Executive Chef The Vintage Club

The Vintage Club is widely recognized as one of the country's most exclusive and distinguished private clubs, offering an unparalleled lifestyle in the heart of Indian Wells, California. Since opening in 1980, the Club has built a reputation for exceptional service, timeless elegance, and a welcoming, resort-style atmosphere that fosters lasting friendships and extraordinary experiences.

At the center of the member experience is the Club's iconic 80,000-square-foot clubhouse, which overlooks pristine lakes, championship golf courses, and the breathtaking Santa Rosa Mountains. Members enjoy multiple dining venues, including the award-winning LakeView Grille, the casual Palm Court, The Vintage Market, and full-service men's and ladies' locker room dining, all supported by an exceptional culinary and wine program. Golf is a defining feature of The Vintage Club, highlighted by two Tom Fazio-designed championship courses—the Mountain Course and the Desert Course. Complementing the golf experience are world-class tennis, pickleball, fitness, wellness, and spa amenities, creating an exceptional environment for recreation, health, and relaxation. Beyond its outstanding facilities, The Vintage Club offers an engaging year-round social calendar featuring golf and tennis tournaments, wine dinners, live entertainment, speaker series, holiday celebrations, family events, and countless opportunities for members to connect.

The Vintage Club's culinary program operates across multiple dining venues, each designed to complement the Club's exceptional member experience during its peak season from October through May. Palm Court, seating approximately 225, serves lunch and dinner seven days a week and is a vibrant hub for member dining. The LakeView Grille, with seating for 175, offers breakfast and lunch daily and dinner five evenings per week, providing an elevated dining experience overlooking the Club's picturesque grounds. Members also enjoy dedicated breakfast and lunch service in the Men's and Ladies' Locker Rooms, accommodating approximately 50 guests, while the Sandwich Bar offers coffee, grab-and-go selections, and casual lunch service for up to 50 members. Beyond its dining outlets, the culinary team supports an active in-home catering program for members as well as a robust calendar of catered Club events and social functions, creating a diverse and dynamic operation throughout the season.

The Vintage Club by the numbers: 500 members, average age 71. Annual food volume approximately $5.5M, annual beverage volume approximately $1.5M. À la carte 60%, banquets 40%. 2 kitchens (Clubhouse & Palm Court), 3 food & beverage outlets plus private dining spaces, banquet spaces, and catering. 65,000 covers per year, 3 weddings a year. Target food cost: 50%, average kitchen labor cost: 50%. 45 direct/indirect reports. Peak season: October – May (limited service June – September). The Club uses Jonas POS.

About the Role

The Executive Chef (EC) at The Vintage Club provides strategic leadership and oversight of all culinary operations across multiple food and beverage outlets within a high-volume, high-revenue seasonal private club environment. This includes à la carte dining, banquets, events, and member programming. The Executive Chef leads, inspires, and develops a talented culinary leadership team, including the Executive Sous Chef, Sous Chefs, Pastry Chef, and Purchasing Manager, while working in close partnership with the GM/CEO and the broader leadership team to establish and uphold culinary standards, operating systems, and procedures that ensure consistency, accountability, and continuous improvement.

The ideal candidate is a charismatic, hands-on leader who thrives in a seasonal, high-expectation environment and understands the unique rhythm of highly seasonal private club operations. This individual will possess exceptional culinary expertise, a passion for fresh, scratch-made cuisine, and a commitment to sourcing and preparing the highest quality ingredients with precision and consistency. Equally important, the Executive Chef will inspire and develop a talented culinary team while building meaningful relationships with the membership, ensuring every dining experience reflects the warmth, excellence, and personalized service that define The Vintage Club.

