Contractual Research Development Chef Jobs in California

We’re working with a highly respected, well-established restaurant group looking for an experienced R&D Chef to oversee the culinary direction of 5+ locations and across multiple concepts, with exciting growth on the horizon—including a new boutique hotel.

This is a true leadership role for a chef who enjoys both the creative and operational sides of the business. You’ll work closely with ownership, operations, and the culinary leadership team to elevate menus, strengthen kitchen systems, control costs, and maintain consistently high standards across the group.

We’re looking for someone with a diverse culinary background, ideally including fine dining, upscale-casual restaurants, and some hotel operations. Boutique hotel experience is a major plus. You should be equally comfortable developing a menu, walking into a kitchen and identifying opportunities, working through food-cost issues, and coaching an Executive Chef on how to become a stronger leader.

What You'll Own

Culinary Leadership
Work closely with the Director of operations to lead and develop the culinary teams across 5+ locations. Recruit, mentor, and retain Executive Chefs, Kitchen Managers, Sous Chefs, and hourly culinary talent while creating accountability and a culture of continuous improvement.

Menu & Culinary Development
Drive menu development from concept through execution—including ideation, recipe development, costing, testing, training, photography, documentation, and post-launch analysis. Each concept should have its own identity while maintaining the group's overall culinary standards.

Cost & Financial Management
Work closely with the Director of operations on food and culinary labor costs across the portfolio. Work with Operations and Finance on budgeting, variance analysis, purchasing, inventory, and corrective action. Use tools such as R365 and Toast to ensure the numbers support the food without compromising quality.

Systems & Standards
Create and maintain consistent culinary systems across the group, including recipes, prep standards, line execution, food safety, training programs, BOH SOPs, and sanitation standards.

New Concepts & Openings
Play a key role in upcoming restaurant openings, including a new boutique hotel. You'll have a significant voice in kitchen design, equipment selection, opening menus, staffing, training, and culinary standards.

The Boutique Hotel Opportunity

Another of the exciting parts of this role is helping take a boutique hotel from concept to opening. You’ll help develop the hotel's complete culinary program, including the signature restaurant, all-day dining, in-room dining, events and banquet operations, and specialty outlets.

You’ll work directly with ownership on the hotel's F&B strategy and culinary identity while building the systems and team necessary to deliver a luxury-level experience.

Who We're Looking For

We're looking for a chef's chef—someone who gets as much satisfaction from developing great culinary leaders as they do from creating great food.

You should be:

• An experienced Chef with a proven leadership track record
• Comfortable working across fine dining, upscale-casual, and hotel environments, understanding that each is just as important as the other. This is very important to your success as you must have equal passion for creating casual food as well as fine dining, plated masterpieces.
• Highly knowledgeable in menu development, food cost, labor cost, purchasing, and kitchen systems
• A strong teacher and coach who knows how to develop Executive Chefs and future leaders
• Creative, but equally strong operationally
• Comfortable holding people accountable while building a positive kitchen culture
• Experienced with restaurant technology such as R365, Toast, or similar systems
• Willing to be hands-on and regularly present in the restaurants
• Excited about building something new rather than simply maintaining the status quo

Compensation & Benefits

• $120,000–$140,000 base salary, based on experience
• 20–30% annual performance bonus
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Generous PTO
• Travel and mileage allowance for multi-unit visits
• Annual professional development and continuing education budget
• Dining privileges across the restaurant group
• Relocation assistance available for the right candidate

This is an opportunity to have a real impact on a growing hospitality group, develop the next generation of culinary leaders, and help shape multiple concepts—including a new boutique hotel—from the ground up.

If you're ready for a Corporate level Chef role where culinary creativity, leadership, financial discipline, and growth all matter, we'd like to hear from you.