Job Overview
Employment Type
Full-time
Work Schedule
Standard Hours
Benefits
Health Insurance
Dental Insurance
Paid Time Off
Retirement Plan
Employee Discounts
Professional Development
meal benefits
Job Description
Vanderbilt Campus Dining is a highly esteemed dining services provider known for excellence in culinary quality and customer satisfaction. With eight distinct dining locations, two cafes, three Munchie Marts, and a central commissary, Vanderbilt Campus Dining services a diverse community, supporting more than 300 employees. The department has received numerous prestigious awards, reflecting its commitment to delivering high-quality dining experiences that emphasize culinary innovation, nutritional integrity, and guest satisfaction. Vanderbilt Campus Dining focuses on creating an inclusive and sustainable food service environment, promoting wellness, and implementing forward-thinking culinary standards across its venues.
The Executive Chef for Campus Dining plays a pivotal role in defining, maintaining, and elevating the culinary standards within all aspects of campus food service operations. Reporting directly to the Director of Culinary Operations, this leadership role is responsible for overseeing menu development, recipe accuracy, nutrition, and allergen information to ensure consistent, high-quality food offerings across Vanderbilt’s dining halls, retail locations, and cafes. This position requires close collaboration with operational and training leaders for consistent culinary program execution and supports enterprise training initiatives alongside the Director of Culinary Operations. Through strong leadership and a deep understanding of culinary best practices, the Executive Chef champions a positive work culture, employee development, sustainability practices, and operational excellence.
Delivering at the intersection of culinary artistry and operational management, the Executive Chef is responsible for establishing campus-wide culinary standards that ensure consistency, quality, and integrity across all dining venues. This includes direct oversight of the menu management system’s content such as recipes, ingredients, allergen declarations, yield assumptions, and cost inputs to support operational accuracy and food safety. This role involves monitoring forecast accuracy, guest count projection, and financial targets while supporting unit chefs and culinary teams with tools like NetMenu for forecasting, ordering, and inventory management.
An integral component of the Executive Chef’s responsibilities is ensuring field-level culinary execution meets stringent food safety, sanitation, quality assurance, and allergen control standards. This includes performing routine site visits, leading audits, addressing operational gaps, and reinforcing accountability in partnership with General Managers and operations leadership. Additionally, the role provides leadership in quality benchmarks and performance standards, driving continuous improvement through guest feedback and data analysis.
Beyond operational duties, the Executive Chef leads culinary vision, menu innovation, and testing new food concepts in alignment with strategic priorities. Collaborating closely with Purchasing, Nutrition, and operational teams, this role facilitates the development of fresh and engaging menus for regular dining as well as special campus events. Mentoring and coaching unit chefs through feedback and performance discussions is crucial to building a strong and capable culinary team. The Executive Chef also partners with the Training Chef to ensure consistent culinary skill reinforcement and training rollout.
Sustainability is another key focus area, with the Executive Chef supporting initiatives related to food waste reduction, composting, and minimizing single-use items, contributing to the university’s broader environmental goals. The role occasionally provides hands-on culinary support during peak periods, chef absences, and major campus events to maintain service excellence. It also contributes to evaluating and preparing candidates for culinary hiring and advancement, reinforcing a sustainable leadership pipeline.
Overall, the Executive Chef for Campus Dining at Vanderbilt is a strategic culinary leader focused on innovation, operational excellence, sustainability, and staff development. This full-time position offers the opportunity to shape the culinary landscape of a prestigious university’s dining program while fostering a collaborative and award-winning food service environment.
The Executive Chef for Campus Dining plays a pivotal role in defining, maintaining, and elevating the culinary standards within all aspects of campus food service operations. Reporting directly to the Director of Culinary Operations, this leadership role is responsible for overseeing menu development, recipe accuracy, nutrition, and allergen information to ensure consistent, high-quality food offerings across Vanderbilt’s dining halls, retail locations, and cafes. This position requires close collaboration with operational and training leaders for consistent culinary program execution and supports enterprise training initiatives alongside the Director of Culinary Operations. Through strong leadership and a deep understanding of culinary best practices, the Executive Chef champions a positive work culture, employee development, sustainability practices, and operational excellence.
Delivering at the intersection of culinary artistry and operational management, the Executive Chef is responsible for establishing campus-wide culinary standards that ensure consistency, quality, and integrity across all dining venues. This includes direct oversight of the menu management system’s content such as recipes, ingredients, allergen declarations, yield assumptions, and cost inputs to support operational accuracy and food safety. This role involves monitoring forecast accuracy, guest count projection, and financial targets while supporting unit chefs and culinary teams with tools like NetMenu for forecasting, ordering, and inventory management.
An integral component of the Executive Chef’s responsibilities is ensuring field-level culinary execution meets stringent food safety, sanitation, quality assurance, and allergen control standards. This includes performing routine site visits, leading audits, addressing operational gaps, and reinforcing accountability in partnership with General Managers and operations leadership. Additionally, the role provides leadership in quality benchmarks and performance standards, driving continuous improvement through guest feedback and data analysis.
