Kitchen Manager

Position Description: POSITION SUMMARY

Jason Dady Restaurant Group is seeking a strong, hands-on Kitchen Manager to lead the Tex-Mex kitchen.

This role is about more than running shifts. The Kitchen Manager is responsible for building a strong team, protecting food quality, creating a positive and accountable kitchen culture, managing costs, and leading the restaurant through high-volume service with confidence and control. We are looking for a leader who understands that great kitchens are built on preparation, consistency, communication, urgency, and respect.

The right Kitchen Manager can push a team to perform at a high level without creating unnecessary chaos. They remain calm under pressure, lead from the front, coach constantly, solve problems quickly, and create an environment where employees want to work, improve, and grow.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

BUILD THE TEAM

The Kitchen Manager is responsible for creating and developing a high-performing kitchen team.

This includes:

• Recruit, hire, train, coach, and retain strong BOH employees.
• Create a positive, professional, team-focused work environment.
• Establish clear expectations for performance, attendance, cleanliness, communication, and teamwork.
• Develop cooks into trainers, lead cooks, sous chefs, and future managers.
• Provide consistent coaching and real-time feedback.
• Recognize strong performance and employees who demonstrate hustle, consistency, teamwork, and leadership.
• Address performance problems quickly, fairly, and professionally.
• Build accountability without relying on yelling, intimidation, or unnecessary negativity.
• Create training systems that allow new employees to become productive quickly and correctly.
• Cross-train employees to create a more flexible and capable kitchen.
• Build a kitchen team that can perform consistently even when senior leadership is not physically present.

2. WIN THE RUSH

This is a high-volume, high-speed restaurant, and the Kitchen Manager must be comfortable leading through significant business volume.

Ticket Times • Food Quality • Communication • Staffing • Station Readiness • Product Levels • Cleanliness • Safety • Guest Experience

The Kitchen Manager will:

• Lead from the kitchen floor during peak periods.
• Maintain urgency without sacrificing standards.
• Anticipate service bottlenecks before they become major problems.
• Move employees and resources where they are needed during service.
• Constantly monitor ticket flow and station performance.
• Maintain clear communication with FOH management.
• Adjust prep and staffing based on actual volume.
• Ensure every station is stocked and ready before service.
• Quickly identify why a station is falling behind and correct the problem.
• Maintain composure during difficult services.

FOOD QUAILITY AND STANDARDS

Food quality is non-negotiable. The Kitchen Manager is responsible for protecting recipe integrity, consistency, food safety, portioning, and presentation across every shift.

Responsibilities include:

• Maintain all recipes and preparation standards.
• Execute consistent Tex-Mex food across all dayparts and volumes.
• Monitor proteins, sauces, salsas, tortillas, rice, beans, queso, tacos, enchiladas, fajitas, and other restaurant specialties.
• Conduct regular line checks before and during service.
• Maintain proper taste, temperature, freshness, portioning, and presentation standards.
• Ensure stations are properly set, stocked, labeled, and organized.
• Maintain product rotation and FIFO procedures.
• Monitor food holding, cooling, reheating, and storage procedures.
• Protect high-cost ingredients through proper yield and portion management.
• Eliminate unnecessary waste and overproduction.
• Work with culinary leadership on menu improvements, specials, training, and execution.

The Kitchen Manager is expected to taste the food, inspect the line, and stay actively involved in the product being served.

RUN THE BUSINESS

The Kitchen Manager is expected to understand the financial side of the restaurant and actively manage controllable costs.

Performance Targets

Metric Target

Food Cost 28% or less

Total Restaurant Hourly Labor Less than 17%

Overtime Hours No more than 4%

Dry Goods 4% or less

Restaurant Sales $200,000+ per applicable period

The Kitchen Manager will actively manage:

• Food cost
• BOH labor
• Total hourly labor in partnership with the General Manager
• Overtime
• Inventory
• Purchasing
• Waste
• Product yields
• Portion control
• Prep levels
• Vendor pricing
• Dry goods and operating supplies
• Productivity
• Scheduling

Food Cost Responsibilities

• Conduct accurate inventory counts.
• Review food-cost performance regularly.
• Investigate unusual variances.
• Maintain appropriate pars.
• Control waste and overproduction.
• Monitor protein and high-cost ingredient yields.
• Ensure proper receiving procedures.
• Review invoices for price and quantity accuracy.
• Reduce unnecessary emergency purchases.
• Maintain appropriate inventory without excessive stock.

