Sous Chef (Trolley Eats)

Trolley Eats is the corporate dining division of Trolley Hospitality Companies, a prominent Richmond-based hospitality group serving the greater Richmond and Hampton Roads regions. Specializing in tailored food service solutions for workplaces, schools, and public venues, Trolley Eats offers customized menus created from high-quality ingredients aimed at delivering exceptional dining experiences. The company is dedicated to more than just food; it is committed to fostering a supportive and positive workplace culture where every team member's contributions are recognized and valued. This commitment to excellence and employee well-being forms the foundation of their success.

At Trolley Eats, the core values known as The Trolley Way guide their operations, including principles such as no excuses, doing the right thing, maintaining a can-do attitude, continual growth, helping first by being the solution, and practicing transparency and honesty without any nonsense. These values shape the workplace environment and emphasize teamwork, integrity, and continuous improvement. More information about Trolley Eats and their services can be found on their website at www.trolleyhouseva.com.

The role of Sous Chef at Trolley Eats is a vital position within their corporate dining division, offering an excellent opportunity for culinary professionals who thrive in a fast-paced, quality-focused environment without the demands of evening or weekend hours. The work schedule is Monday through Friday, between 7:00 AM and 3:00 PM, ensuring a healthy work-life balance.

As a Sous Chef, you will be responsible for ensuring the quality and timely preparation of all menu items in a busy corporate cafeteria setting. This role requires hands-on involvement in cooking breakfast and lunch meals, managing kitchen staff, and maintaining high standards in food preparation and presentation. The Sous Chef supports the Executive Chef by instructing and guiding line cooks and other kitchen employees, creating weekly menu specials, and overseeing supplies and kitchen operations to ensure everything runs smoothly and efficiently.

Key responsibilities include inspecting supplies, equipment, and work areas to meet standards, scheduling production to meet service demands, monitoring ingredient quality and quantity, assisting with food costing, managing inventory, ordering supplies, and maintaining accurate operational records such as prep lists, waste logs, and cleaning schedules. This position demands excellent organizational and communication skills, a proactive approach to reducing waste, and the ability to foster a teamwork mentality within a small kitchen.

Applicants should have at least three years of kitchen experience, preferably with some exposure to a cafeteria or similar setting, and ideally over one year of Sous Chef level experience. ServSafe certification is desirable but not mandatory. The ideal candidate is someone who finds joy in beautifully preparing dishes, enjoys working in an 'all hands on deck' small kitchen environment, takes pride in efficient prep list creation, and has a genuine interest in building and developing a successful culinary team.

Trolley Eats offers a competitive starting wage of $22 per hour, along with a robust benefits package that includes paid holidays, sick time, vacation and floating holidays, medical, dental, and vision insurance plans, 401(k) retirement plan with company match after one year, company-paid life insurance and short-term disability, an employee assistance program, free employee shift meals, discounted gym memberships, and various discounts across the Trolley House Hospitality companies. This role represents an excellent opportunity for culinary professionals seeking a fulfilling position with work-life balance, career growth, and a supportive company culture rooted in strong values and quality service.