Sous Chef

DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. Assists the Head Chef in carrying out all aspects of the kitchen’s day-to-day operations that precludes the management of food hygiene and safety, enforcing performance and quality standards, and monitoring to ensure attainment of these goals
2. Helps control and direct the food preparation process efficiently and professionally
3. Ensures that the kitchen runs on schedule and that food and related services are of a high grade
4. Supports the Head Chef in planning and coordinating tasks while keeping labour expenses in mind
5. Identifies and resolves any challenges that emerge in the kitchen as well as takes charge of any potentially dangerous scenario
6. Helps create meals using new or current culinary inventions or as the business prescribes
7. Approves and polishes dishes before they are delivered and served to customers
8. Produces quality menu that could change seasonally as the business requires
9. Places equipment, tools or ingredient orders in response to possible detected shortfalls
10. When required and directed, makes arrangements for repairs of cooking equipment
11. When directed by the Head Chef, hires, manages, trains and educates kitchen workers to be par with the highest possible culinary standards
12. Manages kitchen stocks and ensures minimal wastage
13. Assists to forecast and assess personnel requirements ensuring no shortage or excess of kitchen staff while keeping labour costs in control
14. Helps purchase, store, and handle all food products and materials within the agreed-upon budget and to maximise gross profit to include the effective staff management and staff salary
15. Helps supervise subordinates’ work on dishes and guides them, at times handholding them, to produce the best expected outcome
16. Assists in ensuring that base food preparations and mise en place are well organised for service, allowing smooth kitchen operations
17. When required, regulates the workload of junior kitchen staff
18. Helps train kitchen staff to maintain consistency in the highest possible standard in food production and workplace hygiene, as well as to support a continuous improvement process
19. Helps maintain punctuality and attendance records
20. Follows and strictly implements all food and sanitary rules as well as safety guidelines
21. Encourages coworkers to cooperate and respect one another, motivates team work
22. Keeps updated in the latest trends in culinary trends and kitchen processes and technologies
23. Helps in the sourcing of food raw materials to ensure quality dishes and coordinates with vendors to guarantee reliability of ingredient supplies at the best possible quality within the department’s food cost target set by management
24. Assists in the preparation of duty rotas for kitchen staff to provide appropriate coverage at all times while accounting for the seasonality of the business and keeping overtime to the minimum
25. Ensures that staff are aware of the job list and the different sections it covers such as meal schedules, functions, and holidays
26. Helps the Head Chef to ascertain that the personnel follow the regulations on hygiene, stock rotation, dates, storages, refrigerator temperature control, pest control, reporting of malfunctioning equipment, reporting of notifiable illnesses, and reporting of absenteeism, whether due to illness or otherwise
27. If and when directed by the Head Chef, keeps recipe files in excellent condition and up-to-date
28. Undertakes any other duties and ad hoc related roles as the business requires

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Associate or Bachelor’s Degree in Culinary Arts or Science, Business, or relevant fields
• Three (3) to five (5) years of experience as a sous chef
• Completed the WSQ Basic Food Hygiene Course – Food Safety Course Levels 1 and 2
• Updated in control of substances hazardous to health (COSHH) regulations or hazard analysis critical control point (HACCP) methods
• Working knowledge of kitchen organising
• Strong interpersonal and leadership skills
• Quick in picking up concepts and possesses good logical and analytical problem-solving skills
• Able to grasp business requirements and processes
• Good understanding of computer software such as POS, restaurant management system, and Microsoft Office
• Service oriented, meticulous, attention to detail
• Good communication skills
• Team player