Head Chef, Arena Hall

Arena Hall; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 90,000 - 95,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare plan

Performance incentive

Job summary

Arena Hall in Austin is seeking a hands-on Head Chef to lead a lean, intimate kitchen team for daily service and ambitious events. You will develop seasonal menus, build producer relationships and manage food costs while maintaining a high standard of quality.

The role blends private dining, meetings and events with member dining, requiring practical leadership and a passion for ingredient-led cooking in a vibrant club setting.

Qualifications

• Five or more years of professional kitchen experience leading a kitchen.
• Seasonal, produce-forward and ingredient-led cooking experience.
• Ability to develop menus and standardise recipes for a lean operation.
• Experience managing kitchen operations, budgeting, inventory and waste control.
• Current food safety certification (ServSafe) or equivalent.
• Experience opening or launching a kitchen operation is preferred.
• Experience across daily service, private dining and events.

Responsibilities

• Develop seasonal menus across all service formats (morning, all-day, lunch, dinner, brunch, private dining, meetings and events).
• Establish recipes, portions and presentation standards to ensure consistency across formats.
• Lead daily preparation, production, service and close-down, hands-on with the team.
• Coordinate kitchen workflows between different production areas.
• Oversee purchasing, cost reporting and inventory management.
• Recruit, train, supervise and evaluate the kitchen team; schedule staffing.
• Collaborate with F&B Director and front-of-house on covers and events.
• Ensure compliance with food safety, sanitation and health regulations.

Skills

Kitchen leadership

Menu development

Food cost management

Seasonal cooking

Lean kitchen operations

Team training & scheduling

Quality control

Education

ServSafe certification

Job description

Location: Arena Hall, Austin, Texas - full-time, on-site

Start date: January 2027

Reports to: F&B Director

Compensation: $90,000-$95,000, performance incentive and healthcare plan

About Arena Hall

Arena Hall is a private members club opening in Austin in March 2027 - a space built for founders, operators and high-caliber thinkers who show up not just to discuss the future, but to build it together.

A 22,000-square-foot restored church on a 50,000-square-foot campus, Arena Hall will offer full member dining and bar service, private dining, and an ambitious events program for a community of people doing serious work in the world.

The kitchen is at the centre of the club’s social life - not as a destination dining room, but as the engine of a daily food and social experience. Our food philosophy is fresh, local and organic wherever possible: sourced with integrity, prepared with care, and served in a way that makes people feel uplifted, nourished and conducive to great conversations. The format is simple yet refined.

The Role

The Head Chef leads the Arena Hall kitchen while remaining an active, daily part of it. This is a hands-on leadership role: you will develop menus, build relationships with producers and suppliers, manage food costs and kitchen systems, and cook alongside your team through preparation and service.

We expect to open with a deliberately lean kitchen team. We are looking for someone who enjoys the intimacy, discipline and resourcefulness of a small kitchen rather than someone accustomed to managing a large brigade from a distance.

The food should be sophisticated without being complicated: fresh, seasonal, local and organic wherever possible, nutritionally thoughtful, deeply ingredient-led, with quality vegetables and proteins as protagonists. Above all, it must be genuinely delicious. We want someone for whom conscious cooking is already second nature, not a philosophy they would need to learn.

The kitchen will support more than daily member dining. Arena Hall hosts private dining, meetings and a dynamic events programs in 2 locations, including catered events. The Head Chef must build an operation flexible enough to move naturally across these formats without compromising food quality, consistency or identity.

The Head Chef reports to the F&B Director and works closely with the GM to deliver the overall member experience.

What You Will Own

1. Menu & Culinary Development

• Develop seasonal menus across morning offerings, all-day dining, lunch, dinner, Sunday brunch, private dining, meetings and events.
• Shape menus around Arena Hall’s food philosophy, prioritizing good quality, seasonal, local and organic ingredients wherever possible.
• Establish recipes, portion sizes and presentation standards to ensure consistent quality across all service formats.
• Balance creativity, member preferences, ingredient availability and the capabilities of a lean kitchen team.
• Accommodate dietary requirements and allergies while preserving the integrity of the food.
• Build strong relationships with Austin and Texas farms, ranches and suppliers, allowing seasonality and product quality to inform the menus.
• Select suppliers based on ingredient quality, provenance, reliability, sustainability and pricing.
• Oversee purchasing and ordering, ensuring product availability while avoiding overstocking and unnecessary waste.

