Head Chef Jobs in Utah (NOW HIRING)

Company

The TableTop Group, confidential retained search on behalf of an established Utah restaurant brand

Location

Utah County, Utah

About the role

The TableTop Group is conducting a confidential search for a Head Chef for an established Utah restaurant brand with multiple locations in Utah County.

This is a key culinary leadership role for someone who can bring a fresh perspective to a well-known local brand while respecting what has made the concept successful.

The Head Chef will lead culinary execution across two locations, with ownership over menu development, kitchen standards, food quality, cost controls, and team leadership. This is a great fit for a chef who is creative, disciplined, hands-on, and comfortable balancing culinary vision with operational accountability.

The right person will understand that great food and strong numbers have to work together. You should be able to develop menu ideas, lead kitchen teams, manage food cost, improve consistency, and help the business hit its performance targets.

What you will own

Culinary leadership

• Lead culinary direction across two established Utah County locations.
• Bring fresh ideas and perspective to the menu, kitchen systems, and guest experience.
• Maintain consistency in food quality, presentation, recipes, and execution.
• Protect the core of the brand while helping evolve the culinary program.
• Set clear kitchen standards and hold teams accountable to them.

Menu development

• Develop new menu items, seasonal offerings, specials, and culinary updates.
• Evaluate menu performance, guest feedback, cost, prep complexity, and operational fit.
• Partner with leadership to make smart menu decisions that support both quality and profitability
• Improve recipes, builds, portions, and plating standards where needed
• Bring creativity without overcomplicating execution.

Cost controls and financial discipline

• Manage food, labor, waste, inventory, and purchasing costs.
• Understand and manage percentage targets.
• Review pricing, portions, yields, recipes, and vendor costs.
• Identify opportunities to improve margins without sacrificing guest experience.
• Create greater visibility and accountability at the kitchen level.

Kitchen operations

• Lead kitchen execution across both locations
• Support prep systems, line execution, ordering, inventory, scheduling, cleanliness, and organization
• Improve consistency between locations.
• Create practical systems that help teams execute at a high level every day.
• Partner with operations to improve speed, quality, training, and profitability

Team leadership

• Lead, coach, and develop kitchen leaders and team members.
• Build a culture of accountability, pride, urgency, and hospitality.
• Train teams on recipes, standards, food safety, prep, execution, and quality expectations
• Create clear communication rhythms between the kitchens and leadership.
• Help build a stronger culinary bench as the brand continues to evolve.

Brand and guest experience

• Honor the brand while helping bring new energy to the food program.
• Keep the guest experience at the center of culinary decisions.
• Ensure food quality and consistency support the brand’s reputation.
• Look for ways to improve the menu, presentation, execution, and overall experience.
• Bring an operator’s mindset to culinary leadership.

What success looks like in the first 90 days

• You understand the brand, menu, teams, systems, and current kitchen operations.
• You identify the biggest opportunities around food quality, consistency, cost controls, and kitchen execution.
• You build trust with ownership, operations, and the kitchen teams.
• You create clearer standards around recipes, prep, portions, presentation, inventory, and accountability.
• You bring fresh menu ideas while respecting the existing brand and guest base.
• You improve visibility into food cost, waste, labor, and kitchen performance.
• You help both locations operate with more consistency, discipline, and pride.

Must have

• Strong experience as a Head Chef, Executive Chef, Culinary Director, or senior kitchen leader
• Experience leading culinary execution in a restaurant, bakery, hospitality, or food service environment
• Strong understanding of food cost, labor cost, inventory, waste, purchasing, and margin management
• Ability to manage to percentage targets and connect culinary decisions to business outcomes
• Menu development experience
• Hands-on leadership style
• Ability to lead teams across more than one location
• Strong recipe, prep, portioning, and quality control discipline
• Ability to balance creativity with consistency
• Comfort working directly with ownership and operations.
• Strong communication, organization, and follow-through

Strong plus

• Multi-unit culinary leadership experience
• Experience in refreshing or evolving an established restaurant brand
• Bakery, brunch, polished casual, full service, or scratch kitchen experience
• Experience building kitchen systems, training tools, recipes, prep guides, or cost controls
• Experience with vendor management, purchasing, inventory systems, or menu costing
• Utah restaurant market experience

Compensation and benefits

• Base salary $100,000 - $115,000 DOE
• Monthly insurance reimbursement
• Performance-based quarterly bonus
• Unlimited PTO

Confidential search details

This is a confidential retained search being conducted by The TableTop Group. We will share full details, including the brand, locations, leadership team, expectations, and growth plans, with qualified candidates during the process. All inquiries will be handled discreetly.