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.