Sous Chef / Kitchen Manager

Culinary Leadership Opportunity - Charleston, South Carolina. English/Spanish Bilingual Strongly Preferred

We are seeking a strong Kitchen Manager to help oversee the day-to-day organization, staffing, systems, and execution of a successful, high-volume restaurant kitchen.

This is an operations-focused leadership role for someone who understands that a great kitchen starts before service: the right people scheduled, prep completed, stations organized, inventory controlled, equipment functioning, and clear expectations in place.

The Kitchen Manager will work alongside senior culinary and restaurant leadership and take ownership of key areas of BOH performance. The exact scope may evolve based on experience and the final culinary leadership structure.

Key Responsibilities

• Help manage daily BOH operations and ensure the kitchen is organized, staffed, prepared, and ready for service.
• Lead cooks, prep staff, dish team members, and other BOH employees during assigned shifts.
• Manage station setup, prep levels, production needs, opening and closing procedures, and shift readiness.
• Support BOH scheduling, staffing, attendance, shift coverage, and labor deployment based on projected volume.
• Monitor kitchen labor and productivity and identify opportunities to improve efficiency without compromising execution.
• Assist with ordering, receiving, inventory counts, storage, product rotation, and organization.
• Help control food cost through proper portions, recipe adherence, inventory controls, waste reduction, and production planning.
• Maintain strong standards for cleanliness, sanitation, food safety, labeling, storage, and regulatory compliance.
• Ensure cleaning schedules and organizational standards are consistently completed and maintained.
• Train and onboard new BOH employees and reinforce ongoing operating and culinary standards.
• Coach employees in real time and address performance, attendance, communication, and execution issues with appropriate leadership.
• Reinforce recipes, portions, food quality, presentation, and consistency in partnership with culinary leadership.
• Communicate staffing, product, equipment, maintenance, and operational needs proactively to senior leadership.
• Coordinate with FOH leadership to support smooth service, appropriate communication, and timely resolution of operational issues.
• Support private events, high-volume shifts, seasonal changes, and other operational needs.
• Maintain a hands-on presence during service and step into the operation wherever support is needed.
• Help strengthen BOH systems, SOPs, checklists, communication, and accountability.
• Support broader culinary responsibilities as needed based on the final leadership structure.

Qualifications

• 2-4+ years of Kitchen Manager, Sous Chef, or comparable BOH supervisory experience in a high-volume restaurant.
• Strong operational knowledge of staffing, scheduling, prep, production, inventory, receiving, sanitation, and service execution.
• Experience supervising and developing hourly kitchen employees.
• Working knowledge of food cost, labor management, waste controls, and kitchen productivity.
• Strong understanding of food safety, sanitation, and regulatory standards.
• Highly organized, dependable, proactive, and comfortable holding standards in a fast-paced environment.
• Hands-on leadership style with strong communication and problem-solving skills.
• Bilingual English/Spanish strongly preferred.

Compensation & Performance Incentives

• $65,000 - $75,000 Base, commensurate with experience.
• Performance-based bonus opportunities tied to labor efficiency, waste and cost control, team retention, sanitation, and operational execution.
• Competitive Medical & Health Insurance benefits.
• Retirement Plan
• Paid Time Off

This is a confidential search. Reporting relationships and areas of ownership may evolve based on the experience and strengths of the culinary leadership team assembled.

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