Executive Chef

Executive Chef – Key Job Responsibilities

1. Culinary & Kitchen Operations

• Lead and oversee all culinary operations across the hotel, including restaurants, banquets, room service, bar/café, and special events.
• Ensure consistent food quality, presentation, taste, portion control, and adherence to established recipes and standards.
• Develop and maintain SOPs for food preparation, production, storage, service, and kitchen operations.
• Ensure smooth coordination between the kitchen, F&B service, stewarding, purchase, stores, and other operational departments.
• Drive innovation in culinary offerings while maintaining the hotel's brand positioning and guest expectations.

2. Menu Planning & Engineering

• Develop and periodically review menus based on guest preferences, market trends, seasonality, and business requirements.
• Conduct menu engineering to maximise profitability while maintaining quality.
• Introduce new dishes, concepts, promotions, buffets, themed events, and culinary experiences.
• Ensure appropriate menu pricing in coordination with F&B and Finance teams.

3. Food Cost & Profitability

• Take ownership of food cost and kitchen profitability.
• Ensure food cost remains within the approved budget and established benchmarks.
• Monitor wastage, pilferage, overproduction, portion control, and yield.
• Analyse food cost reports and take corrective action wherever required.
• Work closely with Purchase and Stores to ensure effective procurement and inventory management.

4. Revenue & Business Contribution

• Actively contribute towards achieving the hotel's F&B revenue targets.
• Develop culinary promotions and special experiences to generate incremental revenue.
• Support banquets, weddings, corporate events, festivals, and other revenue-generating activities.
• Work closely with Sales & F&B teams to develop customised menus and commercial offerings.

5. Guest Experience & Quality

• Drive improvement in guest satisfaction through food quality, consistency, presentation, and service coordination.
• Monitor guest feedback, online reviews, complaints, and food-related GSI scores.
• Ensure prompt resolution of food-quality-related guest complaints.
• Maintain high standards of culinary presentation and overall dining experience.

6. Hygiene, Food Safety & Compliance

• Ensure strict compliance with FSSAI requirements, HACCP principles, hotel hygiene standards, and food safety procedures.
• Conduct regular kitchen inspections and hygiene audits.
• Ensure proper storage temperatures, labelling, FIFO/FEFO, cleaning schedules, pest control, and personal hygiene standards.
• Ensure all kitchen equipment is properly maintained and operated safely.

7. Team Leadership & People Development

• Lead, motivate, and develop the entire culinary team.
• Plan manpower requirements in line with business volumes and operational needs.
• Conduct training, coaching, skill development, and performance reviews for kitchen associates.
• Identify high-potential talent and develop succession plans for key culinary positions.
• Maintain discipline, grooming, attendance, productivity, and professional standards within the kitchen team.

8. Procurement & Inventory

• Work closely with Purchase and Stores to ensure timely availability of quality ingredients.
• Approve specifications and quality standards for food products.
• Monitor inventory levels and minimise unnecessary stock holding.
• Evaluate suppliers based on quality, consistency, pricing, and delivery standards.
• Ensure proper receiving, storage, issuing, and utilisation of food materials.

9. Budgeting & Financial Management

• Prepare and manage the annual culinary budget in coordination with F&B and Finance.
• Control manpower, food, consumable, and operational costs.
• Monitor monthly financial performance against budget.
• Identify opportunities for cost optimisation without compromising guest experience or quality.

10. Kitchen Infrastructure & Equipment

• Ensure proper utilisation and maintenance of kitchen equipment.
• Identify requirements for new equipment, replacement, upgrades, and kitchen improvements.
• Coordinate with Engineering for preventive maintenance and timely resolution of equipment breakdowns.
• Ensure kitchens remain operationally efficient and appropriately equipped.

11. Coordination & Leadership

• Participate in daily operational meetings and management reviews.
• Coordinate closely with the General Manager, F&B Manager, Purchase, Finance, HR, Sales, and Engineering teams.
• Provide regular updates on culinary performance, food cost, manpower, guest feedback, and operational challenges.
• Take ownership of corrective actions and ensure timely closure of identified gaps.

Overall responsibility: The Executive Chef should be accountable for culinary excellence + guest satisfaction + food cost + F&B profitability + team capability + hygiene and food safety, rather than being responsible only for kitchen production.