Chef de Cuisine, New Restaurant Opening

Chef De Cuisine, New Restaurant Opening

As we prepare to reopen our St Pete location in March 2026, we are seeking a highly driven and operationally excellent Chef de Cuisine (CDC) to lead the culinary execution from day one with our new team. This role is responsible for rebuilding and developing the kitchen team, upholding our standards for clean, high-quality ingredients, and ensuring flawless execution in a fast-paced, open-kitchen environment. The CDC will play a critical leadership role in reestablishing the tone, culture, and performance standards that define this restaurant's next chapter of success.

Naked Farmer is a pioneering farm-to-table restaurant group with multiple locations across Florida, cooking and serving scratch-made, healthy, and affordable meals. Our restaurants celebrate the seasonality of vegetables and the spirit of innovation, striving to create a sustainable food system that strengthens the connection between farmers and the community.

As Chef De Cuisine, you will lead the culinary team in our scratch kitchen, acting as the culinary nuts-and-bolts of our restaurant. Your role will be to manage and guide your team of chefs to run an efficient kitchen where chefs love to work. With a talent for balancing culinary excellence with operational savvy, you will lead and inspire others, demonstrating both leadership and culinary skills. Your ability to maintain strong relationships with farmers, partners, and suppliers is essential, as is your oversight of daily kitchen operations, adherence to sanitation standards, and maintenance of kitchen equipment. You will be responsible for supervising food preparation, menu planning, staffing, and ensuring that every kitchen station operates smoothly.

Benefits include a competitive salary and a vibrant work culture, profit-sharing incentives, annual paid vacation, affordable health, dental, and vision insurance, opportunities for career progression within our rapidly growing company, a complimentary Naked Farmer meal daily, flexible work schedule, and parking reimbursement.

At Naked Farmer, we are cultivating the next generation chefs. Our scratch-based kitchens are a hub for individuals passionate about real, good food. Your passion for cooking delicious food will be evident as you are a farmer of people who enjoys helping other chefs master various cooking stations, ensuring each recipe is prepared consistently to showcase the best of the season. You will inspire and lead those eager to share their love for cooking and transform others into skilled chefs. If you are driven by a sense of purpose and a craving for shaping the future of food, join us on our mission to build a better food system.

You will:

• Cultivate a kitchen culture that embodies our best practices and standards, inspiring your team through every service.
• Lead and mentor the chef trainees, setting an example of culinary expertise and positivity to consistently deliver exceptional food.
• Guarantee the quality and presentation of food across all business channels, treating dine-in, pick-up, and delivery orders with equal dedication.
• Act as the go-to resource for the kitchen staff on recipe inquiries, preparation checklists, and food quality, maintaining order and consistency.
• Manage the receipt and quality control of fresh ingredients from our farm partners, and oversee inventory, supplies, and quality assurance processes.
• Organize prep lists and collaborate with the Chef Operator on food inventory and ordering to ensure the kitchen is well-prepared and organized.
• Setup your team for success on each service by managing the deployment board and prep schedules effectively.
• Perform line checks, assess readiness of food, anticipate needs, and manage potential waste to ensure seamless service.
• Set the kitchen up for success, completing all tasks with timeliness and a focus on safety.
• Introduce and test food preparation techniques that enhance kitchen efficiency, and remain open to innovative systems and processes.
• Uphold stringent kitchen operations, including storage, labeling, preparation, and safety protocols, ensuring compliance with health standards and guidelines.
• Lead in placing orders and managing kitchen facilities, and collaborate with the Chef Operator on labor and food costs.
• Grow your kitchen team through active recruitment, training, performance management, mentorship, and disciplinary procedures when necessary.

You have:

• A minimum of 2 years' experience leading a culinary team in a high-volume setting.
• A deep passion for quality food and a desire to constantly improve.
• Strong culinary expertise with a willingness to learn and adapt.
• A proven work ethic and the ability to perform the job's physical demands, such as lifting up to 50 pounds.
• A collaborative spirit and readiness to contribute as needed.
• Respect and appreciation for your team and a commitment to fostering a positive work environment.
• Exceptional communication skills.
• A vision for mentoring and developing chefs into future restaurant leaders.
• Reliability and a consistent performance record.
• Adaptable interpersonal skills and the ability to meet new challenges with agility.
• An unwavering attention to detail.

Join us as we build the future of food together.