Corporate Chef – Training & Standards (Hands-On, Multi-Kitchen)

Iacofano's Catering & Events; North Charleston (SC); On-site; USD 90,000 - 100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental and vision

Company 401(k) with match

Paid time off

Travel paid by company

Career and pay progression

Job summary

Iacofano’s Catering & Events, based in North Charleston, SC, seeks an experienced executive chef to lead multi-kitchen operations, develop menus, and uphold private aviation quality standards. The role involves hands-on kitchen work, training teams, and traveling to multiple locations.

You will own recipes, training content, and the culinary performance while collaborating with procurement and events teams to ensure flawless execution.

Qualifications

• 7+ years as an executive, multi-unit or high-volume production chef; aviation/catering experience preferred.
• Proven ability to train cooks who advance to sous or chef roles.
• Current ServSafe Manager certificate or HACCP certification within 90 days.
• Experience with recipe costing, yield testing and written standard recipes.
• Comfort with kitchen tech: combi ovens, recipe/inventory software and Paylocity.
• Able to travel 50%+ including overnights; valid driver’s license and air travel ability.

Responsibilities

• Own recipes, portions, yields and equipment programs for consistency across kitchens.
• Lead menu development; test new items in production kitchens before launch.
• Set and protect private-aviation standards: presentation, packaging, reheating and texture.
• Collaborate with purchasing on specs; manage food cost via costing and yield.
• Train and certify trainers; own culinary content and career ladder requirements.
• Coach kitchen chefs and sous chefs on the line, side by side.
• Visit kitchens (announced/unannounced) and audit against standards.
• Open new kitchens; train teams and ensure operations meet standards.

Skills

Executive leadership

Training cooks

Travel readiness

Kitchen tech familiarity

Education

ServSafe Manager certificate

HACCP certification

Recipe costing knowledge

Tools

Paylocity

Inventory software

Combi ovens

Job description

Description

This is a working chef’s job.

You’ll spend most of your time in our kitchens: on the line, at the prep table, with the people you’re teaching. We need someone who would rather show a cook how to do it than tell them. You stay calm when an order goes sideways at 3 AM, and you leave every kitchen better trained than you found it. If you’re looking for an office and a clipboard, this isn’t it.

Who we are

For 25 years Iacofano’s has fed flight crews, private aviation passengers, businesses, events and families from kitchens near the airports in Charleston, Columbia, Charlotte and Cleveland. We run around the clock, 365 days a year. Private aviation is the hardest food there is to get right — every plate has to be safe, exact and on time — and it sets the standard for everything we cook.

Based at our North Charleston, SC headquarters kitchen, with travel to our kitchens in Columbia SC, Charlotte NC and Brook Park OH. Full-time, salaried. Reports to the VP of Operations.

Set the standard, and cook it

• Own our recipes, portions, yields and equipment programs so every kitchen cooks the same dish the same way.
• Lead menu development across our brands, and test every new item in a production kitchen before it launches.
• Set and protect the private-aviation standard: presentation, packaging, reheat and texture.
• Work with purchasing on product specifications and order guides; drive food cost through recipe costing and yield.

Teach — this is the heart of the job

• Train and certify our trainers in every kitchen, so great training doesn’t depend on you being in the building.
• Own culinary training content and the skills each step of our cook and chef career ladder requires.
• Coach our kitchen chefs and sous chefs on the line, side by side.

Keep our food safe

• Own the food safety system across all kitchens: HACCP plans, standard operating procedures, audits and corrective actions. Each kitchen’s leadership runs it day to day; you set it and check it.
• Keep every kitchen inspection-ready; maintain allergen and labeling standards.

Help us grow

• Open new kitchens: set up the line, train the team, and stay until it runs to our standard.
• Work our large events and key client tastings alongside the sales team.
• Bring any kitchen that joins us onto our recipes and standards.

Check quality where it happens

• Visit kitchens — announced and unannounced — and score them against our standard.
• Review client feedback and quality trends with our Client Success team and fix the cause, not the symptom.

How this job works with the kitchens

Each kitchen chef reports to their General Manager. You own the food: recipes, standards, culinary certification and the culinary half of every chef’s review. You can stop food that isn’t right, and you test and interview every chef and sous chef candidate. The General Manager owns the people side — schedules, pay, attendance and final hiring decisions. When you and a GM disagree, the VP of Operations decides within 48 hours.

This job is:

about 70% hands-on — cooking, training, opening kitchens, working events. Teaching: show, practice, check, repeat. Fixing problems at the source, then writing down the fix. Steady under pressure — flight changes, big events, short staff.

This job isn’t:

running kitchens from an office. Yelling, public put-downs or “my way or the highway.” Writing reports about problems.

Pay and benefits

• $90,000–$100,000 base salary, plus an annual performance bonus tied to trainers certified, kitchen audit scores and new-kitchen openings.
• Medical, dental and vision starting the first of the month after 60 days.
• 401(k) with a company match after 6 months.
• Paid time off from your first day of work.
• Travel paid by the company.
• A skills review at 90 days, and a published career and pay structure.

Iacofano’s Hospitality is an equal opportunity employer.

Requirements

• 7+ years as an executive, multi-unit or high-volume production chef. Aviation, catering, hotel banquet or institutional production strongly preferred.
• A track record of training cooks who went on to become sous chefs or chefs — we’ll ask for names.
• Current ServSafe Manager (or equivalent food protection manager) certificate. HACCP certification, or earned within 90 days.
• Recipe costing, yield testing and written standard recipes.
• Comfortable with kitchen technology: combi ovens, recipe and inventory software, and our people system (Paylocity).
• Able to travel 50% or more, including overnight stays, nights, weekends and holidays around events and openings.
• A valid driver’s license and the ability to travel by air.
• Able to stand and work in a production kitchen for a full shift and lift up to 50 lbs.