Lead Pastry Chef

iHire; Atlanta (GA); On-site; USD 70,000 - 105,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Profit sharing

Meaningful equity participation

Paid time off

Path to grow into a multi-studio role

Job summary

A culinary-focused company in Atlanta is seeking a Lead Pastry Chef to develop engaging class menus and lead live baking events. Ideal candidates will have over 5 years of experience in pastry and a Culinary Arts degree. This energetic role involves engaging with guests and training team members in a high-volume environment. The position offers a competitive salary of $70,000–$105,000 along with profit-sharing opportunities. Join us in shaping Atlanta's food scene with creativity and leadership.

Qualifications

• 5+ years experience in pastry and/or bread.
• Experience leading teams in a fast-paced environment.
• Confident in front of live audiences.

Responsibilities

• Develop rotating class menu for baking studio.
• Lead live classes and engage guests.
• Train assistant instructors on baking fundamentals.

Skills

Leadership in high-volume environments

Culinary creativity

Pastry fundamentals

Strong organizational skills

Warm presence in front of audiences

Education

Culinary Arts degree or equivalent experience

Job description

Lead Pastry Chef

Baking Social | Atlanta, Georgia

This Isn't Your Average Kitchen Job.

Baking Social is Atlanta's first experience-driven baking studio — and we're building something the city has never seen. Think Flaky Behavior croissant nights, Wake + Bake cinnamon roll mornings, and sold-out date nights streamed live on TikTok and Instagram. Every class is part baking lesson, part social event, part content moment.

We're looking for a Lead Pastry Chef who's as comfortable commanding a room of 20 guests as they are perfecting a laminated dough. This role is front-of-room, high-energy, and central to everything we're building — and we're offering the right person a stake in what that becomes.

What You'll Do

You'll be the creative and culinary heart of the studio. That means developing our rotating class menu (with your own stamp on it), leading live classes that guests can't stop talking about, and helping us build the operational foundation to scale this concept across multiple cities.

On Any Given Week, You Might Be

• Leading a Triple Brownie Night for a sold-out Friday crowd
• Developing a new seasonal class tied to an Atlanta food moment
• Training an assistant instructor on our Starter Culture sourdough fundamentals
• Sourcing ingredients from a local Atlanta vendor you've been wanting to work with
• Reviewing footage from last night's TikTok livestream to see what landed

This role operates across the full studio — from the instructor demo counter with clear sight lines to the whole class, to back-of-house prep, to the content your classes generate for our growing audience.

Required / What We're Looking For

• Culinary Arts degree or equivalent professional experience
• 5+ years in pastry and/or bread — artisan breads, pastry fundamentals, fermentation
• Experience leading teams in fast-paced, high-volume environments
• A confident, warm presence in front of live audiences
• Strong organizational discipline — you understand that great experiences require great systems

You're Exactly Who We Need If You

• Light up when you're teaching, not just cooking
• Know Atlanta's food scene and want to help shape it
• Are genuinely excited to be filmed — our classes run live on TikTok and Instagram
• Balance creativity with operational rigor
• Want to build something from the ground up, not just execute someone else's vision

Compensation & Upside

We're building Baking Social to scale — flagship in Atlanta, with studios planned in Nashville, Charlotte, Dallas, and Austin. We want our Lead Pastry Chef to grow with us, and that means offering real financial upside alongside a competitive base.

• Base Salary: $70,000–$105,000 (commensurate with experience)
• Profit Sharing: Performance-based share of studio profitability as the business scales
• Equity Opportunity: Meaningful equity participation available for the right candidate — we want our founding team invested in what we build together
• Paid Time Off & Sick Leave
• Path to grow into a multi-studio culinary leadership role as we expand

About Baking Social

Baking Social was built in partnership with Shane Quillin, founder of Sugar Shane's (four Atlanta locations), and is incubated by Founders Row. We're a hospitality-first studio where the experience and the people matter as much as the bake. Our space — warm wood, white tile, soft lighting, vintage recipe books — is designed to feel like a stylish kitchen party, not a classroom.

We believe Atlanta deserves a baking studio rooted in its community, built for how people want to gather today.

Baking Social is an equal opportunity employer committed to building a team that reflects the vibrant, diverse communities of Atlanta. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Employment Type: Full Time

Years Experience: 5 - 10 years

Salary: $70,000 - $105,000 Annual

Bonus/Commission: Yes