Floating Sous Chef

Upper Crust Food Service; Fayetteville (AR); On-site; USD 52,000 - 76,000; Full time

Job summary

Upper Crust Food Service is seeking a Field Sous Chef to cover multiple campus houses, rotating across kitchens to ensure consistent service. You will lead daily operations, adapt menus for different client bases, and support onboarding and events. This position offers growth through structured development and exposure to senior chefs on a national scale.

The role emphasizes flexibility, strong food safety, and collaboration with house leadership to meet guest needs and dietary accommodations.

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

• Receive daily assignments and lead service in assigned houses.
• Execute menus at absent Chef's standard to maintain continuity.
• Manage back-of-house operations including prep, setup, and safety.
• Partner with front-of-house on logistics, dietary needs, and guest requests.
• Rotate across all campus houses and learn equipment, inventory, and routines.
• Document insights to inform campus-wide best practices.
• Provide pre-service prep assistance and support onboarding on new campuses.
• Execute special events and complete shadowing with senior chefs for development.
• Participate in semi-annual development reviews and build a portfolio for future ownership.

Skills

Food safety

Interpersonal skills

Flexibility

Mobility across kitchens

Education

Culinary degree or equivalent professional kitchen experience

ServSafe certification or ability to obtain within 60 days

Job description

At Upper Crust Food Service, YOU are the crucial ingredient for providing fresh healthy Greek life food nationwide. Our Chefs enjoy a lifestyle that is unmatched in the hospitality industry with very few late nights and weekend hours.

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.

Cross-House Rotation & Campus Familiarity

• 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.

Prep, Events & Onboarding Support (coverage-light days)

• 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.