Sous Chef

Sous Chef

Location: Grand Rapids, MI

Schedule: Full-Time, Salary, Exempt | Varies, including nights, weekends, and holidays, including possible increased hours during peak seasons or business needs

Be Part of a World-Class Culinary Experience At Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, food and hospitality are an essential part of the guest experience. From concessions and cafés to catered events and large-scale programs, our Culinary Arts & Events team delivers exceptional service that reflects the creativity, quality, and excellence of our organization. We are seeking a Sous Chef who thrives in a fast-paced culinary environment and enjoys leading teams, supporting high-volume operations, and creating exceptional food experiences across a variety of service styles and event settings.

Why This Role Matters

The Sous Chef plays a critical leadership role in ensuring consistent culinary quality, operational efficiency, and exceptional guest experiences across concessions, catering, cafés, and event operations. This role helps drive execution during high-volume service periods while supporting kitchen leadership, coaching staff, maintaining food safety standards, and ensuring seamless collaboration between Front-of-House and Back-of-House teams. This position is essential to delivering the elevated hospitality experience guests expect at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park.

What You'll Do

• Lead culinary staff in preparing, cooking, assembling, and presenting food according to established recipes and quality standards.
• Ensure consistency in food quality, temperature, portioning, and presentation across multiple service environments.
• Support concessions, prep kitchens, cafés, line service, catering operations, and event execution as business needs require.

Kitchen Leadership & Team Support

• Provide day-to-day leadership, coaching, and support to culinary team members.
• Foster teamwork, accountability, and operational consistency during service periods.
• Help maintain positive communication and coordination between culinary leadership and kitchen staff.

Event & Catering Support

• Assist with production planning, event setup, plating oversight, and day-of culinary execution.
• Coordinate culinary operations during catered events, concessions service, and special programs.
• Support high-volume service environments while maintaining efficiency and attention to detail.

Food Safety & Quality Assurance

• Uphold all food safety, sanitation, labeling, storage, and HACCP procedures.
• Ensure proper use and maintenance of kitchen equipment and culinary workstations.
• Monitor cleanliness, organization, and readiness throughout kitchen and service areas.

Inventory, Organization & Operational Support

• Monitor par levels, restocking needs, and inventory rotation practices.
• Complete operational logs, documentation, and required shift reporting accurately and on time.
• Assist with workflow coordination to maintain efficient service and minimize waste.

Guest Experience & Collaboration

• Treat guests, coworkers, volunteers, and vendors with professionalism and hospitality.
• Support a welcoming and solutions-oriented environment during routine operations and high-pressure service periods.
• Collaborate across departments to ensure smooth culinary and event execution.

What You Bring

• Minimum 4 years of culinary, concessions, catering, or food & beverage service experience required.
• Minimum 2 years of shift lead, lead, or supervisory experience required.
• Experience working in fast-paced, high-volume, or event-driven culinary environments.
• Strong understanding of food safety, sanitation, HACCP practices, and kitchen operations.
• Ability to lead teams, prioritize tasks, and remain calm under pressure.
• Proficiency with knife skills, foundational cooking techniques, and kitchen equipment.
• Strong communication, organization, and time-management skills.
• Ability to work collaboratively with both Front-of-House and Back-of-House teams.
• Current ServSafe certification preferred, or ability to obtain within required timeframe.
• Reliable transportation and schedule flexibility required.

What Makes This Opportunity Unique

• Support a wide variety of culinary operations including concessions, cafés, catering, and events.
• Work in one of the region's premier cultural and hospitality destinations.
• Be part of high-profile events, exhibitions, concerts, and guest experiences.
• Join a collaborative culinary team focused on creativity, consistency, and operational excellence.
• Gain exposure to both routine culinary operations and large-scale event execution in a dynamic environment.

Our Values

• Welcoming: Fostering joy and an inclusive, accessible environment for everyone
• Excellence: Approaching all we do with world-class intentionality
• Innovation: Creating engaging experiences in art, culture, and nature
• Integrity: Operating with honesty, transparency, and accountability
• Stewardship: Preserving and enhancing our community and resources

If you enjoy leading culinary teams, creating exceptional guest experiences, and thriving in fast-paced hospitality environments, we'd love to hear from you.

Working Conditions: Work is performed in a fast-paced culinary and event-driven environment that may include indoor and outdoor service areas depending on business needs and seasonality. Frequent movement throughout kitchens, concessions locations, prep areas, catering spaces, storage rooms, and event venues is required. Evening, weekend, and holiday shifts are required based on event schedules and operational needs. Exposure to varying temperatures is common, including hot kitchens, grills, fryers, ovens, refrigerators, freezers, and outdoor environments. The role regularly interacts with staff, volunteers, vendors, clients, and guests across multiple departments. Noise levels may vary from standard kitchen operations to high-volume event environments. Duties may occasionally require working around amplified sound, steam, heat, and active food service lines.

Physical Requirements: Ability to stand and walk for extended periods, frequently 6–8 hours or more during shifts. Ability to lift, move, and carry food products, kitchen supplies, catering equipment, and smallwares typically up to 20–50 pounds. Ability to bend, reach, stoop, kneel, push, and pull during kitchen operations, stocking, setup, and cleaning activities. Ability to safely operate kitchen equipment including ovens, grills, fryers, slicers, and related culinary tools. Ability to perform repetitive hand and wrist movements associated with knife work, food preparation, plating, and kitchen operations. Ability to communicate clearly in person and through standard kitchen communication methods. Visual ability to inspect food quality, review labels and production sheets, and identify safety or operational concerns. Ability to navigate stairs, uneven surfaces, kitchen spaces, concessions areas, and large event environments throughout shifts.

As part of our onboarding process, all new hires are required to complete our background check. Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We believe in fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace.