Kitchen Leader - High-Volume, Hospitality-Driven

Silver Ventures LLC; San Antonio (TX); On-site; USD 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Santonia Cantina is seeking a hands-on Kitchen Manager to lead daily BOH operations, ensuring safe, high-quality food prepared to Santonia’s recipes while building a motivated and accountable team. The role partners with the General Manager to deliver a high-energy cantina experience rooted in North Mexico–South Texas flavors.

The ideal candidate has 2+ years in kitchen leadership in busy restaurant settings, strong station knowledge, and a track record in training staff, inventory control, and

Qualifications

• 2+ years of kitchen management in a high-volume restaurant.
• Strong knowledge of kitchen stations and systems (prep, line, grill, fry, expo, sanitation).
• Experience training and leading a diverse BOH team.
• Current manager-level food-safety certification preferred or ability to obtain as required.
• Experience with inventory, food-cost control, portion control, and waste management.
• Familiarity with restaurant financial drivers; experience with food cost, labor, and P&L accountability.
• Comfort using POS, inventory, scheduling, HR systems, with ability to learn new software quickly.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in a bilingual environment (English/Spanish)

Responsibilities

• Lead the day-to-day kitchen operations including prep, line execution, production, sanitation, opening and closing standards.
• Maintain food quality and consistency by monitoring recipes, portioning, temperatures, and presentation.
• Coach and develop BOH team; organize and train across stations.
• Ensure food safety at all times with proper receiving, storage, labeling, allergy awareness, and sanitation.
• Conduct line checks and correct any quality, readiness, cleanliness, or safety issues.
• Build prep and production systems to support volume, minimize shortages, and reduce waste.
• Manage weekly inventory, ordering, receiving, rotation, and storage toward food-cost and waste goals.
• Monitor yields and usage trends; communicate opportunities or concerns to General Manager.
• Participate in hiring and scheduling; align staffing with business needs and events.
• Lead training programs and ensure new team members are prepared.
• Partner with People & Culture on staff development and adherence to policies.

Skills

Kitchen management

Staff training

Food safety

Inventory management

P&L awareness

Bilingual EN/ES (nice-to-have)

Tools

POS systems

HR systems

Inventory software

Job description

Santonia Cantina is seeking a hands-on Kitchen Manager to lead daily BOH operations, ensuring safe, high-quality food prepared to Santonia’s recipes while building a motivated and accountable team. The role partners with the General Manager to deliver a high-energy cantina experience rooted in North Mexico–South Texas flavors.

The ideal candidate has 2+ years in kitchen leadership in busy restaurant settings, strong station knowledge, and a track record in training staff, inventory control, and