Travelling Support Executive Chef

Travelling Support Executive Chef

As the leading foodservice and support services company, Compass Group USA is known for our great people, great service and our great results. If you've been hungry and away from home, chances are you've tasted Compass Group's delicious food and experienced our outstanding service. We have over 284,000 US associates who work in award-winning restaurants, corporate cafes, hospitals, schools, arenas, museums, and more in all 50 states. Our reach is constantly expanding to shape the industry and create new opportunities for innovation. Join the Compass family today!

The Travelling Support Executive Chef is a culinary leader and field operator responsible for advancing food quality, culinary standards, kitchen operations, and culinary culture across the region as needed. Reporting directly to the Regional Vice President, this role serves as bench strength that can be deployed to any location in the portfolio providing hands-on culinary leadership, kitchen stabilization, and executive chef-level coverage when needed.

This is an operator's role as much as it is a culinary role. The Travelling Support Executive Chef is deployed into locations when Executive Chefs are transitioning or on leave, when a kitchen requires immediate senior-level intervention, or when a new location is being opened and requires culinary leadership.

The ideal candidate is an accomplished chef-operator who has led kitchens at a high level, opened food & beverage programs from scratch, and has the operational discipline to manage food safety, cost, and consistency across multiple environments. This is a role for a chef who is as comfortable with a P&L as they are behind a line and who earns respect from a team the moment they walk through the kitchen door.

Key Responsibilities

• Field Deployment & Culinary Coverage
• Stabilize kitchen operations during leadership gaps, service challenges, or food quality issues maintaining full culinary continuity and standards
• Provide coverage across all culinary formats in the portfolio including full-service dining, education accounts, caf programs, and catered event kitchens
• Serve as a credible, calm culinary presence that builds trust with kitchen teams and clients from day one of deployment
• Champion food quality, flavor authenticity, presentation standards, and temperature integrity across all supported locations
• Evaluate kitchens against program culinary standards and develop clear, actionable improvement plans
• Ensure strict adherence to HACCP protocols, temperature log accuracy, and BOH sanitation standards across all deployed locations
• Bring hands-on opening expertise to new location launches developing kitchen systems, building culinary teams, establishing food quality standards, and ensuring culinary readiness prior to go-live
• Advise on and support purchasing practices, product sourcing, vendor relationships, and cost-conscious procurement decisions
• Mentor and develop site chefs and kitchen leaders, building culinary confidence, technical skills, and operational discipline

Requirements

• 5+ years of progressive culinary leadership experience in high-quality food service environments
• Proven background in restaurant or hotel food & beverage new openings experience as a pre-opening Executive Chef, Corporate Chef, or Culinary Director for a multi-unit or flagship program strongly preferred
• Deep expertise in kitchen operations, food quality standards, food safety compliance, and culinary team development
• Demonstrated ability to walk into a kitchen, quickly assess operations and food quality, and implement practical, immediate improvements
• Experience managing diverse culinary formats
• Strong financial acumen with experience managing food costs, supporting P&L accountability, and driving procurement discipline
• A chef who balances creativity with operational rigor passionate about food quality and innovation while maintaining consistency and cost discipline
• Ability to build credibility quickly with kitchen teams, site operators, and clients calm under pressure, decisive in the moment
• Background in corporate dining, higher education, or contract food service is a strong plus
• Must be based near an airport
• Ability to travel approximately 85% of the time to program locations including Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, and Texas