Chef de Cuisine

Boka Restaurant Group is currently seeking Chef de Cuisine to join the Cindy's Rooftop team in the historic Chicago Athletic Association Hotel.

About Boka Restaurant Group: Boka Restaurant Group is a James Beard Award- winning group, anchored by partnerships with some of American’s greatest chefs. With a firm belief that genuine hospitality makes the world a more human place, we strive beyond convention to believe in and support each other, care for our communities, and work together to build the world we want to live in. 

Reports to: Executive Chef; Chef Partner

General Description: As the Chef de Cuisine at Cindy’s Rooftop, you will be responsible for ordering product and monitoring inventory, managing and mentoring employees, reporting to other management, overseeing quality control of food production, and adhering to all health department regulations. You are responsible for the day-to-day operations of the BOH as well as maintaining responsible financial standards and professionalism in the restaurant at all times.   

Schedule:  

• Five days a week; the schedule will vary including weekends and holidays. 
• Cover for other managers as needed, even when not scheduled, to ensure the smooth operation of the restaurant. 

Specific Tasks: As the Chef de Cuisine, you will be responsible for: 

HOSPITALITY & MANAGEMENT 

Service Duties 

• Complete opening tasks and closing/end of shift tasks, as assigned by position and manager shift. 

• Complete a walk-through to check that the restaurant is set up for service. 

• Overseeing quality control of all food production and execution, while ensuring waste is kept to a minimum, acceptable level. 

• Ensuring proper product rotation throughout the kitchen. 

• Participate in line checks to ensure that all food is up to the standard and quantities are correct for business levels. 

• Oversee management of service to ensure smooth flow of service, including directing team members during the shift and troubleshooting employee issues. 

• Availability and ability to work all of the line stations when needed. 

• Ensuring superior guest experience and striving to make every guest leave happy, promoting positive reviews. 

• Receive constructive feedback on the guest experience and implement necessary adjustments and communication accordingly. 

• Ensuring kitchen equipment is properly maintained and repaired as needed, maintaining provided R&M budget. 
  
  

Management Leadership 

• Overall ownership of delegating tasks to the supporting management team and ensuring that all tasks are completed efficiently and in an appropriate manner to support restaurant operations. 

• Coordinate and oversee pre-shifts so that content is informative, inspirational, and engaging for all team members daily. 

• Lead weekly management meetings in tandem with General Manager and maintain/facilitate connection between BOH and FOH teams. 
  
  

Staffing and Operations 

• Oversee all hourly employee hiring, up to and including making final hiring decisions. 

• Oversee employee scheduling, including providing forecast-based guidance to staff appropriately, ensuring schedules are published timely, writing, reviewing & approving BOH hourly schedules, and ensuring that staffing levels by position are appropriately planned.   

• Managing staff schedules and ensuring cuts are being made whenever possible.  

• Fill in for hourly employees when necessary to minimize labor costs.  

• Write and publish BOH management team schedule, adhering to labor law standards. 

• Support team with special projects, tasks, and duties, as required for restaurant operations and assigned by senior management. 

CULTURE & TEAM DEVELOPMENT 

Training & Morale 

• Maintain weekly one on one meetings with each BOH manager, focused on performance and development. 

• Oversee staff education programming for both hourly and management staff, ensuring that the training plan meets the needs of the restaurant and benefits team member development. 

• Manage employee development, including performance reviews, supporting employees, responding to employee concerns & questions, and disciplining/documenting as appropriate. 

• Participate in applicable training as scheduled and assigned by senior management. 

• Champion employee engagement in company-wide opportunities and activities. 

• Cultivate a positive and productive work environment, including developing a culture to hire and retain strong talent, and grow and promote from within. 

• Actively listening to employee feedback and ensuring they feel their needs are heard and addressed. 

• Cultivate a safe, equitable, and inclusive space of belonging for all members of the team. 

Compliance 

• Assist with personnel file management by following HR procedures for onboarding including ensuring all I9’s, tax documents, Food Handlers, Allergen Certifications, Sexual Harassment Training Human Trafficking certificates, and other state or locally required documents are completed.  

