Executive Sous Chef

Role Overview

Executive Sous Chef at Emirates Flight Catering.

Role Purpose

Lead culinary operations and production planning to deliver high-quality, on-time meals while managing kitchen staff, costs, and adherence to food safety and quality standards across all production activities.

Key Responsibilities

Operations & Production Management

• Develop and manage production team for planning and organizing routine and additional deliverables in the most effective and profitable manner.
• Responsible for managing material, staff and equipment in most effective manner to ensure on time high quality deliveries in strict adherence to all the laid down procedures.
• Conduct close supervision and inspection of both process and staff in production units and report findings thereby ensuring that staff performance meets the production deadline to avoid any customer delays.
• Ensure all developed specifications in terms of portion size, quantity and quality is effectively followed in the kitchen.
• Guide the team on effective scheduling, customer focus, prioritizing work and adhering to specifications with a focus on correct quality and quantity delivered on-time.

Menu & Product Development

• Attend and manage menu presentations actively involving in product design and development as deemed necessary.
• Oversee the development and implementation of new dishes by ensuring that the assigned production staff fully understands the requirements of each new dish to help maintain the requirement of the clients.
• Experience in creating recipes, menu development and costing.

Strategic Planning & Logistics

• Propose innovative logistics solutions to Senior Management as per industry standards to improve rotation of stocks, FIFO, procurement forecasting and production planning.
• Streamline menu components for cost suitability through economies of scale and production consolidation ideas.

Financial Management & Cost Control

• Prepare and report necessary data for applicable parts of the budget; support in projecting annual food, labor and other costs and monitor actual financial results; Propose corrective actions as necessary to help assure that financial goals for the unit are met.
• Evaluate statistics on wastage and ensure that food is prepared economically and establish controls to minimize food and supply wastage.

Team Development & Succession Planning

• Work with Exec Chef to develop organizational hierarchy, through recruitments, trainings and guidance with long-term succession planning of the department verifying potential key performers recommended by reporting levels.

Compliance & Quality Assurance

• Adhere and apply all systems and procedures applicable in the workplace in accordance with company policies including but not limited to SOPs, GMPs, ISO9001-2008 QMS, OHSAS etc.
• Maintain the departmental focus and outlook towards customer satisfaction and a positive experience delivery.
• Address customer expectations and issues upfront and try to find long-term solutions to any anomalies or improvement ideas reported or observed.

Qualifications & Experience

• Hotel Management or Culinary degree.
• Minimum of 7 years' experience in the culinary field.
• Knowledge and experience of food products and processes in a facility with extensive in-house production.
• Extensive experience with business management software applications in a catering environment.
• Significant exposure to Lean Management, Occupational Health & Safety and Quality Assurance management.
• Excellent knowledge and understanding of all aspects of cooking in various cuisines.

Skills & Competencies

• Ability to develop himself / herself in the current role and beyond.
• Willingness to take on responsibility and able to delegate tasks efficiently.
• Problem solving and decision making ability in real time, creative and out of box thinking.
• Strong organizational skills, effective Training and communication skills.
• Attention to detail & quality.