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Executive Chef

Columbus, Ohio | Full-time, on-site | Opening spring 2027

Base salary $140,000 to $160,000, plus bonus

The opportunity

An all-day, roughly 150-seat neighborhood restaurant opening in Columbus, Ohio in spring 2027 is seeking an Executive Chef to lead the kitchen from pre-opening forward. The restaurant is backed by an established multi-concept operator with a full corporate support structure in place, and it is the first project of a new independent boutique hospitality group.

The day moves across dayparts: bread, pastry, and a serious coffee program in the morning; small plates and a thoughtful wine list through the afternoon; an ambitious seasonal dinner at night, cooked from what is best right now. The menu is the chef's to write.

This is a cornerstone hire. The restaurant is in schematic design today, so the kitchen is still yours to shape, and as the group expands, the chef who builds this kitchen is positioned to grow into culinary leadership across a broader portfolio.

The role

The Executive Chef owns the kitchen: menu, team, vendors, and the kitchen P&L. You partner directly with the President and CEO on the creative direction of the restaurant; the concept and brand are operator-led, and the chef is the author of the kitchen within them. You join in the months before opening and lead the kitchen through menu development, team hiring, build-out decisions, opening, and stabilization.

Reports to: President and CEO

What you will do

• Lead menu development across every daypart, morning through dinner, in partnership with ownership and the culinary leadership team; maintain a stable core of signatures balanced by ongoing seasonal movement.
• Build, train, schedule, and develop the opening team, and create a kitchen people want to stay in.
• Own kitchen financial performance: food cost, kitchen labor, purchasing, and waste within agreed targets.
• Build the vendor, farm, and purveyor relationships an ingredient-led menu deserves.
• Work through final kitchen and equipment decisions in collaboration with the leadership team, architect, and design partners.
• Integrate the bread and pastry program into daytime and evening service.
• Own standards for consistency, pace, food safety, and sanitation.
• Represent the restaurant as a visible, credible culinary leader across local, regional, and national platforms and press.

Who you are

• Collaborative. You do your best work in partnership. You take and give editorial input without ego, disagree without damage, and treat collaboration as a force multiplier rather than a ceiling.
• Proven where it counts. You come out of critically regarded, high-stakes restaurants and have proven you can operate and lead at the highest independent level.
• A leader people stay for. Your last team liked working for you and got better while they were there. You hire well, develop people deliberately, and can say no without shutting people down.
• A craftsperson. You have a strong point of view and the technical skill to execute it. Comfort overseeing a bakery program is a plus.
• Emotionally intelligent. You read the kitchen and the dining room, give feedback that lands, and keep your composure when service does not cooperate.
• A builder with vision. You can see the restaurant a year ahead, describe a plate in a sentence, and know why it earns its place on the menu.
• Comfortable in the spotlight. You are at ease in high-stakes environments and communicate as well to the outside world as to your own team.

Qualifications

• Five to ten years in serious kitchens; currently a senior sous chef, chef de cuisine, or executive chef ready to make an impact at the highest level of a rapidly developing culinary scene.
• Has led or co-led daily operations of a high-volume, ingredient-driven kitchen.
• Comfortable across a range of culinary traditions, with a bias toward the cooking of Italy and southern France and an exploratory eye toward global influences beyond them.
• Formed in disciplined, operator-led organizations of regional or national standing.
• Current food-safety certification or ability to obtain before opening.
• Excitement to relocate to Columbus and embrace a community primed for the next phase of its culinary development; relocation is supported.

Compensation and benefits

• Base salary $140,000 to $160,000, commensurate with experience.
• Annual bonus targeted at 5 to 10% of base, tied to restaurant performance and personal goals.
• Profit participation with a multi-year vest.
• Full salary from date of hire through the pre-opening period.
• Relocation support; health, dental, and 401(k) with match; an annual R&D budget for menu development and travel.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer.