Kitchen Manager

About the Role


Pine Street Social Kitchen & Wine Bar, located inside Le Méridien St. Louis Downtown, is seeking a hands-on Kitchen Manager to lead the daily culinary operation, support banquet and event execution, develop the back-of-house team, and ensure every plate reflects the quality and hospitality of the restaurant.


This is not a desk-only culinary management position. We are looking for a leader who can plan production, review a banquet event order, manage food cost, coach a cook, organize a walk-in, conduct a line check, step onto the line during a rush, and still protect the details that shape the guest experience.


Pine Street Social operates across multiple service periods, including breakfast, grab-and-go lunch, brunch, dinner, small plates, banquets, meetings, receptions, and special events. The right candidate must understand how to lead a kitchen that changes pace throughout the day while maintaining consistency, cleanliness, organization, and strong execution.


The ideal candidate believes that culinary leadership is equal parts food, people, preparation, communication, and accountability.


What You'll Do


The Kitchen Manager will lead the daily back-of-house operation while ensuring food quality, banquet execution, sanitation, productivity, and team performance remain at a consistently high level.


Key responsibilities include:

• Lead daily culinary operations across breakfast, lunch, brunch, dinner, banquets, meetings, receptions, and special events.
• Maintain a visible, hands-on presence in the kitchen before, during, and after service.
• Ensure food is prepared and presented according to approved recipes, portions, banquet specifications, and presentation standards.
• Conduct line checks and confirm that stations are properly stocked, organized, and ready for service.
• Monitor ticket times, food quality, plate presentation, and communication during service.
• Review banquet event orders and event details to ensure menus, quantities, timing, dietary needs, staffing, and equipment requirements are understood.
• Coordinate banquet food production and timing with the Restaurant Manager, Sales team, banquet service staff, and hotel leadership.
• Plan production based on hotel occupancy, reservations, banquet events, group activity, local events, and anticipated business levels.
• Ensure banquet meals, breaks, receptions, and plated or buffet service are prepared accurately and delivered on time.
• Anticipate conflicts between restaurant service and banquet production and adjust staffing, prep, and kitchen flow accordingly.
• Recruit, train, schedule, coach, and supervise cooks, prep cooks, dishwashers, and other culinary associates.
• Set clear expectations for attendance, teamwork, sanitation, urgency, and professional conduct.
• Create prep systems, banquet production sheets, cleaning schedules, checklists, and communication tools that improve consistency.
• Maintain compliance with food safety regulations, health department requirements, hotel policies, and brand standards.
• Ensure proper labeling, dating, storage, rotation, cooling, reheating, and temperature documentation.
• Manage ordering, receiving, inventory, product quality, portion control, waste, and food cost.
• Maintain organized coolers, freezers, dry storage areas, banquet storage, and kitchen workspaces.
• Work closely with the Restaurant Manager to coordinate pacing, special requests, allergies, guest feedback, banquet timelines, and service recovery.
• Support restaurant and banquet menu development, seasonal changes, specials, tastings, and recipe refinement.
• Report equipment issues, maintenance needs, safety concerns, and operational risks promptly.
• Help build a kitchen culture where standards are high, communication is direct, and employees are treated with respect.

What We're Looking For


We are looking for someone who is:

• Hands-on and willing to work alongside the culinary team.
• Organized, disciplined, and consistent.
• Comfortable balancing restaurant service with banquet production.
• Calm under pressure and confident during high-volume service.
• Direct, but respectful.
• Focused on both food quality and operational execution.
• Comfortable holding associates accountable.
• Able to train and develop cooks with different levels of experience.
• Strong at planning, prioritizing, and following through.
• Able to read banquet event orders and translate event details into an accurate production plan.
• Passionate about food, hospitality, events, and team development.
• Willing to take ownership instead of waiting to be directed.

QualificationsRequired

• Previous culinary leadership experience as a Kitchen Manager, Sous Chef, Lead Cook, Chef de Cuisine, or comparable role.
• Strong knowledge of food preparation, sanitation, production planning, inventory, and cost control.
• Ability to execute recipes accurately and maintain consistency across multiple service periods.
• Experience training, coaching, scheduling, and supervising culinary associates.
• Strong communication, organization, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to stand and work in a fast-paced kitchen environment for extended periods.
• Ability to work a flexible schedule, including early mornings, evenings, weekends, holidays, banquet events, and peak business periods.
• Food safety manager certification or the ability to obtain certification within the timeframe established by the hotel.

Preferred

• Hotel, full-service restaurant, lifestyle, boutique, or upscale casual dining experience.
• Experience supporting breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, banquets, meetings, and receptions.
• Experience reading banquet event orders and managing event production.
• Experience with plated banquets, buffets, receptions, meeting breaks, and group meal service.
• Experience with restaurant openings, reopenings, renovations, or major operational transitions.
• Experience managing food cost, inventory, purchasing, and vendor relationships.
• Experience developing emerging culinary leaders.

Why Join Pine Street Social?


Pine Street Social Kitchen & Wine Bar is being positioned as more than a typical hotel restaurant. It is designed to become a polished downtown gathering place for hotel guests, local professionals, visitors, brunch diners, evening guests, meetings, and special events.


The concept includes locally roasted coffee, elevated breakfast classics, grab-and-go lunch, brunch favorites, small plates, refined dinner entrées, banquet service, and a wine-forward evening experience.


This is an opportunity to help shape the kitchen culture, establish operating standards, support the hotel's banquet business, develop a strong culinary team, and bring the Pine Street Social experience to life.


We are looking for a Kitchen Manager who takes pride in preparation, protects consistency, develops people, and understands that the guest experience begins long before the plate reaches the table.


Equal Opportunity Statement


We are an equal opportunity employer. Employment decisions are based on qualifications, experience, business needs, and the ability to perform the essential functions of the role.

Benefits:

• Dental insurance
• Employee discount
• Flexible schedule
• Health insurance
• Paid time off
• Paid training
• Vision insurance

Work Location: In person