Responsibilities

Leadership

• Earn trust by instilling confidence through continued enhanced operations, interaction, and visibility.
• Create a fun, collaborative work environment while being “hands-on” when necessary but understanding when to step back and lead the team.
• Involve team members in the decision-making process of how “work gets done” and create a work environment of mutual respect in which people want to come to and participate every day.
• Be mature and poised in dealing with people, with a reputation for bringing the team together rather than creating a “we vs. they” mindset among supervisors and staff.
• Work closely with the front of house leadership and broader club leadership team to ensure a cohesive experience that consistently exceeds expectations for Members and guests.
• Be a focused and consistent evaluator of personnel, ensuring that standards of conduct and delivery are met; this includes oversight of high standards of appearance, hospitality, service, and cleanliness of the kitchen facilities.
• Be an active and dynamic recruiter of team members and someone who inherently enjoys developing and building their team and leading them to significant, positive membership satisfaction outcomes.
• Have a passion and aptitude for teaching and training all food service personnel, working as necessary with the team directly responsible for operations to create a learning culture of development.
• Establish and consistently enhance operating standards for personnel in areas of responsibility and consistently evaluate knowledge, understanding, and execution of these high standards.
• Hold daily/weekly team briefings and line-ups with direct reports to keep them informed of necessary and relevant activities and expectations at the club.
• Assist in planning and be responsible for ensuring special club events are well-conceived and executed.
• Regularly review house counts, forecasts, and “VIP” lists, communicate key details through daily line-ups and pre-shift meetings.

Operations

• Understand and successfully manage the demands of a highly seasonal private club environment.
• Effectively plan staffing, training, menu transitions, and operational readiness for peak season.
• Plan, organize, and run a busy à la carte and banquet operation simultaneously with multiple events happening at the same time across multiple locations.
• Develop and maintain standard recipes and techniques for food preparation and presentation that help to ensure consistency, high-quality, and minimize food costs.
• Create and manage a recipe database to ensure consistency across all dishes, and perform daily spot checks for menu accuracy and taste in every outlet.
• Attend Food and Beverage, Leadership, Financial, and other Meetings and represent the culinary team as a senior leader at the club.
• Establish controls to minimize food and supply waste and theft.
• Safeguard all food-preparation employees by implementing training to increase their knowledge about safety, sanitation, and accident prevention principles.
• Maintain safety training programs. Manage OSHA-related aspects of kitchen safety and maintain MSDSs in an easily accessible location.

Membership

• Build strong relationships with members through visibility, engagement, and responsiveness.
• Maintain a hospitality-first culture focused on personalized service and excellence.
• Have a heart of hospitality, embrace, appreciate, promote, and elevate the warmth and culture of the Club.
• Welcome, encourage, and engage in regular feedback from Members.
• Be responsive to Members’ requests for menu selections, event planning, etc., and strive to find creative ways to accommodate reasonable requests with a “can-do” approach.
• Address and resolve all member concerns promptly and effectively to ensure quick, satisfactory resolutions.
• Consistently innovate, elevate events, and build on a core selection of club favorites and signature dishes.
• Create seasonally appropriate menus that the Membership has a hard time choosing from, with regular features and specials.

Financial

• Clearly understand the metrics for successful attainment of financial goals and objectives in F&B operations and consistently review these expectations with direct reports to ensure understanding and ‘buy-in’ from those contributing to their attainment.
• Oversee the pricing of menus for all outlets in the club and for special occasions and events.
• Schedule and coordinate the work of chefs, cooks, and other kitchen employees to ensure that food preparation is economical and technically correct, and within budgeted labor cost goals.
• Embrace the use of systems (including regular inventory processes) and technology to assist in the management of the kitchen and the financial performance of the operation.
• Monitor payroll and labor resource allocations to ensure they are in line with financial forecasting and goals.
• Prepare data for applicable aspects of the budget; project annual food, labor, and other costs and monitor actual financial results; take corrective action as necessary to help ensure that financial goals are met.
• Work closely with the purchasing department to ensure the best product is being delivered at the best price.
• Create and foster relationships with local sources of culinary products, artisans, and farmers to incorporate local, seasonal influences into the Club’s dishes.

Initial Priorities

• Set New Standards of Excellence: Set a clear expectation that excellence is non-negotiable, from the simplest member favorite to the most elevated dining experience.
• Champion Consistency & the Basics Done Exceptionally Well: Establish uncompromising standards around food quality, execution, sanitation, and organization.
• Build Member Relations: Be visible and quickly learn the membership’s preferences, traditions, dining patterns, and expectations.