Chef Instructor, Savory (Sur La Table)

About the role

As a Chef Instructor, Savory at Sur La Table, you are the in‑store expert and advocate for all things savory cooking. You deliver the company‑wide #bestincenter service standard by sharing specialized knowledge in culinary techniques, cooking fundamentals, and personalized instruction that supports all company initiatives. The role inspires a love for cooking while driving sales of cookware, cutlery, and kitchen tools through hands‑on savory classes and engaging culinary instruction.

Key Responsibilities

• Customer Experience & Brand Representation: Create memorable, educational savory cooking classes that reflect Sur La Table’s passion for food and high standards; follow provided recipes and game plans; communicate technical cooking concepts clearly; stay current on products and training.
• Sales & Business Performance: Drive class revenue and retail sales by encouraging second‑class sign‑ups, promoting featured kitchen items, and achieving enrollment, review, and guest‑return goals; measured by KPIs such as second‑class sign‑ups, product sales, and Google reviews.
• Team Engagement & Store Support: Set up and break down classes, organize mise en place, prep ingredients, clean workstations, and maintain kitchen supplies and tools.
• Operations & Compliance: Ensure food‑safety, health‑code, and sanitation compliance; handle tools, ingredients, and equipment safely; maintain accurate inventory and control shrink; manage liquor, wine, and beer in accordance with state regulations and company policies; uphold store safety, cleanliness, and SOPs; record time worked per policy.

Qualifications & Experience

• Must be 21 years of age or older at the time of employment.
• A degree in culinary arts is preferred; extensive culinary experience with demonstrated technical proficiency is also acceptable.
• 1–2 years of kitchen operations experience.
• Valid Food Manager Certification.
• Excellent communication, problem‑solving, and decision‑making abilities.
• Passion for community engagement and providing exceptional customer experiences.

Physical Requirements

• Ability to communicate verbally and work cooperatively with associates and customers.
• Stand for up to 4 hours at a time and move about the store while directing class participants and retrieving merchandise.
• Ability to perceive and differentiate flavors, odors, and tastes using tongue or nose.
• Perform physical tasks such as grabbing, reaching, pushing, pulling, bending, stooping, kneeling, and crouching to demonstrate, retrieve, or replenish merchandise and cooking equipment.
• Use hands to chop, whisk, slice, stir, juice, and demonstrate techniques.
• Lift and move merchandise weighing up to 50 lb.
• Ascend/descend ladders to retrieve or move merchandise.
• Operate a computer, POS system, keyboards, merchandise scanners, and mouse.
• Work in a variable kitchen environment including open flames, hot surfaces, temperature variations, and exposure to food allergens (both physical and airborne).

Schedule

Available to work between 12 and 16 hours per week, with a flexible schedule that includes nights, weekends, and holidays. Regular and predictable attendance is required, with the flexibility to adjust class assignments based on demand.