Kitchen Team Leader

Kitchen/Back-of-House Team Leader Job Description

At Chick-fil-A Golf Mill, the Kitchen/Back-of-House Team Leader is responsible for helping lead safe, efficient, accurate, and high-quality kitchen operations during an assigned shift. This leader supports restaurant management by directing Back-of-House Team Members, maintaining food safety and product-quality standards, overseeing production and station execution, managing workflow, and ensuring that every guest receives fresh, properly prepared food in a timely manner. The Kitchen Team Leader must be capable of leading with urgency while maintaining accuracy, cleanliness, safety, organization, and respect for the team. This individual is expected to anticipate operational needs, respond effectively to changing business volume, develop Team Members, and maintain strong communication between the kitchen and Front-of-House teams. Kitchen Team Leaders may be assigned to open or close the restaurant and must follow all established opening, closing, food safety, security, inventory, and equipment procedures.

People First, Community Always

At Chick-fil-A Golf Mill, leadership begins with caring for people while maintaining high standards. Kitchen Team Leaders are expected to create an environment where Team Members feel respected, supported, prepared, and accountable. The Kitchen Team Leader must balance operational excellence with team development, ensuring that the restaurant serves safe, fresh, accurate, and high-quality food while building capable future leaders.

Primary Responsibilities

Kitchen Shift Leadership

• Assist restaurant management in overseeing all Back-of-House operations during an assigned shift.
• Provide clear station assignments, deployment plans, expectations, and production priorities to Kitchen Team Members.
• Conduct or participate in pre-shift meetings and communicate important goals, product information, safety reminders, and operational priorities.
• Maintain awareness of restaurant volume, staffing, product levels, equipment readiness, ticket times, and upcoming business needs.
• Adjust kitchen deployment and production levels based on sales volume and guest demand.
• Ensure Team Members are positioned according to their training, experience, and the needs of the restaurant.
• Manage breaks and shift transitions while maintaining appropriate station coverage.
• Maintain a calm, organized, and solutions-oriented leadership presence during high-volume periods.
• Lead with urgency without sacrificing food safety, quality, accuracy, cleanliness, or respect.
• Step into any Back-of-House position as necessary to support the operation.
• Open or close the kitchen when assigned and complete all required procedures and documentation.
• Communicate shift results, product concerns, staffing issues, equipment problems, and follow-up needs to restaurant management.

Team Leadership and Development

• Lead by example in attitude, work ethic, urgency, food safety, cleanliness, and professionalism.
• Provide clear instructions and confirm Team Members understand their responsibilities.
• Coach Team Members in real time on procedures, performance, and operational expectations.
• Give timely, specific, respectful, and constructive feedback.
• Recognize strong performance and encourage continued growth.
• Help train and develop Kitchen Team Members, Trainers, and emerging leaders.
• Verify that Team Members are properly trained before assigning them to work independently.
• Reinforce proper station procedures and correct performance gaps promptly.
• Encourage teamwork and communication across all kitchen stations.
• Help create an environment where Team Members feel comfortable asking questions and seeking assistance.
• Maintain professional relationships and treat every Team Member with dignity and respect.
• Address performance concerns without embarrassing or correcting Team Members in front of guests or the broader team unless immediate intervention is required for safety.
• Communicate repeated performance issues, attendance concerns, misconduct, or policy violations to management.
• Support restaurant leadership decisions and help maintain a unified leadership team.
• Promote a positive, accountable, and productive kitchen culture.

Food Safety and Sanitation

• Treat food safety as the highest operational priority.
• Ensure all Team Members follow Chick-fil-A food safety standards and restaurant procedures.
• Monitor and reinforce proper handwashing and glove-use practices.
• Verify that raw and cooked products are handled correctly to prevent cross-contamination.
• Ensure raw chicken handling procedures are followed at all times.
• Confirm food-contact surfaces, utensils, equipment, and preparation areas are properly cleaned and sanitized.
• Monitor product temperatures, holding times, cooling procedures, storage practices, and expiration dates.
• Ensure required temperature checks and food safety logs are completed accurately and on time.
• Verify that products are properly labeled, dated, rotated, and stored.
• Enforce first-in, first-out product rotation procedures.
• Ensure allergen-related orders are handled according to established procedures.
• Monitor chemical use, storage, labeling, and concentration.
• Ensure cleaning chemicals are stored separately from food and food-contact items.
• Immediately stop unsafe practices and correct food safety concerns.
• Promptly report significant food safety issues to restaurant management.
• Support preparation for internal inspections, food safety assessments, and regulatory visits.
• Ensure corrective actions identified through food safety inspections are completed and maintained.
• Never serve food that does not meet required safety or quality standards.

Food Quality and Recipe Compliance

• Ensure all products are prepared according to Chick-fil-A recipes, procedures, and quality standards.
• Verify that Team Members read screens and tickets carefully before preparing orders.
• Confirm that all special requests and modifications are followed accurately.
• Ensure Team Members use proper weights, measurements, timers, scoops, utensils, and portion-control procedures.
• Monitor breading quality, coating, appearance, cook times, oil quality, and product consistency.
• Verify that chicken products are cooked correctly and meet required internal temperatures.
• Ensure grilled products are prepared and handled according to established procedures.
• Monitor fry quality, seasoning, portioning, and holding times.
• Ensure mac and cheese, soups, breakfast products, salads, and other menu items are prepared according to specifications.
• Monitor product freshness, appearance, texture, taste, and temperature.
• Ensure holding cabinets, warmers, refrigeration units, and production equipment are used properly.
• Prevent expired, overheld, undercooked, overcooked, damaged, or poor-quality products from being served.
• Correct quality concerns before products leave the kitchen.
• Communicate recurring quality concerns to management and assist with corrective training.
• Support consistency across all shifts and kitchen stations.

Kitchen Production and Workflow

• Monitor restaurant sales volume and adjust production accordingly.
• Ensure adequate product is prepared to support guest demand without creating unnecessary waste.
• Coordinate production between breading, machines, fries, primary, secondary, prep, and other kitchen stations.
• Maintain awareness of product levels and communicate upcoming shortages before they affect service.
• Ensure Team Members call for products clearly and early enough to avoid outages.
• Monitor kitchen display screens, ticket volume, wait times, and order priorities.
• Keep orders moving through the kitchen in the proper sequence.
• Ensure dine-in, carryout, drive-thru, mobile, delivery, curbside, catering, and special-event orders are prepared accurately.
• Coordinate large orders and catering production with restaurant leadership.
• Verify that catering items are prepared, packaged, labeled, and completed on schedule.
• Maintain appropriate communication with Front-of-House leaders regarding wait times, product shortages, special orders, and operational delays.
• Anticipate peak periods and prepare the kitchen before volume increases.
• Ensure stations remain stocked with required food, packaging, utensils, equipment, and supplies.
• Reduce unnecessary movement and improve station organization and efficiency.
• Prevent bottlenecks by moving Team Members or providing additional support as needed.
• Maintain productive kitchen flow during transitions between breakfast and lunch or dinner operations.

Speed of Service and Order Accuracy

• Maintain Chick-fil-A Golf Mill's established speed-of-service expectations.
• Ensure Team Members work with urgency and purpose.
• Monitor kitchen ticket times and identify the causes of delays.
• Respond quickly to product shortages