Executive Chef

Job Title: Executive Chef

About the Role

We are seeking an experienced Executive Chef to lead our kitchen operations, maintain exceptional food quality, and manage food costs effectively. The ideal candidate must speak Malayalam fluently, demonstrate strong kitchen leadership, and have an expert understanding of ingredients, cooking techniques, and quality standards.

A key requirement is the ability to identify quality issues through a dish’s appearance and texture, supported by checks of aroma, taste, temperature, and preparation methods. You should be able to recognise inconsistencies quickly, identify their causes, and guide the team in correcting them before food reaches the customer.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead daily kitchen operations and ensure consistent food quality, taste, texture, portion size, and presentation.
• Inspect ingredients, preparation stages, and finished dishes to identify issues such as overcooking, undercooking, incorrect consistency, poor handling, or deviations from standard recipes.
• Establish clear quality standards and train kitchen staff to follow them during every service.
• Take ownership of recipe costing, portion costing, ingredient yields, and food cost control.
• Monitor actual food costs against targets, investigate variances, and take corrective action while maintaining quality.
• Control wastage, overproduction, stock discrepancies, and portion inconsistency.
• Work with purchasing and stores teams to maintain ingredient specifications, stock rotation, and inventory accuracy.
• Develop and standardise recipes, menus, preparation methods, and portion sizes.
• Plan production and staff allocation to ensure timely service during busy periods.
• Maintain kitchen hygiene, safe food handling, proper storage, and cleaning standards.
• Investigate food quality complaints and implement measures to prevent recurrence.
• Communicate clearly in Malayalam with kitchen staff and coordinate effectively with management and service teams.

Required Skills and Experience

• Proven experience as an Executive Chef, Head Chef, or in a comparable senior kitchen leadership role.
• Fluency in spoken Malayalam is mandatory.
• Excellent ability to assess food quality through visual inspection and texture, supported by practical culinary knowledge.
• Strong hands-on knowledge of recipe costing, yield calculations, portion control, inventory management, and food cost analysis.
• Demonstrated ability to maintain consistent quality during high-volume service.
• Strong leadership, staff training, communication, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to use spreadsheets or kitchen costing software to prepare and review cost reports.
• A qualification in culinary arts or hotel management is preferred; substantial relevant experience will also be considered.

Pay: ₹80,000.00 - ₹100,000.00 per month

Benefits:

• Cell phone reimbursement
• Food provided

Application Question(s):

• Can you communicate fluently in Malayalam and hindi with kitchen staff?

• Explain how you calculate the cost per portion of a dish, including ingredient yield and wastage.

• Give an example of how you reduced food costs while maintaining food quality.

• Describe a food quality problem you identified through appearance or texture. What caused it, and how did you correct it?

• Do you have experience managing a multi-cuisine restaurant kitchen, specifically in a standalone restaurant rather than a hotel?

Work Location: In person