Job Description
Principal Duties and Responsibilities
- Manages all activities in the kitchen, including production, stewarding and management of food production staff
- Maximizes guest satisfaction by providing the highest food quality consistent with cost control and profitability margins of the restaurant.
- Oversees all food production related areas
- Co-ordinates activities, times and communicates priorities to ensure correct preparation, and delivery time to provide food for functions.
- Maintains product consistency by conducting inspections of seasonings, portions, and food appearance, and follows-up appropriately
- Oversees inventory disbursement of all food supplies
- Controls and orders all fresh products and dry storage items required by kitchen and related departments to ensure correct quality and par stock
- Monitors and facilitates communication between kitchen production and service staff
- Ensures that proper safety, hygiene, and sanitation practices are followed
- Co-ordinates operation of kitchen with other food and beverage departments
- Works with the sales and marketing team to make suggestions for sales promotions with food and beverage and to increase sales
- Ensures readiness and compliance in case of last-minute changes to reservations
- Ensures that prices and portions are offered in accordance with food and beverage profit objectives
- Utilize leadership skills and motivation to maximize employee productivity and satisfaction
- Challenges employees to achieve optimum quality while minimizing cost
- Monitors department’s overall service, interaction with other departments, and team work daily, and takes actions to improve
- Screens, interviews and selects potential employees
- Identifies training needs, and makes sure staff receives training, including skills training to produce consistent results
- Works closely with the Human Resources Manager on the following Human Resources related tasks:
- Performance appraisals
- Coaching
- Counselling
- Discipline and grievance
Employee Relations:
- Fosters and develops effective employee relations between kitchen and restaurant staff
- Keeps effective internal communications, including daily meetings with all staff to ensure optimum teamwork and productivity
- Looks for ways to motivate and challenge employees
- Monitors and makes sure staff follows all applicable laws, especially regarding food safety and sanitation
Miscellaneous:
- Develops guest/market-oriented menus, and changes menus regularly to reflect local and seasonal trends.
- Monitors industry trends and recommends appropriate action to maintain the competitive status and profitability
- Recommends better operational practices, procedures and concepts
- Conducts formal tasting as part of new recipe development and product testing regularly
- Prepares reports to develop a more informative database for improved management decision making, and critical evaluation of work activities and preparation techniques
- Devise measures to minimizes spoilage, waste and overproduction
- Assists in the review, selection, determination of specifications and pricing of proposed restaurant menus
- Works pro-actively to minimize complaints from guests
- Follows-up with Restaurant Manager to determine guest satisfaction; measures these results and establishes strategies to improve the food quality
- Prepares the food production department’s business plan
- Assists colleagues to perform similar or related jobs when necessary
- Accepts flexible work schedule necessary for uninterrupted service to hotel guests
- Maintains own working area, materials and company property clean, tidy and in good shape; reports defective materials and equipment to the appropriate individual
- Is well updated on, and possesses solid knowledge of the following:
- Upbeat fire, bomb and emergency procedures
- Upbeat health and safety policies and procedures
- Current licensing relating to own department
Health and Safety:
- Adheres to all health, sanitation and food safety rules and regulations, and makes sure that all staff adheres to these
- Ensures that all potential and real hazards are reported and reduced immediately
- Fully understands the hotel’s fire, emergency, and bomb procedures
- Ensures that emergency procedures are practiced and enforced to provide for the security and safety of guests and employees
- Ensures that employees work in a safe manner that does not harm or injure self or others
- Stimulates and encourages a general awareness of health and safety
- Anticipates possible and probable hazards and conditions and either corrects them or takes action to prevent them from happening
- Ensures that the highest standards of personal hygiene, dress, appropriate uniform, appearance, and conduct is maintained by all employees in the department
Experience and Qualification
- Candidates should possess an HND or Bachelor's Degree
- Minimum of Five (5) year relevant experience.
- Excellent culinary skills, all round knowledge of kitchen and ability to teach others
- Professional cooking/food preparation qualification.