• Ensure recommended Corrective Action documentation is completed and stored correctly.  

• Address employee performance issues safely and effectively per company standard and document appropriately.  

• Handle timely escalation of HR issues to appropriate levels of senior management and coordinating conversations and handling of issues with HR team. 

• Properly escalate all possible FMLA, ADA or Workers Comp situations. 

• Ensuring all labor laws and guidance as provided by the HR team are being followed in your location, including but not limited to: Paid Sick Leave, break compliance, Food Safety.  

• Ensuring all health department standards are upheld by enforcing high sanitation standards. 

Payroll 

• Responsible for the submission of payroll information to the General manager for processing, including: 

• Approvals of all Sick Pay/Vacation Pay in ADP for all hourly and salary team members. 

• Ensuring systems are followed so that all worked shifts are approved in 7Shifts timely (daily) and applicable breaks are accounted for. 

• Ensure all employee rates, status, and payroll changes are submitted to Payroll in a timely manner, including Terminations, Personnel Action Forms, and any other applicable forms.  

DRIVING REVENUE   

Marketing 

• Act as a liaison with the General Manager for your restaurant to the marketing team. 

• Communicate with the General manager about marketing specific needs or pain points related to restaurant sales.  

• Brainstorming new marketing ideas and activations with the General Manager to present to the marketing team. 

• Audit online portals ensuring menu offerings and hours of operation posted are current and communicate any revisions needed with marketing teams.  

• Attending quarterly touch bases with marketing team, ensuring appropriate teammates are in attendance. 

• For onsite special events & activations, ensuring proper communication to marketing team, appropriate staffing, oversight at the event, and a seamless guest experience.  

• Provide timely feedback on social media content calendar, email newsletters, special event and campaign recaps, and other marketing initiatives.
   

Menu Development  

• Continually working through R&D process with Executive Chef to further dishes on the menu. 

• Cooking through scaled recipes of researched dishes to ensure consistency in production. 

• Costing base and bulk recipes after dishes are approved by the Executive Chef. 

• Costing all dishes and evaluating theoretical vs. actual food cost of all menu items on a monthly basis to ensure budget is met 

• Working within the seasons to keep the menu current and thorough while using local farms/purveyors. 

• Providing the service staff team with all information for menu changes including but not limited to allergens, stories of the dish, and important technique notes. 

• Researching and discovering new purveyors, artisans, and crafts people to further the menu. 

• Translating all new menu information into truly detailed systems to ensure proper execution. 

• Training and developing both cooks and service staff to find passion in their day-to-day roles. 

• Continue to organize and systemize the BOH in order to become more efficient. 

Events Sales 

• Work with Director of Sales for private event sales strategy for your location.  

• Attending weekly BEO meetings and ensure all event details are understood and communicated to the appropriate management team.  

• Ensure events are staffed appropriately and communication is clear with BOH/FOH. 

FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE  

Financial Management 

• Assisting in ordering all products based on par systems and inventory management. Overseeing all ordering and inventory to ensure accurate to-budget Food Costs. 

• Completing and Maintaining Inventories. Bi-Weekly inventories will be taken for the first six months of opening to monitor and track our costs. 

• Regularly shop the restaurant menu prices against comparable restaurants in the city to maintain competitive pricing. 

• Send bids to competing purveyors to ensure the restaurant is paying the best possible price for a given item. 

• Set day-to-day systems and guidance for management team to keep restaurant on track to meet financial performance goals for Sales, COGS, Labor, and Comps, and regularly track performance. 

• Daily maintenance of BOH Systems - Continually follow and tweak all BOH systems from AM Walkthrough, Temp Logs, Line Checks, Prep Lists, Order Guides, etc. 

• Daily Follow-through of BOH Systems-It is mandatory that all BOH systems that are created are firmly used to the specification of the Executive Chef.   

• Participate in monthly internal P L reviews with restaurant management team to review results, create action items/plans based on identified areas for improvement, and relay information as required to senior leadership. 

