Chef

CHEF DE CUISINE Whale Harbor Restaurant Group | Islamorada, Florida Keys ~Flagler Station Steak House~ Wahoo's~ Hog Heaven~ Gourmet Market coming soon.

Whale Harbor Restaurant Group is seeking an experienced, passionate, and highly disciplined Chef de Cuisine to join our culinary leadership team in Islamorada, Florida. For Upscale Flagler Station Stekahouse.

We are looking for a hands-on culinary professional. This position is for a leader who takes pride in exceptional food, develops people, controls costs, maintains an immaculate kitchen, and understands that consistency is what turns a great dish into a successful restaurant.

Our restaurant group includes Flagler Station Steak House an upscale Steakhouse overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, Wahoo's high-volume waterfront dining, and Hog Heaven BBQ and sports-bar operations, we are developing other culinary concepts. This is an opportunity for a talented chef who wants to make an impact and grow with an expanding restaurant organization in the Florida Keys.

What We're Looking For

The ideal Chef de Cuisine is equally comfortable leading the line during a busy service, developing a new dish, training a cooks, reviewing food cost, inspecting the walk-in, and working with management to improve profitability.

Responsibilities Include:

• Lead day-to-day kitchen operations and set the standard for culinary excellence.
• Maintain exceptional food quality, consistency, flavor, presentation, and portion control.
• Lead from the line and remain highly visible during service.
• Train, coach, develop, and hold BOH employees accountable.
• Develop and execute recipes, specials, seasonal dishes, and menu items.
• Ensure every recipe has accurate ingredients, yields, portions, procedures, and plating specifications.
• Manage food cost, labor cost, purchasing, inventory, waste, and product utilization.
• Maintain proper pars and ordering levels without unnecessary overstock.
• Conduct and oversee accurate inventories.
• Work with management systems to monitor actual vs. theoretical food cost.
• Inspect deliveries for quality, weight, specifications, and proper pricing.
• Maintain strong relationships with seafood, meat, produce, and specialty-food purveyors.
• Properly utilize trim, by-products, and cross-utilization opportunities while maintaining quality standards.
• Create effective prep and production systems.
• Develop BOH schedules based on forecasted sales and business demand.
• Control overtime and unnecessary labor while maintaining appropriate staffing levels.
• Enforce FIFO, labeling, dating, storage, temperature, sanitation, and food-safety standards.
• Maintain an exceptionally clean and organized kitchen, walk-in, freezer, dry storage, and prep areas.
• Conduct effective pre-shift meetings and communicate specials, 86'd items, VIPs, events, and operational priorities.
• Work closely with FOH management to provide a seamless guest experience.
• Participate in tastings, menu development, special events, banquets, and restaurant promotions.
• Develop Sous Chefs, supervisors, and cooks into stronger culinary professionals.
• Establish a culture of urgency, accountability, respect, teamwork, and pride.

Qualifications

We are seeking candidates with:

• 5+ years of progressive professional kitchen experience.
• Previous experience as a Chef de Cuisine, Executive Sous Chef, Executive Chef, or comparable kitchen leadership position.
• High-volume restaurant experience strongly preferred.
• Strong knowledge of proteins, seafood, sauces, butchery, grilling, roasting, sauté, and proper cooking techniques.
• Experience with upscale dining and steakhouse operations is highly desirable.
• Strong understanding of food cost, recipe costing, inventory, purchasing, yields, waste, and kitchen labor management.
• Proven ability to recruit, train,…