Hotel Equities, a multi-award-winning hotel development and hospitality management company, is currently searching for a remarkable Executive Chef for the Delta Hotels Guelph Conference Centre in Guelph, ON.
GENERAL REQUIREMENTS:
-
Red Seal Certification in Cook/Culinary Trade is strongly preferred.
-
Previous Executive Chef, Chef, or senior culinary leadership experience in a full-service hotel environment in Ontario.
-
Proven experience managing hotel restaurants, banquet, catering, and high-volume culinary operations.
-
Strong knowledge of Ontario food safety, sanitation, occupational health and safety, and applicable regulatory requirements.
-
Demonstrated experience with food cost control, menu planning, purchasing, inventory management, labor management, and culinary budgeting.
-
Strong leadership skills with the ability to recruit, train, coach, and develop culinary team members.
-
Ability to maintain consistently high standards of food quality, presentation, service, and guest satisfaction.
-
Flexible availability, including evenings, weekends, holidays, and peak business periods, based on operational requirements.
-
Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced, high-volume hotel environment and respond to changing business demands.
-
Strong communication, organization, problem-solving, and leadership skills.
-
Ability to work collaboratively with Food & Beverage, Operations, Sales & Catering, and other hotel departments.
-
Food Handler Certification and other applicable Ontario food-safety certifications are required.
ESSENTIAL JOB DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
1. Overall Culinary Operations
-
Lead and oversee all culinary operations for the hotel, including restaurant, banquets, catering, room service/IRD
-
Ensure consistent food quality, presentation, portion control and execution across all outlets.
-
Establish and maintain culinary standards, recipes, preparation procedures and plating standards.
-
Be hands-on and visible in the operation, particularly during peak periods and major events.
2. Banquet & Catering Operations
-
Take overall culinary responsibility for all banquet and catering events.
-
Work closely with Sales, Catering and Banquets to review BEOs, menus, guarantees and special requirements.
-
Plan food production, staffing, timing and execution for weddings, conferences, meetings and other large functions.
-
Ensure banquet food is delivered on time, at the correct temperature and according to contracted specifications.
-
Develop and maintain banquet menus that are competitive, profitable and operationally practical.
-
Control banquet food waste, overproduction and spoilage.
-
Ensures KPI for Banquet Food Quality are met in line with Marriott benchmarks
3. Restaurant Operations
-
Oversee daily restaurant kitchen operations and ensure consistent execution during breakfast, lunch and dinner.
-
Develop seasonal and profitable menus in conjunction with the F&B/Restaurant leadership.
-
Monitor guest feedback, food quality and presentation and take corrective action.
-
Ensure appropriate staffing and production levels based on forecasted covers and business levels.
4. Financial Management – Very Important
-
Own the culinary department's food cost and kitchen labour performance.
-
Develop and manage the annual culinary budget and forecasts.
-
Establish food-cost targets and monitor actual results against budget.
-
Review food cost, labour cost, waste, spoilage, portion control and purchasing variances.
-
Implement corrective action when food or labour costs exceed budget.
-
Identify opportunities to reduce costs without compromising guest experience or quality.
-
Participate in menu engineering to maximize contribution margins.
5. Purchasing & Inventory
-
Manage purchasing in line with Avendra for HE, receiving, storage and inventory controls.
-
Work with approved vendors to obtain competitive pricing and consistent quality.
-
Maintain appropriate par levels for restaurant and banquet operations.
-
Conduct regular physical inventories and investigate significant variances.
-
Minimize waste, spoilage, theft and unnecessary purchases.
-
Ensure proper rotation and storage of all food products.
6. Labor Management
-
Develop kitchen schedules based on occupancy, restaurant covers, banquet volume and forecasted business.
-
Manage labor productivity and staffing levels against budget.
-
Ensure appropriate staffing for large banquet events without excessive overtime.
-
Recruit, train, coach and develop culinary employees.
-
Cross train staff to improve flexibility and productivity.
-
Conduct performance reviews and address performance issues promptly.
7. Food Safety & Ontario Compliance
-
Ensure compliance with all applicable Ontario food safety, public health, workplace safety and sanitation requirements.
-
Maintain proper food temperatures, storage, labelling and handling procedures.
-
Ensure required food-handler/food-safety certifications are maintained.
-
Maintain clean and sanitary kitchens, coolers, freezers, preparation areas and stewarding areas.
-
Correct deficiencies identified through health inspections or internal audits.
8. Leadership & Team Development
-
Lead, coach and develop the culinary leadership team, including Sous Chefs, Banquet Chef and line-level culinary staff.
-
Establish clear performance expectations and hold team members accountable.
-
Create a culture of teamwork, professionalism and accountability.
-
Conduct regular kitchen meetings and training.
-
Develop succession plans and internal culinary talent.
-
Maintain strong communication collaboration with F&B, Banquets, Sales, Engineering and the General Manager.
9. Guest Experience
-
Personally monitor food quality and guest satisfaction.
-
Respond to significant guest complaints relating to food quality or service.
-
Review guest satisfaction and banquet/event feedback and implement improvements.
-
Maintain consistent standards across both high-volume banquet production and à-la-carte restaurant service.
-
Creates a culture of chefs coming out and speaking with guests
10. Menu Development
-
Create and update restaurants, banquets and catering menus, being innovative.
-
Ensure menus reflect market demand, seasonality and hotel positioning.
-
Calculate recipe costs and selling margins.
-
Standardize recipes and portion sizes, and establish pickup charts as needed.
-
Introduce new products and concepts while maintaining financial discipline.
PLEASE NOTE THIS JOB DESCRIPTION IS NOT DESIGNED TO COVER OR CONTAIN A COMPREHENSIVE LISTING OF ACTIVITIES, DUTIES OR RESPONSIBILITIES THAT ARE REQUIRED OF THE EMPLOYEE FOR THIS
Food Cost
Achieve budgeted food cost %
Kitchen Labor
Achieving budgeted labor cost and productivity
Banquets
Execute events according to BEO, timing and quality standards
Restaurant
Maintain food quality, consistency and guest satisfaction
Waste
Reduce food waste/spoilage and monitor waste logs
Inventory
Maintain accurate inventory and investigate variances
Purchasing
Buy within approved pricing/vendor programs
Guest Satisfaction
Improve food-related guest/banquet scores
Food Safety
100% compliance with required standards
Training
Maintain ongoing culinary and food-safety training
Budget
Meet or exceed departmental financial targets
DUTIES, RESPONSIBILITIES, AND ACTIVITIES MAY CHANGE AT ANY TIME WITH OR WITHOUT NOTICE.
DESIRED SOFTWARE PROFICIENCIES: NONE
EDUCATION / EXPERIENCE:
-
High school or equivalent education strongly preferred.
-
3 years of culinary management experience required.
-
Catering experience in a managerial capacity required.
-
Experience managing a kitchen, developing staff, and managing food costs required.
PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:
-
Ability to stand and maintain well-paced mobility for up to 4 hours.
-
Ability to bend, stoop, squat, stretch, and lift to 50 lbs. regularly.
-
Ability to lift and carry food items or trays weighing up to 30 lbs.
-
Ability to push and pull carts and equipment weighing up to 250 lbs.
WHAT WE CAN OFFER YOU:
-
The salary range for this position will be $75,000 to $80,000.
-
Health and dental insurance
-
RRSP with company match
-
Vacation and Sick Pay
-
Paid Holidays
-
Daily Pay
-
Hotel Brand discounts
-
Discount programs for shopping, travel, tickets and more.
-
Access to our Talent team to help you reach your career growth goals.
