Culinary Specialist II, Catering and Private Events

From fine dining restaurants to residential dining, USC Hospitality serves thousands of students, athletes, faculty, and staff, as well as our many visitors. Hospitality is one of the six core business units that comprise USC Auxiliary Services and one of the largest employers on campus. We are renowned for our fresh take on self‑operated food concepts with restaurants between both campuses.

The team at USC Hospitality is led by innovative executive chefs and directors who strive every day to craft nourishing and wholesome alternatives for our hungry Trojan Family and our guests. Students, faculty, staff, and visitors to the Trojan campus count on USC Hospitality to provide a fresh, made‑to‑order, nourishing meal. Amidst all of the hustle and bustle of student life, our eateries are the ideal social gathering locations to grab a quick bite or enjoy a group meal.

We are driven to succeed by our commitment to uphold our unifying values.

We are seeking a Culinary Specialist II to join our rapidly growing team.

Are you passionate about serving quality food and providing exceptional customer service? Are you eager to construct award‑winning meals? Join us! The Culinary Specialist II will have the opportunity to prepare food for our guests, utilizing fresh, locally sourced ingredients. You will ensure that our high standards of excellence are maintained throughout our kitchens, keeping our inventories and facilities clean, organized, and up‑to‑date.

As a member of our team, you will take pride in exceeding the expectations of all of our customers and keeping the Trojan spirit alive!

• Provide customer services to faculty, staff, students, and guests. Ensure the highest level of customer satisfaction without unnecessarily referring customers to other staff members. Maintain a friendly, helpful demeanor. Provide timely options for customers with specialty diets or dietary restrictions.
• Measure, cut, and mix ingredients according to recipes, and/or direction from unit chef/manager. Cook and prepare food according to chef/manager’s direction to specific quality, quantity, appearance, and temperature.
• Ensure all food goods are utilized to maximum yield, reducing waste, spoilage, and pilferage.
• Prepare food items for a la carte and special events according to the recipe or instructions provided by the unit chef/manager. Ensure compliance and consistency with product, menu, and recipe specifications and on‑time production standards. Prepare high‑quality soups, sauces, salads, appetizers, dressings, stews, and desserts, including meat, game, seafood, poultry, starches, sauces, and vegetables daily for meal and service production in a timely manner.
• Adhere to the kitchen sanitation program. Comply with standard food‑handling and sanitation procedures. Complete temperature and cooling logs as directed. Ensure work/cooking space is neat, orderly, and left in a clean and sanitized manner.
• Maintain working knowledge of classical and modern cooking techniques including but not limited to grill, fry, broil, roast, poach, blanch, and bake. Learn and execute new techniques applied to batch, prep, and a la carte menu items.
• Adhere to department service, health, and sanitation standards, safety and university rules and regulations. Store all food goods in approved containers that are wrapped, dated and labeled (where applicable) and store equipment in proper place.
• Maintain cleanliness and organization of facilities, kitchen common areas, stations, tools, kitchen small wares, and cooking equipment. Ensure proper use of kitchen small wares and cooking equipment, including proper knife handling and sharpening procedures. Maintain personal and professional tools in adherence to policies and procedures. Report any maintenance issue to the unit chef/manager.
• Provide guidance and direction to culinary and kitchen staff.
• Attend all required culinary trainings.
• Perform other related duties as assigned or requested. The University reserves the right to add or change duties at any time.

• Minimum Education:
  
  Specialized or technical training.
• Minimum Experience:
  
  3 years.
• Minimum Field of Expertise:
  • Culinary…