Executive Chef Jobs in Colorado (NOW HIRING)

Do You Love Great Food, Leadership, and Mountain Living?

Work Hard. Play Hard. Live Fully in Crested Butte.

At Elk Ave Hospitality, we are building teams for people who want more than just a job. We are looking for leaders who want to build strong teams, shape culinary culture, and help grow a multi-concept hospitality company in the Gunnison Valley.

If you love developing chefs, creating disciplined kitchen systems, and translating culinary vision into consistent execution, we want to hear from you.

Whether your passion is skiing first tracks, biking wildflower-lined trails, fishing alpine waters, or simply soaking in the beauty of the Rockies, this is an opportunity to build a meaningful culinary career while enjoying the lifestyle of one of Colorado's most remarkable mountain communities.

We are growing quickly and actively building career paths for people who want to expand their knowledge, strengthen their leadership, and contribute to a hospitality culture built around quality, accountability, and genuine care.

What You Can Expect

• A positive, team-oriented leadership environment
• The opportunity to shape culinary standards across multiple concepts
• Ongoing professional development and advancement opportunities
• Employee housing opportunities, depending on availability
• Competitive executive-level compensation
• Health benefits
• Paid time off
• The opportunity to live and work in the Gunnison Valley

This is a full-time salaried executive leadership position.

Who We're Looking For

You may be a strong fit if you:

• Lead through clear standards, strong systems, and hands-on support
• Take pride in food quality, consistency, profitability, and execution
• Can develop chefs, sous chefs, cooks, and support teams
• Understand how culinary creativity and financial discipline work together
• Communicate clearly with senior leadership, venue managers, and kitchen teams
• Can operate effectively across multiple concepts and service styles
• Thrive in a seasonal hospitality environment with changing priorities
• Bring professionalism, humility, urgency, and accountability to work each day
• Care deeply about building a culinary culture that can grow without losing quality

Our core values are Communication, Humility, Accountability, Integrity, and Respect, and we are looking for a culinary leader who will model those values throughout the organization.

What Will Be Expected of You

In this role, you will be expected to:

• Maintain a professional appearance and model executive-level leadership
• Work mornings, evenings, weekends, holidays, and extended hours when business needs require
• Travel between concepts and remain present in the kitchens you support
• Communicate clearly and constructively with senior leadership, chefs, managers, and hourly team members
• Protect culinary standards while remaining adaptable to each concept
• Build systems that support quality, cleanliness, safety, labor efficiency, and cost control
• Lead with consistency, urgency, and a company-first mindset
• Step into operations directly when additional leadership, stabilization, or coverage is needed

Cross-Training and Growth

We believe strong culinary leaders understand the entire operation, not merely the menu. The Executive Chef will work across multiple concepts, service styles, and leadership teams to build a shared culinary standard while respecting the identity of each venue.

This role offers the opportunity to shape the long-term culinary direction of Elk Ave Hospitality, develop future culinary leaders, and create systems that support sustainable growth across the company.

About Elk Ave Hospitality

Elk Ave Hospitality is a growing family of restaurants and hospitality businesses in Crested Butte and the Gunnison Valley. Our concepts range from elevated dining to high-volume casual hospitality, historic mountain-town service, destination dining, events, bakery, market, and provisions.

Our current portfolio includes Elk Prime, Bruhaus, Wooden Nickel, Bar 47, Mule's Ear Market and Provisions, and a growing events operation.

We believe hospitality can be both a craft and a career. With multiple concepts, varied service models, and meaningful opportunities for advancement, we are building a company for people who want to work hard, contribute to a strong culture, and grow their skills over time.

Opportunities Available

Elk Ave Hospitality is hiring for the following opportunity:

• Executive Chef

Position Summary

As Executive Chef, I lead culinary standards, systems, people development, and operational performance across Elk Ave Hospitality.

I am responsible for ensuring each concept delivers food that is consistent, well executed, financially responsible, and aligned with its brand. I work closely with senior leadership, venue leaders, chefs, and sous chefs to establish clear expectations, strengthen kitchen systems, and develop culinary teams capable of performing at a high level.

I balance culinary creativity with operational discipline. I understand that strong food programs depend on more than recipes. They require effective purchasing, accurate inventory, thoughtful menu development, labor planning, training, sanitation, communication, and consistent follow-through.

Benefits and Perks

• Competitive executive-level compensation
• Health benefits
• Paid time off
• Employee housing opportunities, depending on availability
• Opportunities for long-term growth within Elk Ave Hospitality
• The chance to lead culinary development across multiple concepts
• The opportunity to live and work in one of Colorado's most remarkable mountain communities

Key Responsibilities

Culinary Vision and Brand Leadership

• As Executive Chef, I establish and protect culinary standards across Elk Ave Hospitality.
• I ensure each concept maintains a clear culinary identity while meeting company expectations for quality, consistency, and execution.
• I partner with senior leadership and venue chefs to develop menus, specials, and culinary initiatives that support the brand and the business.
• I evaluate menu performance, guest response, operational feasibility, and profitability before and after implementation.
• I create culinary systems that allow creativity to thrive without sacrificing discipline or consistency.

Multi-Concept Kitchen Oversight

• I maintain regular presence across the concepts I support.
• I evaluate kitchen readiness, execution, staffing, cleanliness, communication, and leadership performance.
• I identify operational gaps and work with venue leadership to create clear corrective action.
• I provide direct leadership support during transitions, high-volume periods, special events, and staffing challenges.
• I ensure culinary teams understand both company-wide standards and concept-specific expectations.

