Executive Sous Chef, Catering and Private Events

From fine dining restaurants to residential dining, USC Hospitality serves thousands of students, athletes, faculty, and staff, as well as our many visitors. Hospitality is one of the six core business units that comprise USC Auxiliary Services and one of the largest employers on campus. We are renowned for our fresh take on self-operated food concepts with restaurants between both campuses. The team at USC Hospitality is led by innovative executive chefs and directors who strive every day to craft nourishing and wholesome alternatives for our hungry Trojan Family and our guests. Students, faculty, staff, and visitors to the Trojan campus count on USC Hospitality to provide a fresh, made-to-order, nourishing meal. Amidst all of the hustle and bustle of student life, our eateries are the ideal social gathering locations to grab a quick bite or enjoy a group meal. We are driven to succeed by our commitment to uphold our unifying values.

We are seeking a to join our rapidly growing team.

The Opportunity:

The Executive Sous Chef, Catering and Private Events serves as a culinary leader in Private Events & Conferences kitchens. This culinary leader provides support to the Executive Chef of Private Events & Conferences in menu and recipe development, food cost maintenance, labor management, and culinary execution of all catered events.

The Accountabilities:

• Creates and updates Private Events & Conferences catering menus at least twice a year on an as needed basis, after Executive Chef’s approval. Assists Executive Chef with creation of recipes, sourcing, pricing, and implementation of menu items, training of staff and consistent execution up to Private Events & Conferences standards. Reviews product mix and other menu engineering reports and adjusts accordingly. Ensures Cost of Goods and food inventories remain within budgeted standards and as directed by the Executive Chef. Creates and updates culinary options according to USC and industry standards for Private Events & Conferences VIP clients such as Office of the President, Cultural Relations University Events, and other senior University leaders and guests.

• Assists Executive Chef with the maintenance of current kitchen schedules, staffing templates, staff trainings, ordering, and production targets within assigned units. Oversees processing of time cards and delivery to payroll in assigned unit. Assists the Executive Chef with regular operational meetings with culinary team.

• Engages with Hospitality and Hotel management to develop systems to improve operational efficiency, facilitate departmental revenue and growth, improve general kitchen maintenance and cleanliness and adherence to all food safety standards at all times. Ensures adherence to all systems, procedures, and policies from federal, state, county and the university. Assists the Executive Chef to set, maintain, and implement culinary Standard Operating Procedures in coordination with Hospitality Management.

• Assists Executive Chef with the culinary team staffing, partners with Talent Acquisition to perform recruitment, screening, hiring, orientation and training of department staff. Works with the department head and venue managers to identify high performers and develop them as Department leaders. Provides feedback to the line level employees and mid-level managers to grow and develop them further.

• Directs and coordinates the production of food in a dining operation. Provides professional culinary advice and expertise. Plans, prices and develops new menus and recipes. Schedules meal production.

• Prepares and cooks foods of all types, either on a regular basis or for special functions.

• Develops and recommends goals and objectives for unit. Implements and communicates to staff. Reassesses or redefines priorities as appropriate in order to achieve performance objectives.

• Directly supervises at least two full-time subordinate staff, or the equivalent. Recruits, screens, hires, orients and trains staff. Evaluates employee performance and provides guidance and feedback to assigned staff. Counsels, disciplines and/or terminates employees, as required. Monitors and reviews work of staff. Identifies problems and assists in resolution. Ensures adherence to unit operating policies and procedures.

• Provides customer service to faculty, staff, students and external customers. Meets customer needs, offers options, resolves problems and follows up with customers. Ensures full customer satisfaction without unnecessarily referring customer to other staff members. Maintains friendly, helpful demeanor.

• Oversees food ordering. Maintains food and labor costs within established budgetary guidelines.

• Maintains currency with, understands and ensures unit compliance with all university policies and procedures and with all applicable local, state and federal laws and regulations.

• Inspects food storage and directs sanitary maintenance of kitchen and storage facilities.

• Maintains currency with professional organizations and publications pertinent to unit's operation.

The Qualifiers:

• Minimum Education: Specialized/technical training

• Minimum Experience: Five years of management experience.

• Minimum Field of Expertise:

  Formal training at accredited culinary institute.

  Supervisory-level chef experience in diversified food-service operation.

  Demonstrated knowledge of health and sanitation requirements.

  Demonstrated organizational and communication skills.

• In addition, the successful candidate must also demonstrate, through ideas, words and actions, a strong commitment to USC’s Unifying Values.

What We Prefer:

• Preferred Experience: Over five years of management experience.

The Trojan Family Rewards:

We pride ourselves in creating the BEST USC EXPERIENCE, and that begins with our employees! We offer a wide variety of benefits and programs that support our staff and their families.