Job Description
The Executive Sous Chef serves as a senior culinary leader within Notre Dame Dining, responsible for translating strategic culinary vision into daily operational excellence across high-volume residential dining environments. This role partners closely with the Executive Chef to elevate the student dining experience through disciplined execution, culinary innovation, and strong back-of-house leadership.
With a focus on consistency, quality, and team development, the Executive Sous Chef leads kitchen operations, ensures adherence to culinary standards, and supports the delivery of a best-in-class residential dining program that reflects the mission and community of Our Lady's University.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Culinary Leadership and Daily Execution - 30%
- Execute the culinary vision established by the Executive Chef across all stations, meal periods, and service platforms within Notre Dame Dining.
- Ensure consistent delivery of high-quality food in a high-volume residential dining environment, with attention to flavor, freshness, presentation, portioning, and overall student experience.
- Maintain a strong leadership presence during peak service periods to monitor execution, food quality, station readiness, product levels, service flow, and team performance.
- Support menu implementation, standardized recipe adherence, production timelines, and continuous refinement of culinary offerings.
- Uphold Notre Dame Dining standards for presentation, taste, temperature, freshness, and consistency across all food production areas.
- Work directly with culinary staff to correct execution issues in real time and reinforce expectations for quality, professionalism, and operational discipline.
Back-of-House Operations and Production Management - 30%
- Oversee daily kitchen operations, including hot food production, pantry production, batch cooking, replenishment, service readiness, and closing standards.
- Direct production planning to ensure proper quantities are prepared based on meal period demand, service patterns, menu complexity, and operational needs.
- Ensure effective inventory management, ordering, receiving, storage, product rotation, and product utilization.
- Support food cost control through disciplined portioning, waste reduction, proper forecasting, cross-utilization of ingredients, and responsible production practices.
- Maintain strong organization, cleanliness, and accountability across all back-of-house areas, including prep kitchens, production areas, storage areas, coolers, freezers, and pot washing operations.
- Enforce all food safety, sanitation, HACCP, allergen awareness, labeling, and health regulation requirements.
- Identify operational issues, equipment concerns, workflow challenges, and production gaps, and communicate solutions to the Executive Chef.
Team Leadership, Training, and Development - 25%
- Lead, coach, train, and develop culinary team members, including cooks, kitchen managers, and other assigned back-of-house staff.
- Provide hands-on instruction in culinary techniques, recipe execution, station organization, food handling, knife skills, batch production, plating, and service standards.
- Support the Executive Chef in building a culture of accountability, professionalism, respect, teamwork, and continuous improvement.
- Assist with performance management by providing regular feedback, identifying training needs, supporting corrective action when appropriate, and recognizing strong performance.
- Support scheduling alignment, labor deployment, and staffing models that meet service needs while promoting efficient use of labor.
- Serve as a visible and engaged leader in the kitchen, modeling Notre Dame Dining expectations for work ethic, communication, safety, cleanliness, and student-centered service.
- Help develop culinary talent and support progression pathways for team members seeking advancement within Notre Dame Dining.
Operational Excellence, Collaboration, and Innovation - 15%
- Drive efficiency in kitchen workflows, production systems, service execution, communication routines, and operational handoffs.
- Collaborate with front-of-house leadership to ensure seamless service delivery, timely replenishment, strong station appearance, and a positive dining experience.
- Partner with the Executive Chef and culinary leadership team to test, train, and roll out new menu items, stations, service models, and culinary enhancements.
- Contribute ideas and operational feedback to support menu development, student satisfaction, residential dining innovation, and continuous improvement.
- Engage in cross-functional collaboration with campus partners as needed to support special meals, events, operational initiatives, and broader Notre Dame Dining priorities.
- Support the continued elevation of the residential dining brand through disciplined execution, thoughtful innovation, and a commitment to hospitality.
Qualifications
Education and Experience
- Associate's or Bachelor's degree in Culinary Arts, Hospitality Management, Food Service Management, or a related field preferred.
- Minimum of 5-7 years of progressive culinary experience, including leadership experience in high-volume food service operations.
- Experience in residential dining, higher education, healthcare, hospitality, hotel, resort, or other large-scale food service environments preferred.
- Demonstrated experience leading culinary teams, managing production systems, supporting menu execution, and maintaining quality standards at scale.
Certifications
- American Culinary Federation Certified Sous Chef, Certified Executive Chef, or higher-level culinary certification preferred.
- ServSafe Manager Certification required.
- Additional food safety, allergen, sanitation, or culinary leadership certifications preferred.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
- Strong culinary fundamentals with the ability to execute high-quality food at scale without compromising consistency, presentation, or flavor.
- Proven ability to lead, coach, and develop culinary teams in a fast-paced, high-volume environment.
- Deep understanding of food safety, sanitation, HACCP, allergen awareness, kitchen operations, inventory management, and production planning.
- Strong organizational, communication, and problem-solving skills.
- Ability to manage multiple priorities while maintaining attention to detail and service standards.
- Ability to work collaboratively with culinary leadership, front-of-house leadership, campus partners, and hourly team members.
- Demonstrated commitment to continuous improvement, culinary excellence, student satisfaction, and the mission of Notre Dame Dining.
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