Executive Culinary Leader — Luxury Hotel Kitchen

Fairmont Hotels & Resorts; New Orleans (LA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Fairmont New Orleans is seeking an executive-level culinary leader to oversee all culinary operations across luxury outlets in our downtown property. You will partner with the Executive Chef to align teams on culture, accountability, and excellence, while managing labor, costs, and daily quality control to deliver exceptional guest experiences.

With oversight of high-volume kitchens, you will drive innovation, maintain strict food safety, and ensure adherence to Fairmont brand standards.

Qualifications

• Minimum 8 years of progressive culinary leadership experience within luxury hotel or high-volume kitchen
• Proven ability to lead with influence, foster trust, accountability, and a culture of excellence
• Demonstrated success in recruiting, mentoring, and retaining top-tier culinary talent with long-term succession planning
• Strategic and operational expertise in labor management, food cost control, and productivity optimization

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic culinary leadership in partnership with the Executive Chef, aligning the culinary leadership team around culture and operational excellence
• Lead, develop, and inspire a high-performing culinary brigade through recruitment, onboarding, coaching, and performance management
• Drive financial performance and operational excellence by overseeing food and labor costs, budgeting and forecasting, yield analysis, inventory management, procurement, scheduling, and waste reduction initiatives
• Ensure exceptional culinary execution and elevated guest experience through menu engineering, recipe costing, daily QA, and adherence to quality and dietary standards
• Champion and uphold Fairmont brand standards and all health, safety, and regulatory requirements
• Foster collaboration across Food & Beverage and other hotel departments to deliver guest experiences and identify opportunities for continuous improvement

Skills

Culinary leadership

People management

Operational excellence

Budgeting & forecasting

Tools

Birchstreet

Watson LMS

Job description

Fairmont New Orleans is seeking an executive-level culinary leader to oversee all culinary operations across luxury outlets in our downtown property. You will partner with the Executive Chef to align teams on culture, accountability, and excellence, while managing labor, costs, and daily quality control to deliver exceptional guest experiences.

With oversight of high-volume kitchens, you will drive innovation, maintain strict food safety, and ensure adherence to Fairmont brand standards.