Kitchen Manager / Executive Chef – Restaurant,

Catering & Events

Infuse Hospitality | Tapestry Bistro & Bar | San Francisco Design Center | San Francisco, CA

Position Summary

The Kitchen Manager / Executive Chef is responsible for leading all culinary operations for restaurant service, corporate dining, catering, and special events at the San Francisco Design Center. This hands-on leadership role oversees menu development, food preparation, kitchen production, food quality, sanitation, purchasing, inventory, and culinary team performance.

The ideal candidate combines strong culinary expertise with disciplined operational and financial management. This individual ensures consistent execution across daily restaurant service and events of varying sizes, while managing food costs, minimizing waste, optimizing kitchen labor, and maintaining the highest standards of food safety, quality, and presentation.

Working closely with the General Manager, Assistant General Manager, and Events team, the Kitchen Manager / Executive Chef develops efficient production systems, builds a high-performing culinary team, and delivers creative, reliable, and financially responsible food programs aligned with client expectations and business objectives.

Key Responsibilities

Culinary Leadership & Menu Management

• Lead all culinary operations for restaurant service, catering, corporate functions, and special events.
• Develop seasonal menus, daily specials, catering menus, and event-specific offerings that balance creativity, guest preferences, product availability, and profitability.
• Establish and maintain consistent recipes, portion standards, plating specifications, and preparation procedures.
• Ensure food quality, flavor, presentation, temperature, and consistency meet established standards.
• Collaborate with management and event stakeholders to create menus that meet client requirements, dietary needs, and budget parameters.
• Evaluate food trends, ingredients, and production methods to improve menu variety, quality, and operational efficiency.
• Maintain appropriate menu variety while prioritizing cross-utilization of ingredients and efficient production.

Restaurant & Daily Kitchen Operations

• Oversee daily kitchen preparation, production, service execution, and closing procedures.
• Develop prep lists, production schedules, pars, and station assignments based on forecasted restaurant sales and anticipated demand.
• Coordinate food production with restaurant operating hours, service volume, and staffing levels.
• Ensure all kitchen stations are organized, properly equipped, and prepared for service.
• Monitor ticket times, food quality, order accuracy, and communication between culinary and front-of-house teams.
• Partner with the General Manager and Assistant General Manager to align menus, staffing, service expectations, and daily operating priorities.
• Maintain effective systems for receiving, storing, labeling, rotating, and tracking food products.
• Ensure proper care, cleaning, and maintenance of kitchen equipment and workspaces.

Catering & Event Production

• Lead culinary planning and execution for corporate catering, receptions, client meetings, and special events.
• Review event orders, guest counts, menus, dietary restrictions, service styles, and delivery or setup requirements in advance.
• Build event production plans, prep schedules, batch recipes, and plating or packaging standards to support timely execution.
• Coordinate purchasing, ingredient preparation, kitchen staffing, equipment, transportation, and service timing for each event.
• Establish appropriate production timelines for overlapping events and daily restaurant service.
• Maintain food quality, temperature control, presentation, and portion consistency throughout production, transport, and service.
• Communicate menu feasibility, production constraints, and cost considerations to the General Manager and Events team before commitments are finalized.
• Lead post-event reviews when needed to identify opportunities to improve execution, efficiency, and client satisfaction.

Financial Management & Cost Control

• Manage food cost performance against established budgets and targets.
• Develop and maintain standardized recipes, portion controls, yields, and costing for restaurant and catering menus.
• Monitor food purchases, inventory levels, product usage, waste, spoilage, and variances.
• Establish par levels and ordering schedules based on forecasted sales, event commitments, and inventory on hand.
• Implement waste-reduction initiatives, ingredient cross-utilization, and production controls without compromising quality.
• Review invoices, product substitutions, pricing changes, and vendor performance to identify cost-saving opportunities.
• Collaborate with the General Manager on food-cost reporting, budget reviews, menu pricing recommendations, and corrective action plans.
• Ensure purchasing aligns with approved vendors, procurement policies, and business requirements.
• Maintain appropriate inventory levels while minimizing overproduction, emergency purchases, and excess stock.

