Resort Executive Chef

Responsibilities

• Lead culinary operations for signature restaurants and banquet culinary teams across Black Desert Resort.
• Oversee culinary execution for Basalt, Latitude, IRD, Pool operations, 20th Hole, Flo Bar, Lava Love, and banquet operations and any future outlets.
• Provide leadership, coaching, and accountability to chefs, sous chefs, cooks, stewards, and culinary support teams.
• Develop and maintain culinary standards for quality, presentation, consistency, flavor, sanitation, and timing.
• Partner with the Director of Food & Beverage to align culinary operations with financial goals, guest experience goals, and resort strategy.
• Lead menu development for restaurants, banquets, seasonal programming, VIP experiences, and special events.
• Develop and refine culinary concepts, menu direction, and food & beverage programming for upcoming projects, new outlets, and resort expansion initiatives at Black Desert Resort.
• Partner with the Director of Food & Beverage, ownership, and project stakeholders on concept ideation, tastings, prototype menus, costing, and kitchen design considerations for future restaurant and outlet openings.
• Maintain strong collaboration between culinary, restaurant leadership, banquet leadership, conference services, purchasing, stewarding, and front-of-house teams.
• Monitor food cost, labor productivity, waste control, inventory usage, and overall culinary financial performance.
• Support forecasting, budgeting, capital planning, and operational planning for culinary areas.
• Ensure kitchen teams are properly staffed, trained, scheduled, and supported to meet business demands.
• Build a strong culinary culture focused on professionalism, teamwork, accountability, safety, creativity, and continuous improvement.
• Ensure compliance with food safety, sanitation, health department, OSHA, and resort standards.
• Conduct regular kitchen inspections to ensure cleanliness, organization, food quality, and equipment readiness.
• Partner with Purchasing to maintain product quality, vendor relationships, cost controls, and inventory standards.
• Support major resort events, weddings, tournaments, conferences, VIP functions, owner events, and holiday programming.
• Respond to guest feedback, service opportunities, and culinary quality concerns with urgency and professionalism.
• Stay informed on culinary trends, regional ingredients, dietary needs, and industry best practices.
• Uphold Black Desert Resort’s ultra-premium culinary and hospitality standards.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 8-10 years of progressive culinary leadership experience.
• Prior Executive Chef or multi-outlet culinary leadership experience required.
• Luxury resort, fine dining, banquet, In Room Dining or high-volume event experience strongly preferred.
• Strong background leading multiple culinary outlets and banquet operations.
• Proven ability to lead large culinary teams and develop future culinary leaders.
• Strong financial acumen including food cost control, labor management, budgeting, forecasting, and inventory oversight.
• Strong knowledge of banquet production, plated events, buffet execution, VIP events, and restaurant service flow.
• Creative and strategic approach to menu development, culinary programming, and guest experience.
• Excellent communication, leadership, organization, and problem-solving skills.
• Strong understanding of food safety, sanitation, HACCP, and health department requirements.
• ServSafe certification required or ability to obtain.