Executive Sous Chef

At Restaurant K, we're building something bigger than just great meals. We're building great brands.

Restaurant K was founded with a simple yet powerful belief: the best brands are built on culture, mission, and purpose. With a portfolio of distinct dining concepts - from the elevated experience of Nuri Steakhouse to the upscale casual energy of JOA Korean BBQ - Restaurant K is committed to creating unforgettable moments through hospitality and culinary excellence. As we continue to elevate our presence in Dallas, TX, we are seeking a distinguished Sous Chef to uphold and enhance our commitment to excellence.

The Executive Sous Chef is the second-in-command culinary leader responsible for translating the Executive Chef's vision into consistent daily execution. This role leads service readiness, line execution, team coaching, prep discipline, and kitchen standards while supporting cost controls, inventory, sanitation, and cross-functional communication. The Executive Sous Chef is expected to lead with professionalism, urgency, and care while maintaining the quality, consistency, and culture expected in an elevated, high-volume restaurant environment.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

• Leads, coaches, trains, and supports back-of-house team members during prep and service.

• Provides clear direction to culinary team members and supports accountability to standards, recipes, timing, and conduct expectations.

• Assists the Executive Chef with onboarding, training plans, performance feedback, scheduling input, and corrective action recommendations in alignment with company policy.

• Serves as the culinary leader in charge when the Executive Chef is unavailable or focused on strategic priorities.

Essential Functions / Major Responsibilities:

• Execute and uphold the Executive Chef's culinary standards for quality, flavor, presentation, consistency, timing, sanitation, and food safety.

• Lead daily prep and service execution, ensuring stations are inspected, stocked, organized, and ready before each service period.

• Support and supervise line execution during service, including expediting, pacing, ticket timing, communication, and real-time problem solving.

• Partner with the Executive Chef on menu execution, recipe adherence, menu rollouts, training materials, tastings, and seasonal or special-event preparation.

• Maintain strong prep discipline by monitoring prep levels, pars, batch quality, labeling, storage, rotation, and waste documentation.

• Assist with ordering, receiving, inventory counts, vendor communication, product quality checks, and cost-control initiatives.

• Support food and labor cost targets by monitoring waste, overproduction, staffing needs, and efficient deployment of team members.

• Coach culinary team members in the moment, reinforcing standards while maintaining a respectful, solution-oriented environment.

• Communicate effectively with front-of-house leaders to support seamless guest experiences, special requests, allergies, pacing, and service recovery.

• Identify and elevate food quality, equipment, staffing, safety, sanitation, performance, or compliance concerns promptly to the Executive Chef or appropriate leader.

• Maintain kitchen cleanliness, equipment care, opening/closing standards, and health-code readiness at all times.

• Complete required logs, prep notes, ordering notes, waste tracking, and end-of-shift communication accurately and timely.

• Perform additional duties as assigned by the Executive Chef, General Manager, Senior Director of Operations, or upper management.

Required Skills / Abilities / Competencies:

• Strong culinary foundation with demonstrated ability to execute refined food preparation, plating, timing, and quality standards in a high-volume environment.

• Ability to lead service calmly and decisively while maintaining professionalism under pressure.

• Strong knowledge of food safety, sanitation standards, proper storage, labeling, rotation, allergen awareness, and health-code compliance.

• Ability to train, coach, and motivate culinary team members while reinforcing accountability and respect.

• Strong organization, communication, time management, and follow-through skills.

• Ability to read, follow, and teach recipes, prep lists, pars, portion guidelines, and plating specifications accurately.

• Working knowledge of inventory management, ordering, receiving, waste controls, and basic food/labor cost awareness.

• Ability to partner cross-functionally with Executive Chef, General Manager, FOH leaders, Wine/Beverage, People Services, Finance, and Operations as needed.

• Promote and uphold the culture, values, and mission of Restaurant K ensuring alignment with company standards.

• To inspire people to embrace different cultures of the world.

Education and Experience:

• Must be at least eighteen (18) years of age.

• Possess a current Food Handlers' certification before starting work.

• Minimum of three (3) years of progressive culinary experience in upscale, fine dining, or high-volume restaurant environments preferred.

• Minimum of two (2) years in a culinary leadership role such as Sous Chef, Senior Sous Chef, Chef de Cuisine, or equivalent preferred.

• Experience with Korean, Asian, steakhouse, fine dining, or globally inspired cuisine is preferred but not required.

• Experience with restaurant technology, inventory systems, scheduling tools, and basic Microsoft Office tools.

• Experience cleaning and maintaining a commercial kitchen is a plus.

Work Environment:

• Working during evenings, weekends, and holidays to accommodate peak dining hours.

• Fast-paced environment requiring quick movements and efficiency in tight, confinedworkspaces.

• Working in a high-volume, high-heat kitchen environment with exposure to open flames, hot surfaces, and sharp equipment; standing for long periods and lifting or moving heavy pots, pans, and food items as needed.

• Collaborating with a diverse team of front-of-house and back-of-house staff in a structured yet flexible atmosphere.

Physical Requirements:

• Must be able to stand for periods of up to eight (8) hours.

• Must have the strength and endurance to handle repetitive motions, such as leaning over and bending, and be capable of lifting objects weighing up to fifty (50) pounds. Required to use assistance when available i.e. hand trucks, ramps, or another team member.

• The ability to stand for extended periods and perform physically demanding tasks, including lifting and maneuvering dishes, utensils, pots, and pans.