Chef and Team Development

• I coach, train, and develop chefs, sous chefs, cooks, and stewards.
• I establish clear expectations for leadership behavior, kitchen performance, and professional growth.
• I help culinary leaders build effective training plans, station standards, checklists, and systems of accountability.
• I create development pathways for employees who want to advance within the culinary organization.
• I address performance concerns directly, fairly, and in alignment with company standards.
• I help build a culture where feedback is clear, growth is expected, and strong performance is recognized.

Food Quality and Execution

• I ensure food is prepared, seasoned, portioned, plated, and presented according to approved recipes and specifications.
• I evaluate food quality through regular observation, tasting, and review.
• I ensure recipes, menu guides, prep standards, and plating specifications are current and consistently followed.
• I protect product quality during high-volume service and seasonal business changes.
• I work with culinary leaders to resolve execution issues quickly and prevent them from becoming recurring problems.

Inventory, Purchasing, and Cost Control

• I oversee culinary inventory, ordering, receiving, storage, and product rotation systems.
• I work with culinary leaders to maintain accurate inventory counts and investigate variances.
• I monitor food cost, waste, yields, portioning, and product usage.
• I support vendor relationships, purchasing decisions, and product specifications that balance quality and financial responsibility.
• I use Craftable and company reporting systems to evaluate performance and identify opportunities for improvement.
• I help ensure culinary spending is authorized, planned, and aligned with budget expectations.

Labor Planning and Productivity

• I support culinary labor planning across concepts based on sales forecasts, operating needs, and production requirements.
• I work with chefs and managers to build schedules that support service while protecting labor goals.
• I monitor productivity, staffing levels, overtime, and operational coverage.
• I help culinary leaders adjust plans when sales, staffing, or business conditions change.
• I ensure labor decisions support both team well-being and business performance.

Events and Special Projects

• I provide culinary leadership for private events, large-format functions, menu rollouts, and special projects.
• I collaborate with the Events Department, venue leaders, and banquet teams to ensure menus and production plans are executable.
• I review BEOs, guest counts, timelines, equipment needs, staffing plans, and production requirements.
• I ensure event food is executed with the same quality and discipline expected in daily restaurant operations.
• I support off-site and large-scale event execution when additional culinary leadership is required.

Sanitation, Safety, and Compliance

• I ensure all kitchens remain clean, organized, sanitary, and compliant with health and safety requirements.
• I maintain complete knowledge of proper food handling, sanitation procedures, allergen awareness, and company policies.
• I ensure culinary leaders maintain equipment, storage areas, production spaces, and receiving areas to standard.
• I support health inspections and ensure identified issues are corrected promptly.
• I promote a culture where cleanliness and safety are daily operating expectations, not emergency projects humans suddenly remember before an inspection.

Systems, Reporting, and Communication

• I establish clear culinary systems, responsibilities, standards, and reporting expectations.
• I review culinary performance through P&Ls, inventory reports, labor reports, menu analysis, and operational observations.
• I communicate priorities, challenges, and results clearly to senior leadership and venue teams.
• I participate in leadership, financial, operational, and culinary meetings as required.
• I ensure decisions and action items are documented, assigned, and followed through to completion.
• I continually ask how our food, systems, teams, and financial performance can improve.

Qualifications

• Significant culinary leadership experience required
• Executive Chef, Senior Executive Chef, Multi-Unit Chef, or comparable leadership experience strongly preferred
• Demonstrated success leading culinary operations in full-service restaurants
• Experience developing chefs, managers, and hourly culinary teams
• Strong understanding of food quality, menu development, purchasing, inventory, labor, and cost control
• Excellent communication and organizational skills
• Strong problem-solving ability and confidence making decisions in real time
• Ability to balance culinary creativity with financial and operational discipline
• Ability to lead effectively across multiple concepts and teams
• Ability to maintain professionalism, composure, and standards during high-volume periods

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Multi-unit or multi-concept culinary leadership experience
• Experience with elevated dining, casual high-volume restaurants, events, bakery, market, or provisions operations
• Strong understanding of kitchen systems, production planning, prep organization, and line execution
• Experience with restaurant inventory systems and ordering processes
• Proficiency with Craftable or similar inventory management software
• Comfort with scheduling, spreadsheets, reporting tools, and Microsoft Office
• Experience with recipe management software and kitchen administrative systems
• Strong financial awareness, including food cost, labor cost, budgeting, and P&L review
• ServSafe Food Manager Certification
• Strong written and verbal communication skills in English
• Ability to communicate in Spanish is appreciated
• Strong mathematical skills and attention to detail

Physical and Position Requirements

• Must be able to stand and move for extended periods of time
• Must be able to walk, bend, reach, stoop, stretch, climb, and lift throughout the workday
• Must be able to work efficiently in crowded, fast-paced kitchen environments
• Must be capable of adjusting to changing priorities, staffing needs, and business volume
• Must be able to lift at least 50 pounds
• Must be able to work mornings, evenings, weekends, holidays, and extended hours as needed
• Must be able to travel regularly between Elk Ave Hospitality concepts
• Must be able to work in environments involving temperature fluctuations, hot surfaces, sharp tools, kitchen equipment, cleaning chemicals, and loud background noise

Important Position Information

This is a full-time salaried executive leadership position. Benefits include health benefits and paid time off. The Executive Chef supports multiple Elk Ave Hospitality concepts and is expected to maintain regular presence across the portfolio.

What Success Looks Like in This Role

Success in this position means building culinary teams and systems that perform consistently without requiring constant rescue.

I create clarity, develop leaders, protect food quality, an...