About us

Since 1942, SkyChefs has taken culinary excellence to new heights. As a trusted partner to the nation's leading airlines and retailers, we proudly deliver millions of meals and exceptional service experiences every year across 43 sites throughout the United States. Built on a legacy of operational excellence, culinary expertise, and continuous innovation, we are committed to setting the industry standard in aviation culinary, airline services, last-mile logistics, and retail commerce. From the kitchen to the runway, our teams work together to deliver quality, reliability, and service at every altitude. Our people are the heart of everything we do. At SkyChefs, a career is more than a job – it's an opportunity to grow, lead, and make an impact in a fast-paced, team-driven environment. Join America's first, foremost, and finest and take your career to new heights.

Role Purpose Statement

The Head Chef collaborates closely with the Executive Chef to ensure exceptional daily food production at our Customer Service Center (CSC). Every dish reflects authenticity, adheres to company standards, and meets both menu specifications and customer expectations.

As the Executive Chef's trusted partner, the Head Chef also assumes full operational leadership in their absence, maintaining seamless kitchen operations and consistently high standards.

Main Accountabilities

• Supports all food production activities in the Hot and Cold Kitchen in responsible CSC which include but not limited to the following.
• Identifying deviations in inventories and production, initiates countermeasures if necessary
• Supports the controls and adjust of production plans, estimates consumption of food and equipment required to execute the daily production.
• Ensures compliance of recipe specifications and conducts sense-checks (Gold Standards)
• Participates in the development of food products and menus as needed.
• Must be aware of content in catering manuals; updates and distributes them within responsible CSC
• Supports the cost controlling of the budget, personnel and material costs
• Participates in menu presentations internal and external
• The coordination and controls countermeasures in the production in case of customer complaints
• Helps to develop and support existing training strategy and training plans for kitchen staff in responsible CSC
• Represents kitchen and kitchen staff in front of external stakeholders
• Actively researches and incorporates industry innovations and emerging food trends, ensuring continuous alignment and collaboration with Design Chefs.
• Participates in marketing activities as needed
• Ensures quality of goods received
• Guarantees tidiness in food storage in the responsible CSC is maintained and first in - first out principle is followed
• Guarantees adherence to hygiene, health and safety standards and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) regulations in responsible CSC
• Ensure that the area of responsibility is properly organized, staffed and directed
• Guide, motivate and develop the subordinate employees within the Human Resources Policy
• Make the company's values and management principles live in the department(s)
• Implement and control the cost budget in the area of responsibility; initiate and steer corrective actions in case of deviations
• Participate and support company sponsored initiatives such as Global Quality Standard (GQS), HACCP, Lean Manufacturing
  

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Five years of experience in commercial cooking.
• Apprenticeship or Graduation from an accredited culinary school
• Additional certifications (e.g. diet chef, industrial chef, design chef,) or equivalent professional experience preferred
• Certification with the American Culinary Federation a plus
• Knowledge of food and hygiene regulations (example: HACCP)
• Good communication and organizational skills
• Service orientation
• Good knowledge of Microsoft Office and Windows-based computer applications