Culinary Event Lead

Department: Managed Venue Administration • Employment Type: Full Time • Location: Events • Reports to: Kenneth Rae

About the role

The Culinary Event Lead is a key member of our off-premise catering culinary team, responsible for supporting and leading the successful culinary execution of events ranging from intimate gatherings of 10 guests to large-scale events serving up to 2,000 guests. This position is ideal for an experienced culinarian who combines strong culinary fundamentals with excellent organization, leadership, communication, and time-management skills. The Culinary Event Lead must be comfortable working in fast-paced, constantly changing environments where preparation, timing, teamwork, and attention to detail are essential to a successful event. Candidates with previous off-premise catering or large-scale event experience are strongly preferred. However, an accomplished food-service professional with the right culinary foundation, management experience, organizational ability, and desire to learn off-premise event execution can be trained for the position. The Culinary Event Lead will join an experienced team of culinary professionals with decades of catering knowledge and will be trained in our systems and standards for executing a broad range of off-premise events, menus, venues, and service styles. When the event schedule allows, this position will also support culinary production at our main commissary, helping ensure upcoming events are properly prepared, organized, and positioned for successful execution.

Responsibilities

Off-Premise Event Execution

• Lead or assist with culinary execution for off-premise catered events ranging from approximately 10 to 2,000 guests.
• Execute a wide variety of menus, event formats, and service styles, including plated meals, buffets, stations, receptions, cocktail events, family-style service, and other customized catering experiences.
• Review event details, menus, timelines, production requirements, equipment needs, and service expectations prior to departure.
• Ensure food is transported, handled, finished, held, presented, and served according to established culinary and food-safety standards.
• Direct culinary setup, execution, replenishment, breakdown, and return procedures at off-premise venues.
• Maintain food quality and presentation despite the unique challenges associated with temporary and off-site kitchens.
• Anticipate operational challenges and make sound decisions in real time to protect food quality, service timing, and the overall guest experience.
• Communicate effectively with event leadership, service teams, culinary staff, venue personnel, and other partners throughout execution.
• Maintain professional composure and leadership during high-volume and time-sensitive events.

Culinary Leadership

• Provide clear direction and leadership to cooks and other culinary team members assigned to an event.
• Organize event culinary teams around clearly defined responsibilities, production priorities, and service timelines.
• Delegate effectively while remaining accountable for the overall culinary execution of the event.
• Monitor quality, consistency, sanitation, recipe execution, portioning, and presentation throughout production and service.
• Lead through example with a hands-on approach and willingness to work alongside the team.
• Help develop less-experienced culinarians by sharing knowledge, reinforcing standards, and providing practical coaching.
• Foster a culture of teamwork, professionalism, respect, urgency, and accountability.

Timing & Event Management

• Develop a strong understanding of event timelines and work backward from service times to determine priorities for setup, finishing, firing, plating, replenishment, and breakdown.
• Coordinate multiple culinary priorities simultaneously while maintaining organization and attention to detail.
• Recognize potential timing or production problems early and adjust resources and priorities accordingly.
• Understand that successful off-premise catering requires adaptability and creative problem-solving when equipment, facilities, weather, venue restrictions, or other circumstances differ from a traditional kitchen environment.
• Ensure the culinary team is prepared for service and understands critical event timing.

Commissary & Production Support

• Support production for upcoming catered events.
• Assist with prep, cooking, fabrication, portioning, packaging, labeling, and organization.
• Review upcoming event requirements and help identify production priorities.
• Assist with event packing and load-out.
• Support receiving, storage, organization, and proper rotation of products as needed.
• Help maintain clean, organized, professional production and storage areas.
• Work collaboratively across culinary departments as business needs and event schedules change.

Requirements

• Minimum 5 years of professional food-service experience.
• Minimum 2 years of supervisory, lead, or management experience within a culinary or food-service environment.
• Strong culinary skills and working knowledge of professional kitchen techniques and standards.
• Demonstrated ability to organize and direct employees in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong time-management and prioritization skills.
• Ability to read and execute menus, recipes, production sheets, prep lists, and event documentation.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to remain calm, organized, decisive, and professional under pressure.
• Strong understanding of food safety, sanitation, proper food handling, temperature control, and safe workplace practices.
• Ability and willingness to work a flexible schedule dictated by event business, including early mornings, evenings, weekends, and holidays as required.
• Ability to work both independently and as part of a larger culinary and event team.
• Serve Safe Manager Certified or be certified within 90 days of employment (Company provided course).

Qualifications

• Previous off-premise catering experience.
• Experience with large-scale events, banquet production, high-volume catering, hotels, convention operations, commissary kitchens, or similar environments.
• Previous responsibility for leading culinary teams during service or event execution.
• Culinary degree, culinary certificate, hospitality education, or equivalent industry experience.
• Business, hospitality, or management education or comparable practical management experience.