Lead Chef - School Kitchen

CornerStone Professional Placement; Dallas (TX); On-site; USD 52,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

CornerStone Professional Placement seeks a Lead Chef for a high-volume school food service operation in Dallas, TX. This onsite role leads daily culinary production for roughly 500 lunches per day and up to 800 meals during peak periods.

The position is full-time, school-year, with potential extra hours for events, inventory, meetings, or planning. Salary ranges from $52,000 to $55,000, with holidays paid during the active school year.

Qualifications

• Experience leading kitchen teams in high-volume environments such as schools, hotels, or catering.
• Ability to plan production for 500+ lunches daily and adjust for events.
• Strong knowledge of food safety, storage, and cost controls.

Responsibilities

• Lead daily food prep, cooking, and presentation across stations.
• Create prep lists and production timelines; ensure quality and consistency.
• Direct and train cooks on recipes, portions, and kitchen workflow.
• Support menu execution, inventory, ordering, and waste reduction.
• Maintain sanitation standards and safe packaging for transport.

Skills

Culinary Leadership

High-Volume Cooking

Food Safety

Inventory & Stock

Training & Mentoring

Food Cost Control

Job description

LEAD CHEF

LOCATION

Dallas, TX | Onsite

COMPENSATION & SCHEDULE

• $52,000-$55,000 salary for the active school-year working period; summer months are unpaid
• Monday-Friday, approximately 6:00 AM-2:00 PM; scheduled school holidays during the active school year are paid
• Full-Time, School-Year Position; occasional additional time may be required for special events, inventory, meetings, training, or production planning

ROLE IMPACT

Lead daily culinary production for a high-volume school food service operation preparing approximately 500 lunches per day and up to 800 meals during larger service periods and events. This hands-on leadership role owns food quality, consistency, presentation, production planning, and kitchen team execution while supporting meal preparation for an additional school location. Success means delivering safe, fresh, appealing meals on schedule while maintaining an organized, efficient kitchen.

KEY DUTIES

• Lead daily food preparation, cooking, finishing, batch production, portioning, and presentation while working alongside the culinary team across stations as needed.
• Build daily prep lists and production timelines, taste and evaluate food before service, and maintain consistent quality for onsite meals and food prepared for delivery to the secondary school location.
• Direct and train cooks and food service employees on recipes, cooking techniques, portioning, presentation, food handling, cleanliness, and efficient kitchen workflow.
• Support menu execution, standardized recipes, recipe testing, inventory, ordering, FIFO rotation, portion control, ingredient usage, and food-waste reduction.
• Maintain food safety and sanitation standards, including temperature control, cooling, reheating, holding, storage, allergen and cross-contamination protocols, and safe packaging for transported meals.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• Professional hands-on culinary experience in a high-volume restaurant, catering, hotel, institutional dining, school food service, or comparable production kitchen, including experience preparing quality food for large groups.
• Demonstrated culinary leadership experience with the ability to lead and train kitchen employees, plan high-volume production, and maintain quality during busy service periods.
• Strong knowledge of professional cooking techniques, batch production, food safety and sanitation, inventory, portion control, and food costs; reliable transportation required.

EQUIPMENT & WORK ENVIRONMENT

• High-volume commercial kitchen environment with daily batch cooking and meal production.
• Ability to stand for extended periods and safely lift up to 50 lbs.
• Food prepared for an additional school location must be correctly portioned, packaged, labeled, staged, and maintained at safe temperatures for transportation.

PREFERRED SKILLS

• Previous experience as a Lead Chef, Sous Chef, Head Chef, Kitchen Lead, Chef de Cuisine, or similar culinary leadership professional.
• Current Food Manager/Food Handler certification strongly preferred; candidates willing to obtain required certification may also be considered.
• Strong production planning, organization, reliability, punctuality, and ability to remain calm during high-volume service.