oversee all culinary operations at Meritage Resort & Spa. This position is responsible for culinary direction, menu development, team leadership, financial performance, food quality, food safety, and production planning

Who You Are

You are an accomplished culinary leader who understands that successful resort operations are built through vision, preparation, organization, communication, and teamwork. You can see the big picture while remaining engaged in the details that make each guest experience exceptional.

You lead with presence, professionalism, and accountability. You are comfortable moving between restaurant kitchens, banquet operations, event spaces, and administrative responsibilities while maintaining a consistent focus on quality, hospitality, and financial performance.

You understand how to balance creativity with execution. You can develop distinctive culinary concepts and menus while ensuring that recipes, systems, staffing, purchasing, and production plans support a profitable and sustainable operation.

You enjoy developing people and building strong teams. You communicate expectations clearly, recognize great performance, address challenges promptly, and create an environment where employees feel supported, valued, and motivated to succeed.

What You'll Do

• Lead the overall culinary operation for all resort restaurants, banquet and stewarding.
• Direct, coach, schedule, and develop a culinary team of approximately 100 employees, including banquet chef, chef de cuisines, director of steawrding, cooks, stewards, and culinary support positions.
• Establish and execute the resort's culinary vision, standards, operating procedures, and strategic priorities.
• Provide leadership and direction across multiple restaurant kitchens, banquet kitchens, production areas, event spaces, and specialty culinary operations.
• Partner with Food & Beverage Director to develop annual operating plans, business strategies, revenue goals, and culinary priorities.
• Maintain a visible presence throughout the culinary operation, including restaurant service, banquet preparation, event execution, tastings, and high-volume production periods.
• Oversee the quality, consistency, presentation, timing, and execution of all food served throughout the resort.
• Develop and maintain culinary concepts that reflect the Meritage Resort & Spa brand, Napa Valley, seasonal ingredients, and the expectations of resort guests and local clientele.
• Lead menu development for restaurants, banquets, seasonal activations, holiday programming, special events, VIP experiences, and culinary promotions.
• Review and approve menus, recipes, plating standards, photographs, production procedures, and portion-control guidelines.
• Ensure that restaurant and banquet menus are creative, operationally executable, financially responsible, and aligned with guest expectations.
• Collaborate with restaurant leaders and culinary teams to maintain consistency across all outlets and service periods.
• Partner with the Events, Banquets, and Conference Services teams to review event requirements, group resumes, banquet event orders, timelines, guarantees, menus, and special requests.
• Lead culinary planning for weddings, conferences, executive meetings, galas, wine dinners, social events, and large-scale resort celebrations.
• Ensure that all culinary requirements for events are properly planned, communicated, staffed, and executed.
• Oversee wedding and event tastings while ensuring that menu selections can be executed successfully at the contracted guest count and service level.
• Coordinate production across multiple kitchens, restaurant outlets, event venues, outdoor spaces, and specialty locations.
• Manage food cost through accurate forecasting, purchasing, recipe costing, production planning, portion control, inventory management, and waste reduction.
• Manage culinary labor through effective scheduling, productivity planning, overtime control, cross-utilization, and staffing adjustments based on business volume.
• Establish appropriate staffing models and labor standards for restaurants, banquet operations, catering, special events, and seasonal activations.
• Ensure accurate ordering, receiving, labeling, storage, rotation, and organization of all culinary products using FIFO and food safety best practices.
• Establish and maintain appropriate inventory and par levels based on forecasts, menus, occupancy, event volume, and operational needs.
• Review sales forecasts, event guarantees, production quantities, and business levels to minimize waste while ensuring sufficient product is available for successful execution.
• Assist with annual budgeting, forecasting, capital planning, expense management, and financial performance reviews for the culinary department.
• Review financial results and operating reports, identify variances, and develop action plans to improve revenue, profitability, productivity, and guest satisfaction.
• Recruit, interview, hire, onboard, train, coach, evaluate, and retain a high-performing culinary team.
• Develop sous chefs, chefs de cuisine, supervisors, and cooks through ongoing feedback, cross-training, succession planning, and clearly defined performance expectations.
• Establish career-development opportunities and a leadership pipeline for the culinary department.
• Ensure employees receive proper training on recipes, cooking techniques, equipment, workplace safety, sanitation, allergens, food safety, and service standards.
• Foster a positive culinary culture built on accountability, respect, communication, collaboration, creativity, and continuous improvement.
• Address employee performance, attendance, conduct, and workplace concerns promptly and consistently in partnership with resort leadership and People & Culture.
• Ensure compliance with all company policies, health department regulations, food safety requirements, sanitation standards, allergen protocols, and HACCP procedures.
• Maintain clean, organized, efficient, and safe culinary environments throughout all kitchens, storage areas, preparation spaces, and event locations.
• Monitor kitchen equipment and facility conditions, reporting maintenance needs, capital requirements, and safety concerns promptly.
• Develop strong vendor and supplier relationships while ensuring purchasing decisions support quality, consistency, availability, and financial goals.
• Participate in resort leadership meetings, menu reviews, tastings, event planning meetings, financial reviews, and strategic planning sessions.
• Review guest feedback, restaurant reviews, planner comments, event scores, employee feedback, and operational results to identify opportunities for improvement.
• Support resort-wide culinary initiatives, holiday programming, community partnerships, high-profile events, and special projects.
• Represent the culinary department and Meritage Resort & Spa professionally with guests, clients, vendors, community partners, and industry contacts.
• Serve as the senior culinary leader for the resort and provide direction and support during the absence of other culinary leaders.
• Perform additional leadership responsibilities as assigned to support the success of the culinary department and resort.

