Chef De Cuisine - Sartén Kitchen & Bar
Denu Hotel & Spa - Phoenix AZ
Position Summary:
The Chef de Cuisine of Sartén is responsible for the day-to-day culinary leadership, execution, and financial performance of Denu Hotel & Spa's signature restaurant. This position provides hands-on leadership to the Sartén culinary team while ensuring consistent execution of the restaurant's menus, recipes, presentation standards, sanitation requirements, and luxury hospitality expectations.
The Chef de Cuisine works closely with the Executive Chef, Food & Beverage leadership, and front-of-house management to create a seamless dining experience across breakfast, lunch, brunch, dinner, private dining, and special programming. This leader is expected to maintain a highly visible presence in the kitchen, develop a strong culinary team, protect food quality and consistency, manage costs responsibly, and foster a culture of professionalism, accountability, creativity, and hospitality.
WHAT YOU WILL ACCOMPLISH
Key Responsibilities:- Lead the daily culinary operation of Sartén across all meal periods, maintaining a strong presence on the line during peak service.
- Ensure all food is prepared, cooked, plated, and presented according to established recipes, specifications, portion standards, and presentation expectations.
- Conduct daily line checks and ensure all stations are fully prepared, organized, stocked, and service-ready before each meal period.
- Partner with the Executive Chef on seasonal menu development, specials, recipe testing, menu rollouts, and culinary programming.
- Support the execution of brunches, holidays, chef dinners, private dining, restaurant buyouts, and other special events and activations.
- Lead, train, coach, and develop cooks, stewards, and other Sartén culinary colleagues; establish clear expectations for preparation, execution, cleanliness, and professionalism.
- Conduct pre-shift meetings and communicate menu changes, VIPs, dietary restrictions, special requests, reservations, and operational priorities.
- Collaborate closely with front-of-house leadership to maintain service timing, communication, food quality, and guest recovery standards.
- Assist in achieving budgeted food cost and labor goals through disciplined purchasing, production planning, portion control, scheduling, waste reduction, and inventory management.
- Monitor product usage, par levels, quality, receiving, storage, labeling, rotation, and utilization; maintain FIFO standards throughout the kitchen.
- Maintain the highest standards of sanitation, food safety, organization, and equipment care in accordance with company policies and applicable health requirements.
- Respond professionally to guest feedback, allergies, dietary restrictions, and service recovery needs while protecting the integrity of the guest experience.
- Complete schedules, production sheets, temperature logs, waste documentation, inventory counts, and other required administrative responsibilities accurately and on time.
- Identify operational opportunities and communicate challenges early, partnering with culinary and F&B leadership on practical solutions.
- Support an inclusive, respectful, accountable, and high-performing kitchen culture consistent with Denu and Pacific Hospitality Group standards.
Guest Experience & Hospitality
- Support a luxury dining experience consistent with Denu's hospitality philosophy and Forbes-level service expectations.
- Maintain urgency, composure, and attention to detail throughout service without compromising food quality or presentation.
- Engage with guests when appropriate, especially for VIPs, special occasions, dietary accommodation, and service recovery.
WHAT YOU WILL BRING
Qualifications:- Minimum 3-5 years of progressive culinary leadership experience, preferably in an upscale, luxury, lifestyle, resort, or high-volume restaurant environment.
- Previous experience as a Chef de Cuisine, Sous Chef, Executive Sous Chef, or comparable culinary leadership position strongly preferred.
- Strong knowledge of restaurant kitchen operations across multiple meal periods, including breakfast, lunch, brunch, and dinner.
- Demonstrated ability to lead, coach, train, and develop culinary teams in a fast-paced environment.
- Strong knowledge of food safety, sanitation, inventory management, food cost, labor management, purchasing, and kitchen organization.
- Experience with recipe development, menu costing, production planning, and maintaining recipe and plating standards.
- Strong communication, organizational, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
- Ability to collaborate effectively with culinary, restaurant, beverage, banquet, purchasing, and hotel leadership teams.
- Culinary degree or formal culinary training preferred, with equivalent professional experience considered.
- Current food safety certification or ability to obtain required certification.
Physical & Scheduling Requirements
- Ability to stand and work in a professional kitchen environment for extended periods and perform the physical duties common to a commercial kitchen.
- Ability to lift, carry, push, or pull items commonly required within a professional culinary operation.
- Ability to work around heat, steam, refrigeration, sharp equipment, and other conditions typical of a commercial kitchen.
- Must be available to work a flexible schedule based on business needs, including early mornings, evenings, weekends, holidays, and special events.
Success in This Role
Success will be demonstrated through consistent food quality and presentation, strong guest satisfaction, effective culinary team development and retention, disciplined food and labor cost management, excellent sanitation standards, smooth collaboration between culinary and front-of-house teams, and the successful execution of Sartén's daily service and special programming.
Equal Employment Opportunity
We provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibit discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.
This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.
We provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibit discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.
This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.
