Sous Chef - Japanese Cuisine

gategroup is a leading global provider of airline catering and food services, committed to delivering exceptional culinary experiences to airline customers around the world. With a focus on quality, safety, and innovation, gategroup plays a crucial role in enhancing the travel experience by offering freshly prepared meals and beverages tailored to diverse airline needs. The company prides itself on a strong set of values including excellence, passion, responsibility, and respect, which guide its employees in providing outstanding customer service and maintaining a supportive work environment. gategroup is an equal opportunity employer dedicated to workforce diversity and inclusion, ensuring a fair and respectful workplace where every employee can thrive.

The role of Sous Chef, Operations, reporting to the Executive Chef, is essential in delivering exceptional Asian cuisine to airline customers. This full-time, exempt position offers an annual salary range of $70,000 to $75,000 and provides a comprehensive benefits package including paid time off, 401k with company match, company-sponsored life insurance, medical, dental, and vision plans, voluntary disability and life insurance plans, an employee assistance program, employee discounts, weekly pay for union employees, and free healthy meals for operational roles.

As a Sous Chef, Operations, you will assist the Executive Chef in designing and preparing meals that meet specific culinary profiles for Asian airline customers, with a particular emphasis on Japanese cuisine. Your role involves culinary leadership and expertise, promoting superior food quality, safety, and sanitation compliance. You will oversee the food production effort alongside Food Supervisors, ensuring all food items are produced accurately according to specifications and regulations such as FDA, USDA, and HAACP. Your responsibilities include managing daily production sheets, coordinating employee tasks, ordering raw materials, and maintaining cleanliness and safety standards in the kitchen.

The role demands strong leadership and team management skills to supervise up to 40 employees in a high-volume production environment. You will handle manpower planning, scheduling, employee training, and retention efforts, ensuring compliance with labor policies and union agreements. Coaching, counseling, and corrective actions are part of your duties to maintain a motivated and productive team. You will also play a key role in optimizing operations, improving work environments, and enhancing unit performance through innovative solutions and menu design.

Physical demands include standing, bending, lifting, and moving intermittently during shifts that may extend beyond 10 hours, often exceeding 55 hours per week due to rotating schedules. You must be capable of lifting more than 25 pounds and working amid the typical noises and temperatures of a production kitchen environment.

To succeed in this role, you should have at least an associate's degree in Culinary Arts or a relevant certification, with substantial experience as a Chef or Sous Chef, specifically with Asian culinary expertise. Experience in high-volume food service, in-flight catering, and supervising diverse kitchen teams is preferred. Essential skills include strong leadership, time management, multitasking, communication, organizational abilities, and proficiency in Microsoft Office applications. ServSafe certification is preferred, and bilingual skills, especially in Spanish, are considered a plus.

At gategroup, employees are encouraged to demonstrate excellence by putting customers first and continuously improving through feedback. Passion is shown through care and resilience, responsibility by fostering a safe workplace, and respect by supporting inclusion and the success of colleagues. Joining gategroup means becoming part of a team dedicated to making travel and culinary memories for customers worldwide.