3. Kitchen Operations & Service

• Lead daily preparation, production, service and close-down, remaining hands-on alongside the team, particularly during peak periods and events.
• Coordinate workflows between the downstairs main production kitchen and upstairs preparation kitchen.
• Establish efficient preparation schedules, production plans and operating procedures suited to a lean team, according to demand and events.
• Coordinate with the F&B Director, GM and front-of-house team on covers, reservations, service timing and special requests.
• Specify kitchen equipment and oversee its operational readiness, maintenance and efficient use.
• Manage food costs within agreed targets through accurate recipe costing, portion control, purchasing and inventory management.
• Forecast food requirements based on anticipated covers, member activity and event schedules.
• Monitor stock levels, food costs, spoilage and waste, addressing variances and identifying opportunities to improve efficiency.
• Work with the F&B Director on food budgets, menu pricing and cost reporting.
• Manage kitchen labour through effective scheduling and resource allocation.
• Recruit, train, supervise and evaluate the kitchen team, setting staffing levels according to operational needs.
• Establish clear expectations for performance, accountability, organisation and food quality.
• Lead daily pre-shift briefings covering menus, preparation priorities, reservations, events and service requirements.
• Foster a collaborative, ego-free kitchen culture built on high standards and genuine care for the food, members and team.
• Train front-of-house staff on menus, ingredients, provenance, preparation and dietary considerations to support confident, informed service.

6. Food Safety & Hygiene

• Ensure compliance with applicable food safety, sanitation and local health regulations.
• Maintain standards for food handling, temperature control, allergen management, labelling, storage, stock rotation and cleaning.
• Keep both kitchen levels clean, organised and safe, ensuring the team follows established procedures.
• Maintain required safety and inspection records and address equipment or operational issues promptly.

What We Are Looking For - Experience & Technical Skills

• Five or more years of professional kitchen experience, with meaningful experience leading a kitchen, section or team.
• Exceptional Sous Chefs or Chefs de Cuisine ready to step into their first Head Chef position will be considered.
• Demonstrated experience with seasonal, produce-forward and ingredient-led conscious cooking.
• Strong understanding of vegetables and plant-forward food alongside excellent fish, meat and poultry cookery.
• Ability to create sophisticated food through exceptional ingredients, restraint and technique rather than unnecessary complexity.
• Proven ability to develop menus, standardise recipes, maintain consistent execution and manage food quality.
• Experience managing kitchen operations, preparation schedules, ordering, inventory, purchasing and waste reduction.
• Understanding of recipe costing, food cost targets, portion control and commercial kitchen management.
• Experience leading, training and scheduling a kitchen team, ideally within a lean operating model.
• Ability to plan and execute daily service alongside private dining, meetings and events.
• Current or obtainable food safety certification, such as ServSafe.
• Experience opening or launching a kitchen operation preferred.
• Experience working across different formats - daily service, private dining and/or events - preferred.
• Knowledge of the Austin and Texas producer and supplier landscape strongly preferred.
• Strong organisation, communication, problem-solving and time-management skills.
• Believes in the food philosophy. Conscious, ingredient-led cooking is already part of how you work.
• Hands-on. You genuinely enjoy cooking and want to remain close to the daily work of the kitchen.
• Ego-free. You lead through standards, example and collaboration rather than authority.
• Curious about ingredients. You care about provenance, seasonality and how ingredients are produced.
• Collaborative. You work with the F&B Director as a partner and maintain a strong relationship with the floor team.
• Resourceful. You can achieve exceptional standards with a deliberately lean team.
• Commercially aware. You understand that quality and creativity must be supported by sound purchasing, preparation and cost control.
• Calm and consistent. The kitchen should feel like an extension of the club’s culture: purposeful, warm and precise.
• Community-minded. You understand that the kitchen is part of a larger hospitality experience, not an isolated operation.

Timing & The Refurbishment

Arena Hall began a major structural and design refurbishment in July 2026, transforming the existing space into the environment described above: member dining and bar service, a preparation kitchen, and event spaces across 50,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor space. The target opening is March 2027.

The Head Chef is expected to be in place by January 2027 at the latest, with the opportunity to contribute to the final stages of the build. Early involvement will include reviewing kitchen equipment specifications, operational flow between kitchen levels, front-of-house layout and service infrastructure before construction decisions are finalised.

Beyond the build, the role will lead kitchen pre-opening preparation, including supplier sourcing, team recruitment, menu development, recipe costing, staff training, operational procedures, dry runs and the food experience for Arena Hall’s founding members.

Candidates who are energised by the opportunity to build something from the ground up - and who take equal pride in the food and the operation behind it - will thrive here.

More on Arena Hall: https://hiring.arenahall.com/index.html