Founding Team Prep Cook

Chetola Resort; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 32,000 - 42,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Founding Team bonuses

Performance bonuses

Advancement opportunities

Access to local ingredients

Balanced scheduling when possible

Job summary

Haven, a chef-driven restaurant opening in Blowing Rock, North Carolina, is assembling its founding kitchen team. This role focuses on prep work, mise en place, and developing the foundational systems that will define the restaurant’s standards.

Founding team members participate in pre-opening training and tastings, shaping recipes, workflows, and culture. Experience in fine dining is a plus, with opportunities to grow as the restaurant opens.

Qualifications

• Basic to strong knife skills and a desire to continue improving.
• Ability to follow recipes, specifications, and instructions accurately.
• Strong attention to detail and consistency.
• Ability to stay organized and manage multiple prep priorities.
• A positive attitude, strong work ethic, and willingness to learn.

Responsibilities

• Prepare ingredients and components with consistency, precision, and care.
• Execute daily prep lists efficiently while maintaining high standards of quality.
• Wash, trim, peel, cut, portion, and process produce, proteins, and other ingredients according to established specifications.
• Prepare sauces, stocks, dressings, marinades, and other foundational components.
• Follow recipes accurately while developing a deeper understanding of technique, flavor, and ingredient function.
• Support whole-product utilization and minimize food waste.
• Maintain a clean, organized, and professional workstation.

Skills

Knife skills

Attention to detail

Organization

Curiosity

Work ethic

Reliability

Teamwork

Willingness to learn

Job description

Description

FOUNDING TEAM PREP COOKS WANTED

Join the Opening Team at Haven, a New Chef-Driven Restaurant in Blowing Rock, NC

HELP BUILD SOMETHING SPECIAL IN THE HIGH COUNTRY

Haven is a chef-driven restaurant coming to Blowing Rock, North Carolina, and we're assembling our founding kitchen team.

Built with its own distinct culinary identity and backed by the support and resources of Chetola Resort, Haven combines the excitement of a restaurant opening with the stability and opportunities of an established hospitality destination.

We believe exceptional hospitality begins with exceptional people. We're building a kitchen where craftsmanship, professionalism, curiosity, and continuous learning come together to create remarkable experiences for our guests—and an outstanding place to build a career.

This is more than a typical prep cook position. It’s an opportunity to join before opening day and help shape the standards, systems, culture, and identity of a new restaurant from the ground up. Founding team members will play an important role in bringing the concept to life and setting the tone for the team members who follow.

At Haven, our menu is rooted in Appalachian cuisine and the incredible farms, foragers, and producers of the region. Through a small plates and tasting menu experience, we showcase hyper-seasonal ingredients while drawing inspiration from global culinary traditions and modern techniques. The result is thoughtful, ingredient-driven food that feels both familiar and unexpected.

In a kitchen like this, great food begins long before service. It begins with careful knife work. Properly built stocks and sauces. Thoughtful handling of produce. Accurate recipes. Respect for ingredients. Attention to yield, seasonality, and waste. The discipline to do the small things correctly, every time.

We’re looking for prep cooks who take pride in that work—people who understand that exceptional mise en place is the foundation of an exceptional restaurant.

You don’t need to know everything on day one—but you do need curiosity, discipline, humility, attention to detail, and a genuine desire to get better.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

• Prepare ingredients and components with consistency, precision, and care
• Execute daily prep lists efficiently while maintaining high standards of quality
• Wash, trim, peel, cut, portion, and process produce, proteins, and other ingredients according to established specifications
• Prepare sauces, stocks, dressings, marinades, purees, garnishes, and other foundational components
• Follow recipes accurately while developing a deeper understanding of technique, flavor, and ingredient function
• Support whole-product utilization and thoughtful approaches to minimizing food waste
• Properly label, date, store, rotate, and organize ingredients and prepared items
• Maintain accurate portioning and consistency across batches
• Work collaboratively with chefs, line cooks, and fellow prep team members to ensure the kitchen is ready for service
• Communicate proactively about prep levels, product quality, shortages, and production needs
• Maintain a clean, organized, efficient, and professional workstation
• Care for ingredients, tools, and equipment with attention and respect
• Participate in pre-opening training, menu tastings, and ongoing culinary education opportunities
• Help test and refine recipes, prep systems, storage standards, and kitchen workflows
• Uphold the highest standards of food quality, sanitation, safety, and organization

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

• Previous prep cook, line cook, culinary, or scratch-kitchen experience preferred
• Basic to strong knife skills and a desire to continue improving
• Ability to follow recipes, specifications, and instructions accurately
• Strong attention to detail and consistency
• Ability to stay organized and manage multiple prep priorities
• A sense of urgency without sacrificing quality or care
• Pride in maintaining a clean and disciplined workspace
• Respect for exceptional ingredients and the people who grow, raise, forage, and produce them
• A positive attitude, strong work ethic, and willingness to learn
• Reliability, accountability, and respect for teammates
• Curiosity about food, technique, seasonality, and regional ingredients

Experience in fine dining, tasting menu, farm-to-table, or other chef-driven restaurants is a plus—but it is not required. We also welcome candidates who are earlier in their culinary careers and eager to build strong fundamentals in a serious, learning-focused kitchen. Most importantly, we’re looking for people who care about the work, support their teammates, and want to help build a great restaurant culture from day one.

WHY JOIN THE FOUNDING TEAM

Joining during the opening phase means you’ll have the opportunity to do more than simply step into an existing kitchen. You’ll help create what comes next.Founding team members may have opportunities to:

• Help shape prep systems, kitchen organization, storage standards, and opening procedures
• Provide input as recipes, workflows, production systems, and service procedures are refined
• Participate in tastings, training, and culinary development
• Learn new techniques and deepen foundational culinary skills
• Work closely with chefs and the opening culinary team
• Gain exposure to exceptional local and regional ingredients
• Grow into line cook, expanded production, training, or leadership responsibilities as skills develop and the restaurant grows
• Help establish the culture future team members will join

WHAT WE OFFER

• Founding Team bonus opportunities for eligible employees who join during the opening phase
• Performance and retention bonus opportunities
• Opportunities for advancement as the restaurant grows
• Access to exceptional local and regional products and ingredients
• A professional kitchen focused on quality, learning, discipline, and teamwork
• Meaningful input into the systems and culture we build together
• Ongoing opportunities to sharpen your craft and expand your culinary knowledge
• The opportunity to learn alongside an opening culinary team
• Scheduling practices designed to support work-life balance whenever operationally possible
• The opportunity to be part of a new restaurant from the very beginning

THE KIND OF KITCHEN WE'RE BUILDING

This isn’t a high-volume factory kitchen. We’re building a place where prep is respected as a craft and understood as the foundation of everything that happens during service. A place for cooks who want to sharpen their skills, work with outstanding ingredients, learn from one another, and take pride in the details. A kitchen where standards are high, feedback is direct and constructive, and every team member is expected to contribute to both the food and the culture. We believe the quality of a dish is determined long before it reaches the pass. It starts with how ingredients are received, handled, cut, cooked, seasoned, stored, and cared for. If you’re ready to grow, contribute, and help build one of the High Country’s most exciting new culinary projects, we’d love to meet you.

Blowing Rock, NC | Appalachian-Inspired | Farm-to-Table | Small Plates & Tasting Menu Experience

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.