Field Sous Chef

Upper-Crust-Food-Service; East Lansing (MI); On-site; USD 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Upper Crust Food Service is seeking a Field Sous Chef to provide agile daily coverage across all houses on a qualifying campus, rotating among kitchens and supporting Chef openings. You will lead service, ensure food safety, and collaborate with house teams to deliver high-volume meals and special events.

The role emphasizes development, with semi-annual reviews and a portfolio of menu concepts to own over time. Flexibility for early mornings, evenings, and weekends is required.

Qualifications

• Culinary degree or equivalent professional kitchen experience.
• 3+ years in a professional kitchen, with at least 1 year at the Sous Chef level or equivalent.
• Demonstrated ability to execute a menu designed by another chef to that chef's standard.
• Strong food safety knowledge; ServSafe certification or ability to obtain within 60 days of hire.
• Flexibility and mobility — willingness to work across multiple kitchens on short notice, including early mornings, evenings, and occasional weekends.
• Strong interpersonal skills; ability to integrate quickly into established kitchen teams.

Responsibilities

• Daily Coverage & Service Execution
• Rotate across all houses served on campus, building working relationships with each house's team, clients, and leadership.
• Manage back-of-house operations for the day including prep coordination, station setup, food safety compliance, and service execution.
• Partner with the house's front-of-house team and house leadership on day-of logistics, dietary accommodations, and guest needs.
• Learn each kitchen's equipment, inventory systems, vendor relationships, and service cadence.
• Document insights, standards, and opportunities observed across houses to inform campus-wide best practices.
• Provide pre-service prep assistance at houses with high-volume meal periods.
• Support new house onboarding during the first weeks of service on a new campus contract.
• Execute special events including philanthropies, recruitment events, and formal dinners.
• Complete structured shadow time with senior chefs as part of a documented development plan.
• Development & Promotion Readiness
• Participate in semi-annual development reviews with the Area Manager covering culinary skills, leadership, client management, and business acumen.
• Build a portfolio of menu concepts, costed recipes, and service plans in preparation for independent menu ownership.
• Maintain a professional, coachable posture across every rotation — the role's success depends on being welcomed into every kitchen on campus.

Skills

Culinary leadership

Kitchen management

Menu execution

Food safety

Education

Culinary degree or equivalent

Job description

At Upper Crust Food Service we believe great food does more than fill plates, it creates connection, strengthens communities, and transforms everyday experiences. Across college campuses, K-12 schools, camps, and Greek housing, our teams bring hospitality to life through fresh food, meaningful relationships, and service people can count on. While we began serving fraternity and sorority communities more than 15 years ago, we've grown into a national hospitality partner supporting a wide range of dining programs across the country. No matter the setting, our purpose remains the same: to show up for the people we serve and for one another.

If you're looking for meaningful work, real ownership, and a team that believes hospitality can make a difference, we'd love to meet you.

The Field Sous Chef is a campus-wide culinary role designed to provide agile daily coverage across all houses on a qualifying campus and to serve as the on-campus bench for permanent Chef openings. Rather than being assigned to a single house, the Field Sous Chef rotates across every house in the campus portfolio — stepping in to cover chef absences, support high-volume service, assist with special events, and partner with senior chefs on structured development.

Key Responsibilities:

Daily Coverage & Service Execution

• Receive daily assignments from the Area Manager or Operations Specialist and report to the assigned house ready to lead service.
• When covering an absent Chef, execute the house's planned menu to the standard expected by the house's clients — preserving continuity during the absence.
• Manage back-of-house operations for the day including prep coordination, station setup, food safety compliance, and service execution.
• Partner with the house's front-of-house team and house leadership on day-of logistics, dietary accommodations, and guest needs.
• Rotate across all houses served on campus, building working relationships with each house's team, clients, and leadership.
• Learn each kitchen's equipment, inventory systems, vendor relationships, and service cadence.
• Document insights, standards, and opportunities observed across houses to inform campus-wide best practices.
• Provide pre-service prep assistance at houses with high-volume meal periods.
• Support new house onboarding during the first weeks of service on a new campus contract.
• Execute special events including philanthropies, recruitment events, and formal dinners.
• Complete structured shadow time with senior chefs as part of a documented development plan.

Development & Promotion Readiness

• Participate in semi-annual development reviews with the Area Manager covering culinary skills, leadership, client management, and business acumen.
• Build a portfolio of menu concepts, costed recipes, and service plans in preparation for independent menu ownership.
• Maintain a professional, coachable posture across every rotation — the role's success depends on being welcomed into every kitchen on campus.

Qualifications:

Required

• Culinary degree or equivalent professional kitchen experience.
• 3+ years in a professional kitchen, with at least 1 year at the Sous Chef level or equivalent.
• Demonstrated ability to execute a menu designed by another chef to that chef's standard.
• Strong food safety knowledge; ServSafe certification or ability to obtain within 60 days of hire.
• Flexibility and mobility — willingness to work across multiple kitchens on short notice, including early mornings, evenings, and occasional weekends.
• Strong interpersonal skills; ability to integrate quickly into established kitchen teams.

Preferred

• Prior experience in high-volume residential, hospitality, or institutional food service.
• Experience with menu design, recipe costing, and inventory management.
• Exposure to dietary accommodation programs (allergen management, religious and lifestyle diets).

Special Demands:

• The work environment can be loud and busy. There are many kitchen hazards such as hot surfaces and liquids, sharp knives, and slippery floors.
• Capability to work in a kitchen environment that may involve exposure to extreme heat or cold.
• Required to stand for long periods, up to 8+ hours, as well as walk, bend and stoop.
• Must be able to lift and/or move objects up to 50 pounds.
• Exposure to cleaning chemicals.

Upper Crust Food Service provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.