Kitchen Labor & Team Leadership

• Recruit, train, schedule, coach, and develop culinary team members in partnership with management and Human Resources.
• Build staffing plans aligned with restaurant volume, catering commitments, event schedules, and approved labor budgets.
• Assign responsibilities, establish clear performance expectations, and maintain accountability for attendance, productivity, and execution.
• Cross-train team members to improve flexibility, coverage, and operational resilience.
• Monitor overtime, productive hours, and staffing efficiency while maintaining food quality and service standards.
• Conduct pre-shift meetings, communicate production priorities, and reinforce consistency in recipes, sanitation, and execution.
• Foster a respectful, collaborative, and professional kitchen culture.
• Address performance issues promptly and escalate significant personnel matters through established management channels.

Food Safety, Sanitation & Compliance

• Maintain compliance with applicable food safety regulations, health department requirements, sanitation standards, and company policies.
• Ensure proper temperature monitoring, cooling, reheating, labeling, date marking, allergen controls, and safe food handling.
• Maintain required food safety certifications, logs, inspection records, and cleaning schedules.
• Enforce proper storage, chemical handling, equipment sanitation, and pest-prevention procedures.
• Ensure all team members understand food safety protocols and receive appropriate training.
• Maintain readiness for health inspections, client audits, and internal operational reviews.
• Immediately address food safety risks, equipment failures, or sanitation concerns and communicate material issues to management.

Collaboration & Business Support

• Partner with the General Manager and Assistant General Manager to align culinary operations with restaurant and event objectives.
• Participate in menu reviews, sales planning, event forecasting, and operational meetings.
• Coordinate with the Events team on event counts, menu selections, dietary accommodations, deadlines, and production requirements.
• Build productive relationships with vendors, suppliers, and internal stakeholders.
• Recommend improvements to kitchen workflows, equipment, menu execution, purchasing, and production systems.
• Support seasonal programming, special promotions, and new culinary initiatives.
• Contribute to a consistent, high-quality hospitality experience across all foodservice channels.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 5 years of professional culinary experience, with at least 2–3 years in a kitchen leadership, sous chef, executive chef, or kitchen management role.
• Demonstrated experience in restaurant operations and catering, banquet, corporate dining, or event production.
• Strong knowledge of menu development, recipe costing, food preparation, production planning, and high-volume service.
• Proven ability to manage food costs, inventory, purchasing, waste, and kitchen labor.
• Experience planning production for multiple service periods or events with competing deadlines.
• Working knowledge of food safety, sanitation, allergen management, and applicable California requirements.
• Strong organizational, communication, problem-solving, and team leadership skills.
• Ability to interpret food-cost reports, inventory records, labor schedules, and operational performance data.
• Familiarity with inventory, purchasing, POS, and workforce scheduling systems preferred.
• Current food safety manager certification as required by applicable regulations.
• Ability to work flexible hours, including early mornings, occasional evenings, weekends, and special events based on business needs.
• Ability to perform hands-on kitchen duties and meet the physical requirements of a professional kitchen environment, with or without reasonable accommodation.

Performance Expectations

Performance will be evaluated against established business targets and operational standards, including:

• Food cost: Performance against budgeted food-cost percentage and recipe-costing standards.
• Labor productivity: Kitchen scheduling, overtime management, production efficiency, and labor-budget adherence.
• Food quality: Consistency, presentation, flavor, portion accuracy, and menu execution.
• Event execution: Production readiness, deadline adherence, accuracy, quality, and coordination.
• Inventory and purchasing: Inventory accuracy, vendor compliance, purchasing discipline, and waste reduction.
• Food safety: Compliance with sanitation standards, temperature controls, allergen procedures, and required documentation.
• Team development: Training, cross-utilization, accountability, and culinary team performance.
• Operational efficiency: Effective forecasting, reduced overproduction, improved workflows, and consistent execution across service channels.

Reporting Structure & Accountability

The Kitchen Manager / Executive Chef reports to the General Manager and is accountable for day-to-day culinary operations, food quality, kitchen production, food safety, culinary team leadership, and execution of established food-cost and labor-control procedures.

The role works in close partnership with the Assistant General Manager and Events team to coordinate restaurant service, catering, and special-event requirements. The General Manager retains overall responsibility for business strategy, total contract financial performance, client relationships, and approval of budgets and major operational decisions.

Position Objective

To lead a disciplined, quality-driven culinary operation that delivers exceptional food, reliable restaurant and event execution, strong team performance, and responsible cost management while supporting the financial and hospitality objectives of Infuse Hospitality at the San Francisco Design Center.