Culinary Prep & Guest Experience Host

The Gables - Raleigh; Raleigh (NC); On-site; USD 26,000 - 34,000; Full time

Job summary

The Gables - Raleigh is seeking a Kitchen Host to join our kitchen team. This flexible role blends prep, steward, and junior sous responsibilities in a hoodless kitchen focused on preparation, warming, and finishing rather than a traditional line.

Shifts vary across breakfast, lunch, evening service, and events. The ideal candidate brings kitchen experience, strong mise en place and plating skills, and a flexible attitude to support a high-quality guest experience.

Qualifications

• Previous professional kitchen experience in prep, line cooking, catering, culinary production, or a similar food-service environment.
• Strong foundational culinary skills, including knife skills, mise en place, recipe execution, portioning, plating, and safe equipment use.
• Ability to follow recipes and production standards while maintaining quality, presentation, timing, and consistency across changing service volumes.
• Working knowledge of food handling, sanitation, temperature control, storage, labeling, rotation, allergen awareness, and kitchen safety.
• Ability to work independently, manage prep and dishwashing responsibilities, prioritise tasks, and maintain awareness of pars, waste, product use, and service timing.

Responsibilities

• Prepare mise en place for breakfast, lunch, evening service, and events according to established recipes, portions, production levels, and presentation standards.
• Assemble, warm, finish, and plate menu items accurately and efficiently while maintaining food quality, timing, and consistency.
• Maintain menu and allergen knowledge, replenish prep based on volume, minimize waste, and support seasonal or event preparation as directed.
• Take ownership of kitchen readiness for the assigned shift, including prep lists, station setup, refrigeration, smallwares, serviceware, and communication of items that may affect service.
• Be responsible for plating and expediting during service and work closely with front-of-house teammates to maintain accurate ticket flow and timing; assist with running or restocking when needed.
• Troubleshoot routine kitchen and service challenges resourcefully, maintain a calm organized workspace, and communicate larger operational concerns promptly.
• Monitor food, prep, serviceware, cleaning supplies, and kitchen pars and communicate ordering needs before shortages affect service.
• Receive, label, date, rotate, store, and organize products according to food safety and quality standards.
• Monitor freshness, portions, yields, and waste; maintain organized refrigeration and dry storage and assist with counts or prep planning as needed.
• Share responsibility for dishwashing throughout the shift and maintain enough clean tableware, kitchenware, and equipment for service.
• Keep dish, prep, equipment, refrigeration, floor, and storage areas clean, sanitized, organized, and service-ready; care for equipment and report maintenance or safety concerns promptly.
• Follow all food handling, sanitation, temperature-control, storage, allergen-awareness, health, and safety requirements and handle products and equipment carefully to minimize injury, contamination, breakage, and waste.
• Communicate openly with front-of-house teammates, management, vendors, and kitchen support about timing, availability, quality, or anything that may affect service.
• Support private events and catering through advance prep, execution, cleanup, dishwashing, and resetting the kitchen for the next service.
• Remain flexible for morning, evening, weekend, holiday, and event shifts and take pride in leaving the kitchen organized, efficient, and ready for the team.

Skills

Kitchen experience

Knife skills

Mise en place

Plating

Food safety awareness

Job description

The Gables - Raleigh is seeking a Kitchen Host to join our kitchen team. This flexible role blends prep, steward, and junior sous responsibilities in a hoodless kitchen focused on preparation, warming, and finishing rather than a traditional line.

Shifts vary across breakfast, lunch, evening service, and events. The ideal candidate brings kitchen experience, strong mise en place and plating skills, and a flexible attitude to support a high-quality guest experience.