• Oversee purchasing and expense management for the restaurant, delegating responsibilities to management team, tracking overall performance to budget, and guiding course corrections through the month as required. 

• Oversee monthly food inventories, review inventory for accuracy, and submit to senior management. 

• Assist with preparing budgets & other planning documents as assigned by senior management . 

Financial Policies & Procedures 

• Follow procedures set by accounting and senior management for invoice coding, scanning and submission by appropriate deadlines. 

• Management of Repair & Maintenance (R&M) financials to achieve budgeted goals – this includes tracking of all R&M invoices and monitoring actual monthly R&M expenses in comparison to budgeted R&M expenses at any given time from both a $ and % of sales standpoint and using these metrics to make decisions on discretionary R&M expenditures to stay within budgeted % targets. 

• Maintaining proper plateware pars within set budget. 

• Ensure all EOM reporting is submitted accurately and timely as required, review preliminary month-end reports prepared by accounting and communicate corrections and questions prior to final P&L deadlines. 

• Responsible for review and written email acknowledgement of Trial Balance reports both mid-month and in the preliminary P L’s. 

• Serve as liaison to General Manager for all General Ledger or Cost re-classes or questions.   

 
Physical Requirements 

• Lift and move up to 10 pounds, frequently lift and/or move up to 25 pounds and occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds 

• Safely and effectively use all necessary tools and equipment 

• Stand and walk for an entire shift, including moving safely through all areas of the restaurant, which may include stairs, uneven and slick surfaces 

Environmental Factors 

• Ability to bear exposure to hot and cold environments 

• Safely and effectively work with various cleaning chemicals 
• Ability to work in an environment with potential allergens

Managerial Expectations: 

• Hospitable. We are known for exceptional customer service in all of our pursuits, and it is your job to uphold these high standards, and to find ways to go above and beyond the client's expectations.

• Positive, Personable, and Professional. As we all work closely together, we always want to bring positive energy to the group.   It is important to clearly, politely, directly and effectively communicate with your staff, fellow managers, corporate management, and guests.

• Flexible. This is of utmost importance, as the restaurant industry can be very unpredictable. Be willing to do what is asked of you if it benefits the Group as a whole, even if it isn’t exactly outlined in this job description or your expected schedule.

• Accountable and Responsible. We hold each other accountable to follow through on all commitments with a sense of urgency and consistency.  It is important to be accountable for your actions and to hold others accountable for theirs. As a manager, you lead by example, and being punctual, responsible, and consistent with your work ethic and personality will ensure success for you and your team.

• Solution Orientated. We work in an extremely fast-paced environment and many aspects of our careers require quick thinking and the ability to manage many things at once. Should any problems arise in any facet of your work, you should be able to identify the problem and offer thoughtful, achievable, and appropriate solutions. Having the ability to prioritize the many tasks you are responsible for and complete them in order of importance and with keen attention to detail on all aspects is key.

• Ambitious and Self Aware. There may not be supervision or direction available at all times, so we expect you to maintain high standards for yourself without needing to be told. We look for employees who know their self-worth and are excited about their career day in and day out. It is important to continually push yourself forward by constantly learning, seeking to improve, and never resting on your laurels. It is also important that you are able to receive feedback—both positive and constructive criticism—in order to succeed, grow, and develop within your role and continue to move forward within the company.

• An Ambassador of BRG. Perhaps most importantly, we expect all staff of Boka Restaurant Group, regardless of position, to be professional, courteous, and respectful of all other restaurants in the industry. As a Boka Restaurant Group employee, be mindful of your actions in public and know that you are representing our brand whether you’re on the clock or not.

Boka Restaurant Group is an equal opportunity employer.

Benefits & Perks: Health, Dental, and Voluntary Benefits Package (available after 90 days), employer sponsored mental health and resource program, 401(k) program, wellness benefits, paid sick leave, career mentorship and growth potential, and dining incentives across our 20 establishments!

Salary : $75,000 - $85,000