American Chef Jobs in Decatur, GA (NOW HIRING)

We seek a skilled, hands-on, and creative Chef de Cuisine to lead the culinary operations of our New American casual fine dining restaurant while mentoring and developing justice-involved youth through Café Momentum’s nationally recognized internship program. While the title of this role is Chef de Cuisine, this position serves as the senior culinary leader and operational head of the kitchen at the local Café Momentum restaurant, responsible for culinary execution, menu development, kitchen leadership, financial performance, training, and daily back-of-house operations.

This is a highly active working-chef role. The Chef de Cuisine leads from the front — cooking daily alongside the team, coaching in real time, maintaining standards through direct involvement, and fostering a culture of accountability, professionalism, hospitality, and teamwork in the kitchen.

A passion for seasonal menu development and ingredient-driven cooking is essential to success in this role. The Chef de Cuisine will lead the creation and execution of evolving menus that reflect seasonality, creativity, thoughtful sourcing, and operational excellence while teaching interns the techniques, discipline, and fundamentals that support long-term success both inside and outside the kitchen.

A vital aspect of this role is mentorship. You will be expected to guide and develop Cafe Momentum interns, fostering their growth through hands-on training and internal certifications. Our interns are the reason we are at Cafe Momentum. Understanding their needs and adapting our approach for each intern is a unique part of our restaurant.

The ideal candidate is patient, creative, a great listener, experienced in restaurant and food service settings, and passionate about supporting our community’s youth. The ideal candidate will demonstrate a willingness to learn or understand the systemic issues contributing to youth incarceration in this country and be inspired to positively impact their lives. The candidate must manage emotional stress and maintain a positive outlook in difficult situations. The candidate will be trained in Trauma-Informed Practices and must acknowledge the complex issues that justice-involved youth may face, including those related to family, education, and social interactions, and how this may affect their ability to perform professionally. A commitment to our interns requires upholding confidentiality, fairness, and integrity in all interactions with the youth.

This position is a full-time, salaried position. This position reports to the General Manager.

Specific Duties

• Schedules and coordinates the work of the chefs to ensure food preparation is technically correct, matches established menu styles and parameters and is presented in fine dining standards
• Ensures that high standards of hygiene, cleanliness, and safety are maintained throughout the kitchen areas at all times
• Evaluates food products to ensure that organization's quality standards are consistently attained
• Plans menus for the restaurant, catering, and other outlets
• Prepares necessary data for applicable parts of the budget, monitors actual financial results, and takes corrective action to adhere to financial targets
• Establishes and maintains controls to minimize food waste
• Safeguards all food handlers' work practices by implementing training to increase their knowledge about safety, hygiene, and accident prevention techniques
• Approves the requisition and purchase of products and other necessary food supplies
• Develops standardized recipes that are maintained in the kitchen management software, which help to assure consistent high quality and are in line with the Cafe Momentum culinary vision
• Oversees the use of standardized recipes in training the interns in the back-of-house
• Stays current on restaurant industry trends and identifies new techniques and presentation
• Assists kitchen staff with food prep and recipe creation
• Implements measures to minimize food costs; exercises portion control for all the items served and works with the General Manager to establish menu selling prices using kitchen management software
• oversees all end-of-month reporting requirements, including but not limited to inventory
• Will attend all staff, restaurant, and program meetings
• Will complete all projects in a timely and complete manner
• Performs other duties as directed

Supervisory Responsibilities

• As a leader, you will foster a culture of inclusivity, patience, and respect, creating an environment where interns can thrive and feel welcomed and valued.
• Interviews, selects, trains, supervises, counsels, and disciplines all employees in the department
• Delegates as appropriate to develop supervisors and direct reports to accept responsibility and meet clearly defined goals and objectives
• Provides guidance and direction to direct reports, including setting performance standards and monitoring performance
• Completes and conducts annual staff evaluations
• Ensures all services to guests are conducted in a professional manner that meets Cafe Momentum’s standards
• Supervises interns assigned to their station; intern supervision includes, but is not limited to, training on station-specific skills, monitoring behavior and attendance, reporting both positive and negative outcomes to the intern’s case manager and members of the Program Team
• Completes weekly evaluations for assigned interns
• Completes internal certifications for their station and supervises the other station's completion of the internal certifications for the interns

Other Skills and Abilities

• Appearance and communication are always professional
• Must submit to and pass a background check before final employment offer
• Must submit to and pass county clearance within 45 days of employment
• Must be cleared to drive interns and insurable on catering vehicles
• Demonstrates an ability to produce a high volume of work in a timely manner that is complete, accurate, and of high quality
• Demonstrates an ability to interact positively with supervisors, management, coworkers, direct reports, and guests to promote a team effort and maintain a positive professional approach
• Demonstrates an ability to work regularly and on time, to follow directions, to take feedback, to work in collaboration with co-workers and supervisors, to treat co-workers, supervisors, and guests with respect and courtesy, always refraining from abusive, insubordinate, and violent behavior
• Demonstrates a willingness to adapt methods and strategies to meet the needs of the youth
• Listening skills are crucial to understanding the needs and concerns of the youth

Candidate Qualities & Experience

• Culinary degree preferred
• Minimum five (5) years of experience in a culinary supervisory position
• Extensive food knowledge
• Working knowledge and proficiency in various computer software programs including, but not limited to, kitchen management and inventory software, word processing, spreadsheets, ordering websites, and email.
• ServSafe Food Protection Manager Certified
• Must be a proactive self-starter and take initiative to identify and complete tasks to assist team members to work effectively and efficiently
• Ability to work well in a team environment and willingness to exceed expectations is required to be successful in this position
• Experience working with youth and sensitivity to cultural backgrounds
• Passion for working with youth as evidenced by past experiences, and ability to build relationships
• Good role model to young people in personal character, integrity, and behavior
• Creative and energetic
• This position requires working with youth/interns who may have committed dangerous/aggressive acts; the applicant should possess a high tolerance for working in a possible emotionally demanding/stressful work environment.

Physical Demands and Work Environment

• Stand for six continuous hours: stoop, squat, kneel, and bend
• Bend from a standing position in a manner that allows the palms to touch the knees
• Bend from the waist in a standing position with arms outstretched for an extended period
• Twist, turn, and stretch from side to side
• Lift, carry, and support 40 pounds from shoulder level to above the head
• Perform duties requiring repetitive and non-repetitive motions with hands and wrists
• Work with caustic and non-caustic chemicals
• Work in a hot and humid environment

Compensation

• Full-time approx. 40 hours weekly
• Some nights and weekends required
• Salary: Commensurate with Experience
• Subsidized health insurance and available dental and vision coverage
• Paid holidays and a generous Paid Time Off (PTO) policy
• Discounted meals at the restaurant

Pay: From $80,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• 403(b)
• Dental insurance
• Health insurance
• Paid time off
• Vision insurance