Cook III

Cook

Prepare and present food of consistent quality while supporting the efficient operation of Marriott La Jolla's culinary department. This role plays an important part in delivering an exceptional guest experience by ensuring food is prepared safely, accurately, consistently, and in accordance with established recipes, production standards, and presentation expectations. At Marriott La Jolla, Cooks are expected to demonstrate strong culinary fundamentals, attention to detail, urgency, cleanliness, teamwork, and ownership while supporting restaurant, banquet, and other food and beverage operations based on business needs.

Essential duties and responsibilities include preparing food of consistent quality following recipe cards, production standards, portion standards, presentation expectations, and guest orders; preparing food items in advance based on anticipated business levels while avoiding unnecessary overproduction; reviewing pars for shift use, determining necessary preparation, completing freezer pulls, and properly setting up assigned stations before service; maintaining awareness of out-of-stock items, product shortages, special preparations, and other operational needs and communicating them promptly to culinary leadership; date, label, store, and rotate food products in accordance with HEI Hotels & Resorts standards and established food safety procedures; ensuring perishable products are maintained at proper temperatures and immediately communicating food safety or product quality concerns to leadership; returning unused food items to designated storage areas at the conclusion of service, ensuring all applicable items are properly covered, labeled, dated, and stored; supporting buffet preparation and replenishment as assigned, ensuring food remains fresh, properly presented, and available throughout service; following established recipes, portion controls, and preparation procedures to promote consistency, quality, and responsible food cost management; minimizing food waste, loss, and unnecessary product usage and assisting culinary leadership with efforts to address food cost concerns; maintaining assigned workstation in a clean, organized, sanitary, and service ready condition throughout the shift; completing required preparation, stocking, cleaning, and closing responsibilities for the assigned station; operating, maintaining, and properly cleaning culinary equipment including deep fryers, broilers, stoves, steamers, food processors, mixers, slicers, ovens, steam tables, tilt kettles, waffle irons, flat top grills, and other equipment used within the operation; following established sanitation, food handling, personal hygiene, and workplace safety procedures at all times; maintaining awareness of allergens, dietary restrictions, special requests, and modifications communicated through established operational procedures and immediately seeking clarification when needed; communicating effectively with culinary leadership, fellow cooks, stewards, servers, banquet associates, and other Food & Beverage team members to support timely and accurate service; demonstrating urgency during high volume periods while maintaining food quality, presentation, sanitation, and safety standards; proactively identifying preparation or operational needs and communicating concerns before they negatively impact service; supporting restaurant, banquet, and other culinary operations as assigned based on business needs; assisting fellow culinary associates when operational needs require additional support and contributing to a collaborative kitchen environment; maintaining professionalism, composure, and respectful communication in a fast-paced kitchen environment; complying with attendance expectations and maintaining schedule flexibility based on operational needs, including weekends, holidays, AM shifts, PM shifts, and varied schedules; and performing any other job-related duties as assigned.

Success in this role includes taking pride in preparing consistent, high-quality food; demonstrating strong attention to detail and presentation; working with urgency while maintaining quality and food safety standards; keeping their workstation clean, organized, and prepared for service; communicating effectively and working collaboratively with the culinary and Food & Beverage teams; taking ownership of their station and anticipating preparation and operational needs; following recipes, portions, and established procedures consistently; understanding the importance of controlling food waste and protecting product quality; remaining composed and productive during high volume service periods; and being dependable, flexible, and willing to support the operation based on business needs.

Qualifications and skills include hotel experience preferred, previous culinary, restaurant, banquet, or high-volume food preparation experience preferred, working knowledge of basic food preparation and kitchen operations preferred, ability to prepare food consistently according to established recipes, production standards, portion controls, and presentation expectations, knowledge of basic food handling, sanitation, storage, labeling, temperature control, and kitchen safety practices, ability to organize and maintain an assigned station while managing multiple preparation and service priorities, ability to work efficiently in a fast-paced culinary environment while maintaining quality, cleanliness, and attention to detail, ability to recognize product shortages, preparation needs, and potential service challenges and communicate them promptly, ability to work collaboratively with culinary associates, stewards, servers, banquet associates, supervisors, and other hotel departments, finger and hand dexterity in order to safely operate food preparation machinery with or without reasonable accommodation, ability to grasp, lift, carry, or otherwise move goods weighing a maximum of 100 lbs. on a continuous schedule with or without reasonable accommodation, ability to stand, walk, bend, reach, and continuously perform essential kitchen functions with or without reasonable accommodation, effective verbal and written communication skills, and ability to adapt communication style to suit different audiences, including supervisors, coworkers, and the public.