Executive Chef – Lead High-Volume Kitchen, Bilingual

Hirebridge; Charleston (SC); On-site; USD 125,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical & Health Insurance

Retirement plan

Job summary

Hirebridge is seeking an experienced Executive Chef to lead culinary operations for a high-volume, family-owned restaurant group in Charleston, SC. This role demands strong people leadership, accountability, and hands-on presence during peak service, with responsibility for menu development, food quality, and cost control.

The ideal candidate has 5+ years of executive culinary leadership, fluent in English and Spanish, and a proven track record in driving performance across BOH teams, budgeting,

Qualifications

• 5+ years of executive chef or senior culinary leadership in high-volume settings.
• Bilingual English/Spanish required.
• Proven ability to manage food cost, labor, and margins.
• Experience leading multi-unit operations and training teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead BOH operations across a high-volume restaurant environment.
• Own food quality, consistency, presentation, recipe adherence, portioning, and execution across all service periods.
• Develop, coach, and hold accountable Sous Chefs, Kitchen Managers, supervisors, and hourly culinary team members.
• Establish clear expectations for kitchen leadership and ensure consistent follow-through on standards and priorities.
• Own food cost performance, kitchen labor, inventory, purchasing, waste reduction, productivity, and other key BOH metrics.
• Partner with ownership and senior restaurant leadership on budgeting, forecasting, cost controls, operational priorities, and business performance.
• Lead menu development and execution, including specials, recipes, costing, testing, training, and successful rollouts.
• Use sales mix, guest feedback, food cost, and operational data to identify opportunities to improve menu performance and consistency.
• Ensure appropriate BOH staffing, scheduling, deployment, prep levels, and leadership coverage based on business volume.
• Build and continuously improve culinary training, onboarding, cross-training, and leadership development programs.
• Maintain exceptional standards for sanitation, food safety, organization, equipment care, and regulatory compliance.
• Create systems for cleaning, preventive maintenance, storage, receiving, labeling, rotation, and kitchen organization.
• Partner closely with FOH leadership to improve communication, ticket execution, speed of service, and the overall guest experience.
• Support private events, high-volume service periods, seasonal changes, and other revenue-generating initiatives.
• Maintain a strong hands‑on presence during peak service and step directly into the operation when needed.
• Identify equipment, facility, staffing, and process improvements that strengthen long‑term kitchen performance.
• Build a strong culinary culture focused on accountability, respect, development, consistency, and retention.
• Support future growth and broader culinary initiatives as the organization evolves.

Skills

Executive leadership

Bilingual EN/ES

Financial acumen

Menu development

Staff coaching

Operations management

Recruiting

Job description

Hirebridge is seeking an experienced Executive Chef to lead culinary operations for a high-volume, family-owned restaurant group in Charleston, SC. This role demands strong people leadership, accountability, and hands-on presence during peak service, with responsibility for menu development, food quality, and cost control.

The ideal candidate has 5+ years of executive culinary leadership, fluent in English and Spanish, and a proven track record in driving performance across BOH teams, budgeting,