Casa Felix — Modern Mexican Social Tequilera
Location: Chelsea, New York City
Compensation: $75,000–$78,000 per year, based on experience
Schedule: Full-time; must be available to work nights, weekends, and holidays as business needs require.
About Casa Felix
Casa Felix is a new modern Mexican social tequilera opening in Chelsea, NYC — a warm, high-energy restaurant and bar inspired by Mexico Citys golden-era of glamour, tequila culture, and the spirit of celebration.
We are building a restaurant where dinner becomes the night. Food supports the experience, the bar drives the business, music drives the mood, and hospitality brings it all together.
We are looking for a strong, hands-on Sous Chef to support daily kitchen operations, lead the culinary team during service, maintain food quality, and help build a disciplined, organized, and high-performing back-of-house culture.
Position Overview
The Sous Chef will work closely with the Executive Chef and leadership team to oversee daily kitchen operations, food preparation, line execution, staff supervision, ordering support, inventory, sanitation, training, and kitchen organization.
This role is ideal for someone who thrives in a high-volume NYC restaurant environment and understands how to balance speed, quality, consistency, cleanliness, and team leadership.
The right candidate should be organized, calm under pressure, highly accountable, hands-on, and comfortable leading from the line.
Key Responsibilities Culinary Execution & Food Quality
- Support the Executive Chef in executing the Casa Felix food menu with consistency, precision, and attention to detail.
- Ensure all dishes are prepared according to recipes, portion standards, plating guidelines, flavor profiles, and presentation expectations.
- Lead the kitchen during service when needed, including expo, line checks, ticket timing, station support, and quality control.
- Monitor food quality throughout service and correct issues immediately.
- Maintain consistency across prep, brunch, dinner, late-night, private events, and high-volume service periods.
- Ensure all food is properly seasoned, plated, garnished, and served at the correct temperature.
Kitchen Operations
- Assist with daily kitchen operations including opening duties, prep execution, line setup, service, closing procedures, and end-of-night cleaning.
- Conduct daily line checks to ensure all stations are properly stocked, labeled, organized, and ready for service.
- Oversee kitchen stations including grill, sauté, fry, garde manger, prep, dish, and expo as needed.
- Support smooth communication between BOH, FOH, bar, management, and ownership.
- Maintain a clean, organized, efficient, and safe kitchen environment at all times.
- Help ensure the kitchen is properly prepared for brunch, dinner, private events, holidays, and peak business periods.
Team Leadership & Training
- Supervise, coach, and support line cooks, prep cooks, dishwashers, and kitchen support staff.
- Assist with hiring, onboarding, training, and developing BOH team members.
- Train staff on recipes, prep standards, knife skills, sanitation, station setup, equipment use, and service expectations.
- Provide real-time coaching during service and help correct performance issues professionally.
- Help create a respectful, disciplined, team-oriented kitchen culture.
- Maintain accountability around punctuality, uniform standards, cleanliness, professionalism, and performance.
- Prep, Production & Recipe Standards
- Oversee prep lists, production needs, pars, batch cooking, labeling, storage, and station readiness.
- Ensure recipes are followed accurately and consistently by all kitchen staff.
- Monitor prep levels and communicate shortages, product concerns, or menu availability issues before service.
- Help manage daily production to reduce waste while ensuring the kitchen is fully prepared.
- Support menu testing, recipe development, seasonal changes, specials, and culinary improvements when needed.
Inventory, Ordering & Cost Control
- Assist with ordering food, dry goods, paper goods, chemicals, smallwares, and kitchen supplies as needed.
- Monitor inventory levels, product rotation, waste, spoilage, and overproduction.
- Follow proper FIFO procedures and ensure all products are dated, labeled, stored, and rotated correctly.
- Support food cost control through portioning, waste reduction, inventory accuracy, and disciplined prep practices.
- Communicate vendor issues, product quality concerns, shortages, or delivery problems to the Executive Chef.
- Help protect profitability while maintaining quality and consistency.
Sanitation, Safety & Compliance
- Ensure the kitchen follows all NYC Department of Health, sanitation, food safety, and workplace safety standards.
- Maintain a clean, safe, and organized kitchen, walk-in, dry storage, prep areas, dish area, and equipment.
- Enforce proper handwashing, glove use, food storage, cooling, reheating, labeling, and temperature logs.
- Ensure all BOH employees follow cleaning schedules, closing checklists, and sanitation procedures.
- Report equipment issues, safety hazards, maintenance needs, accidents, or incidents immediately.
- Maintain compliance with all company policies and health department requirements.
Equipment & Kitchen Maintenance
- Ensure kitchen equipment is used properly, cleaned correctly, and maintained in good working order.
- Monitor ovens, grills, fryers, refrigeration, dish machines, smallwares, and prep equipment.
- Report repairs, maintenance needs, or equipment concerns promptly.
- Help maintain organized storage areas, walk-ins, freezers, dry storage, and service stations.
Required Qualifications
- Minimum 2–4 years of kitchen supervisory experience, preferably as a Sous Chef, Junior Sous Chef, Lead Line Cook, or Kitchen Supervisor.
- Experience in a high-volume restaurant, hotel, bar-forward restaurant, or upscale casual dining environment.
- Strong line skills and ability to lead during busy, high-pressure service.
- Strong understanding of food safety, sanitation, prep systems, production planning, and kitchen organization.
- Ability to supervise and motivate cooks, prep cooks, dishwashers, and kitchen support staff.
- Strong communication, leadership, time management, and problem-solving skills.
- Comfortable working nights, weekends, holidays, and high-volume service periods.
- Ability to stand, walk, lift, bend, reach, and work in a fast-paced kitchen for long periods.
- Must be reliable, professional, punctual, organized, and highly accountable.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with Mexican, Latin, or ingredient-driven cuisine preferred.
- NYC restaurant experience strongly preferred.
- NYC Food Protection Certificate preferred.
- Experience opening a new restaurant is a plus.
- Experience with inventory, ordering, prep systems, recipe costing, and food cost control.
- Bilingual English/Spanish is a plus.
Ideal Candidate
- The ideal candidate is a hands-on kitchen leader who takes pride in consistency, cleanliness, organization, and team development.
- You should be comfortable jumping on the line, leading expo, helping with prep, coaching a cook, checking the walk-in, receiving deliveries, reviewing pars, and closing the kitchen properly.
- Casa Felix is looking for someone who brings discipline, urgency, professionalism, humility, and pride to every shift.
Compensation
This position pays $75,000–$78,000 per year, based on experience.
Equal Opportunity Statement
Casa Felix is an equal opportunity employer. We value diversity, professionalism, respect, and hospitality. All qualified applicants will be considered without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, or any other protected status under applicable law.