Executive Chef

Role Overview

Executive Chef at Burjline Builders. The role oversees all aspects of culinary operations, including creating and executing menus, managing kitchen staff, and maintaining high-quality standards of food and service.

Role Purpose

The Executive Chef is responsible for designing and executing a central kitchen operation that delivers consistent, scalable, cost-efficient culinary products across multiple brands and revenue channels while maintaining strict food safety, quality, and operational standards.

Key Responsibilities

Pre-Opening & Facility Setup

• Partner with cross-functional teams to design layouts, establish workflows, and define equipment and smallware requirements.
• Support equipment selection, installation, and commissioning to meet targeted production volumes.
• Determine capacity, batch sizes, staffing, initial schedules, and opening inventory par levels.
• Lead supplier trials, ingredient approvals, kitchen testing, food safety licensing, and mock runs before launch.

Culinary Leadership & Product Development

• Oversee culinary standards across bakery, pastry, and hot-kitchen divisions.
• Scale and document master recipes, SOPs, portion sizes, allergens, and photos for brands like Costa and Pickl.
• Lead shelf-life testing, menu engineering, sensory evaluations, and trial runs for new cloud kitchen or B2B opportunities.
• Balance recipe creativity with scalability, cost efficiency, and operational simplicity.

Production Planning & Daily Operations

• Convert store forecasts and demand into efficient daily, weekly, and monthly production schedules.
• Oversee workflow execution to optimize capacity, prevent bottlenecks, and eliminate unnecessary overtime.
• Maintain strict cut-off times, dispatch routines, and replenishment schedules with logistics teams.
• Build contingency procedures for equipment failure, peak demand spikes, or supply shortages.

Food Safety, QA & Compliance

• Design and enforce HACCP-based controls, SOPs, and strict food safety compliance aligned with Bahrain regulations.
• Standardize receiving, storage, temperature tracking, date coding (FIFO/FEFO), batch tracing, and allergen management.
• Direct investigations into non-conformances, quality complaints, or safety incidents to implement preventative fixes.
• Ensure audit readiness for internal, brand, and municipal regulatory inspections.

Cost Control, Yield & Profitability

• Manage full recipe costing to track precise raw material, portion, and packaging expenses.
• Monitor theoretical vs. actual yields and track waste categories to minimize trim loss, spoilage, and overproduction.
• Partner with Finance to manage food cost variances, labor budgets, and pricing structures for internal and B2B orders.
• Optimize productivity and product mix to support overall facility break-even and long-term margins.

Procurement & Inventory Management

• Set strict ingredient and packaging specifications and evaluate suppliers to ensure quality and contingency options.
• Set par levels based on lead times, storage space, and product shelf life while monitoring slow-moving items.
• Coordinate with stores and logistics teams on cold-chain integrity, packing, and dispatch windows.

Team Leadership & Talent Development

• Recruit, train, and mentor supervisors and production staff across all kitchen sections.
• Build shift rosters aligned with demand, track staff performance, and establish cross-training programs.
• Foster a strong culture of ownership, strict food safety, continuous learning, and workplace discipline.

Systems, Documentation & Process Improvement

• Author a central-kitchen operating manual containing master recipes, work instructions, and cleaning schedules.
• Implement tracking systems for production outputs, actual yields, downtime, waste drivers, and labor efficiency.
• Drive process simplification and recommend practical technology or automation to increase throughput.

Commercial Growth & Business Expansion

• Evaluate operational feasibility, costing, and capacity for B2B, HORECA, corporate catering, and private-label ventures.
• Conduct customer tastings and support product readiness for external revenue channels and cloud kitchens.
• Ensure new commercial revenue streams scale safely without impacting core internal brand standards.

Stakeholder & Cross-Functional Management

• Collaborate with brand operations (Costa/Pickl), Finance, HR, Marketing, Procurement, and Maintenance teams.
• Provide clear operational reports, capacity assessments, risk analyses, and performance updates to the General Manager.

Qualifications & Experience

• Minimum 10 years of experience as an Executive Chef.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience.
• Strong leadership and management skills.
• Excellent communication and organizational abilities.
• Knowledge of current industry trends and techniques.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced and high-pressure environment.
• Strong understanding of food and labor costs and the ability to manage them effectively.