Qualifications

• Minimum of eight years of progressive culinary leadership experience in a luxury hotel, resort, convention center, or comparable high-volume culinary operation.
• Previous experience serving as an Executive Chef or senior culinary leader overseeing multiple outlets or a large resort operation.
• Demonstrated experience leading a culinary team of 75 or more employees, preferably across restaurants, banquet, and catering operations.
• Experience managing multiple culinary outlets with different concepts, service styles, menus, and operational demands.
• Demonstrated experience executing large-scale banquets, weddings, conferences, plated dinners, buffets, receptions, restaurant service, and special events.
• Strong knowledge of restaurant operations, banquet production, catering, large-volume cooking, event timelines, kitchen logistics, and plated-meal execution.
• Proven ability to create and implement culinary concepts, menus, recipes, standards, and operating systems.
• Strong understanding of Napa Valley cuisine, seasonal ingredients, wine-focused dining, and contemporary hospitality trends preferred.
• Proven ability to lead a complex culinary operation while maintaining exceptional quality, consistency, presentation, and service timing.
• Experience managing labor, scheduling, food costs, purchasing, inventory, waste, capital expenses, and departmental budgets.
• Strong understanding of menu development, recipe costing, production planning, portion control, profitability, and operational execution.
• Excellent leadership, organizational, communication, decision-making, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to prioritize multiple outlets, events, and changing demands while remaining calm and decisive under pressure.
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to build effective partnerships across culinary, restaurant, banquet, events, and resort leadership teams.
• Experience recruiting, coaching, developing, and managing the performance of culinary employees and leaders.
• Advanced knowledge of food safety, sanitation, workplace safety, allergens, and HACCP principles.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office, scheduling systems, purchasing platforms, point-of-sale systems, event management systems, and culinary costing tools preferred.
• Culinary degree or formal culinary education preferred but not required.
• California Food Handler Card and ServSafe Manager Certification, or the ability to obtain required certifications within the designated timeframe.
• Must be available to work a flexible schedule, including early mornings, evenings, weekends, holidays, and extended hours based on operational and event demands.

Physical Requirements

This position requires standing and walking for extended periods, lifting up to 50 pounds, frequent bending, reaching, pushing, pulling, and repetitive movements while working throughout a large commercial culinary operation.

The Executive Chef regularly works around hot cooking equipment, open flames, ovens, refrigerated storage areas, sharp tools, heavy equipment, loading areas, outdoor event spaces, and cleaning chemicals. The position may require moving between multiple kitchens, restaurants, and event venues throughout the resort while maintaining strict safety standards and wearing required personal protective equipment.