Beyond operational duties, the Executive Chef leads culinary vision, menu innovation, and testing new food concepts in alignment with strategic priorities. Collaborating closely with Purchasing, Nutrition, and operational teams, this role facilitates the development of fresh and engaging menus for regular dining as well as special campus events. Mentoring and coaching unit chefs through feedback and performance discussions is crucial to building a strong and capable culinary team. The Executive Chef also partners with the Training Chef to ensure consistent culinary skill reinforcement and training rollout.
Sustainability is another key focus area, with the Executive Chef supporting initiatives related to food waste reduction, composting, and minimizing single-use items, contributing to the university’s broader environmental goals. The role occasionally provides hands-on culinary support during peak periods, chef absences, and major campus events to maintain service excellence. It also contributes to evaluating and preparing candidates for culinary hiring and advancement, reinforcing a sustainable leadership pipeline.
Overall, the Executive Chef for Campus Dining at Vanderbilt is a strategic culinary leader focused on innovation, operational excellence, sustainability, and staff development. This full-time position offers the opportunity to shape the culinary landscape of a prestigious university’s dining program while fostering a collaborative and award-winning food service environment.
Job Requirements
- Bachelor's degree from accredited institution or five years culinary leadership experience
- ACF Certified Executive Chef within one year of hire
- Minimum five years culinary management experience
- ServSafe Manager certification within 30 days of hire
- AllerTrain U certification within 30 days of hire
- Ability to use food service applications and menu management systems
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office
- Strong communication skills
- Ability to manage multiple priorities meet deadlines adapt to change
- Strong organizational skills
- Ability to work under pressure
- Knowledge of industrial kitchen equipment
- Leadership and staff management experience
Job Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Culinary Arts or minimum five years of progressively responsible culinary leadership experience
- ACF Certified Executive Chef required within one year of hire
- Minimum five years culinary management experience in restaurant hospitality or institutional dining
- ServSafe Manager certification within 30 days of hire
- AllerTrain U certification within 30 days of hire
- Demonstrated strong business judgment including financial and personnel management experience
- Experience using food service applications and computerized menu management systems
- Proficiency in Microsoft Word Outlook and Excel
- Strong verbal written and interpersonal communication skills
- Ability to manage multiple priorities meet deadlines adapt to change in fast-paced environment
- Strong organizational time-management and attention to detail
- Ability to work calmly and effectively in high-pressure situations
- Knowledge of industrial kitchen equipment and commercial food production environments
- Demonstrated leadership and staff management skills maintaining confidentiality and accountability for institutional assets
Job Duties
- Establish and maintain campus-wide culinary standards ensuring consistency quality and integrity
- Own accuracy and governance of menu management system including recipes ingredients allergen declarations yield assumptions and culinary costing inputs
- Ensure unit chefs execute menus accurately and consistently aligning with approved menus financial targets operational guidelines and compliance requirements
- Provide functional leadership and support to unit chefs in use of NetMenu including menu execution forecasting inventory management ordering and receiving
- Audit menu forecasts and performance data regularly ensuring alignment with cost-per-meal targets guest count projections and Certified Free-From standards
- Partner with OpEx and leadership to review data trends identify risks opportunities and provide culinary recommendations
- Collaborate with campus partners to support seasonal summer and special event menu development and execution
- Own field-level culinary execution of food safety sanitation quality assurance and allergen control standards
- Conduct routine site visits observations inspections assessing culinary execution workflow cleanliness equipment condition and adherence to standards
- Partner with General Managers and operations leadership to address gaps implement corrective actions reinforce accountability
- Support enterprise-level food safety audits compliance initiatives and regulatory requirements
- Establish and reinforce systems and processes promoting consistent product quality customer confidence and operational excellence
- Monitor guest feedback through engagement platforms identifying trends risks and opportunities for improvement
- Provide leadership to culinary teams by setting clear programmatic expectations quality benchmarks and performance standards
- Lead campus-wide culinary vision menu development and innovation aligning with strategic priorities and operational parameters
- Drive development testing refinement of new menus recipes food concepts and vendor products with Purchasing Nutrition and operations partners
- Coach develop unit chefs through communication feedback and performance discussions reinforcing standards building bench strength supporting professional growth
- Partner with the Training Chef to support training rollouts product testing consistent culinary skills reinforcement
- Identify opportunities to enhance food quality operational consistency cost performance providing recommendations to senior leadership
- Support sustainability initiatives related to food waste reduction composting reduction of single-use items collaborating with sustainability leadership
- Provide operational culinary support including coverage during chef absences peak service periods major campus events
- Support evaluation readiness for culinary hiring advancement contributing to strong sustainable leadership pipeline
Job Criteria
Experience
Expert Level (7+ years)
Job Location
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