Labor Responsibilities

• Schedule according to projected sales.
• Adjust staffing to actual business conditions.
• Minimize unnecessary overtime.
• Control early clock-ins and late clock-outs.
• Cross-train employees to improve labor flexibility.
• Maintain appropriate productivity by station and daypart.
• Partner with restaurant leadership to keep total hourly labor below target.

PERFORMANCE BONUS PROGRAM

The Kitchen Manager will become eligible to participate in the Jason Dady Restaurant Group management bonus program.

The program provides the opportunity to earn:

UP TO $1,000 per accounting period × 13 periods annually = up to $13,000 in annual performance bonuses.

Bonus compensation is not guaranteed. For a bonus to be earned for an applicable period, all required performance standards must be achieved. Final bonus calculations will be based on Jason Dady Restaurant Group accounting records and applicable company policies.

OWN THE KITCHEN

The Kitchen Manager is expected to treat the kitchen like their own business.

That means taking responsibility for:

• Cleanliness
• Organization
• Maintenance
• Food safety
• Equipment
• Storage
• Receiving
• Employee standards
• Prep systems
• Inventory
• Communication
• Financial performance
• Team development

The Kitchen Manager should not walk past problems.

If something is dirty, broken, disorganized, unsafe, improperly stored, poorly prepared, or below standard, the expectation is that the issue is addressed.

FOOD SAFETY & SANITATION

The Kitchen Manager is responsible for maintaining an inspection-ready kitchen at all times.

Responsibilities include:

• Maintain compliance with all applicable health department requirements.
• Maintain required manager certifications.
• Enforce proper handwashing and employee hygiene.
• Maintain required food temperature controls and logs.
• Ensure proper cooling, reheating, labeling, dating, and storage.
• Prevent cross-contamination.
• Maintain proper allergen procedures.
• Ensure chemicals are stored and labeled correctly.
• Maintain cleaning schedules for equipment and kitchen areas.
• Keep walk-ins, freezers, prep areas, cook lines, dish areas, floors, walls, and storage areas clean and organized.
• Immediately address food-safety or workplace-safety concerns.

LEADERSHIP STANDARD

The Kitchen Manager sets the tone for the kitchen. When the restaurant becomes busier, the manager should become: More focused. More organized. More communicative. More composed.

We expect leaders who:

• Work beside their teams when necessary.
• Hold everyone to consistent standards.
• Give clear direction.
• Recognize good performance.
• Correct problems promptly.
• Treat people with respect.
• Maintain accountability.
• Develop employees rather than simply manage them.
• Protect food quality at all times.
• Put the success of the team and restaurant first.

Leadership performance will be evaluated not only by financial results, but also by the strength of the team the Kitchen Manager develops, including:

• Employee retention
• Training effectiveness
• Team development
• Cleanliness
• Organization
• Consistency
• Service execution
• Readiness
• Ability of the kitchen to perform without constant senior-management intervention

QUALIFICATIONS

The successful candidate should demonstrate:

• Previous kitchen-management experience in a high-volume full-service restaurant.
• Experience in Tex-Mex, Mexican, Southwestern, or scratch-kitchen operations preferred.
• Strong leadership and team-development skills.
• Proven ability to manage food cost and labor.
• Strong inventory and purchasing experience.
• Experience scheduling hourly kitchen employees.
• Working understanding of restaurant P&L fundamentals.
• Strong food-safety and sanitation knowledge.
• Ability to work successfully under significant service volume.
• Strong organizational and communication skills.
• Ability to lead calmly under pressure.
• Willingness to work nights, weekends, holidays, and peak restaurant periods.
• A hands-on leadership style.

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE

A successful Kitchen Manager builds a kitchen that is: Fast. Clean. Organized. Consistent. Accountable. Positive. Profitable. The kitchen should serve outstanding Tex-Mex food at high volume while developing employees, controlling costs, maintaining standards, and delivering an excellent guest experience.

We are looking for a Kitchen Manager who wants to build a great kitchen team—not simply run a kitchen.