Executive Chef

Location: Monteverde and La Fortuna, Costa Rica

Setting : The role requires regular travel between the two towns, so living in one of them, or between the two, will be necessary.

Working Hours: Full time, on-site, including evenings, weekends, and holidays as the business requires

Reports To: General Manager.

Team Structure: Direct reports: 2-4 Kitchen Shift Managers

The Regional Chef holds full culinary responsibility for the restaurants. The role exists to close the gap between the General Manager and the two Kitchen Shift Managers, making sure every shift, under every Shift Manager, runs to a single written and enforced standard. The Regional Chef does not run either kitchen day to day; the Shift Managers do that. Instead, the Regional Chef sets the standard, verifies every day that it is being met, and owns the systems—SOPs, recipes, and inventory discipline—that make consistency possible across two locations, two menus, and two different service models.

This is a role of constant presence on the floor. The Regional Chef is expected to taste, check, and correct in person, every day, in multiple locations—not to manage from a spreadsheet or an office. Where the restaurants share ingredients, techniques, or back-of-house resources, the Regional Chef is also responsible for identifying and applying efficiencies across the two.

Key responsibilities:

Kitchen Supervision and Standards

• Ensure both Shift Managers operate their kitchens to standard—mise en place, cleanliness, organization, and service pace.

• Taste every production, every day, in multiple locations, before it reaches the guest, and record the result.

• Enforce consistency between shifts and between the restaurants wherever menus or techniques overlap.

• Be present on the floor during service peaks to catch and correct problems in real time.

• Lead pre-shift meetings with the Shift Managers when needed to align the day's standards.

Kitchen SOPs and Recipe Precision

• Create and maintain the kitchen SOPs: prep procedures, production sequence, plating standards, sanitation, and opening and closing checklists.

• Own the recipe book for multiple locations—every recipe specified by unit, weight, and exact ingredient quality, with photos where useful.

• Continuously audit the plate served against the recipe specification; correct any deviation immediately with the responsible Shift Manager.

• Update SOPs and recipes whenever a menu, supplier, or process changes—nothing should depend on memory or verbal instruction.

• Standardize any recipe or technique shared between the restaurants, so multiple locations execute it identically.

Inventory Control

• Ensure inventory counts are completed on time, every cycle, in multiple locations.

• Verify that counts reconcile with recipe-based usage—by unit, weight, and quality—and flag variances immediately.

• Work with both Shift Managers on inventory organization, labeling, and rotation (FIFO).

• Escalate to the General Manager any recurring loss, waste, or cost variance, together with a corrective plan.

• Review supplier quality and consistency against the standard defined in each recipe.

Team Leadership

• Directly manage, coach, and develop both Kitchen Shift Managers.

• Hold structured meetings with each Shift Manager on menu knowledge, prep planning, and service execution.

• Escalate to the General Manager and Culinary Director any staffing, quality, or cost issue that requires it.

• Set the standard for kitchen culture in both locations—accountability, precision, and cleanliness.

• Support recruitment, induction, and performance review of kitchen staff alongside each Shift Manager.

Required Skills and Qualifications

• Minimum 3+ years in a senior kitchen role (executive chef, sous chef, or kitchen manager), including responsibility for food quality and consistency across a high-volume or multi-kitchen operation.

• Culinary training or equivalent professional kitchen experience.

• Demonstrated ownership of kitchen standards, including building and enforcing SOPs and standardized recipes specified by unit and weight.

• Proven experience with inventory control, count reconciliation, waste tracking, and food cost discipline.

• Experience managing and developing kitchen shift leads or junior managers.

• Working knowledge of food safety and sanitation requirements (Ministerio de Salud) for food service in Costa Rica.

• Comfortable working across distinct cuisines and service models—daytime Mediterranean and Middle Eastern bakery and Asian dinner service.

• Proficiency with inventory management and kitchen POS/reporting systems and with AI tools.

• Fluent Spanish and strong English, spoken and written.

• Valid driver's license, with the ability to travel regularly between locations.

Advantages

• Background across both bakery/pastry and hot line dinner service.

• Experience opening a new kitchen or standardizing a new menu.

• Experience serving a mixed local and tourist customer base.

• Specific familiarity with Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, or Asian cuisine.