Culinary Director

Frederick, Maryland | Full-Time | Salary Based on Experience

An established hospitality group is seeking an experienced Opening Executive Chef to lead the culinary development and opening of a new restaurant concept in Frederick, Maryland.

The restaurant will be a modern, full-service diner serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner, combining familiar diner favorites with an updated, thoughtful approach to food, ingredients, presentation, and hospitality.

This is not a position where you will be walking into an established kitchen and existing menu. We are looking for a chef who wants the opportunity to help build a restaurant from the ground up.

Working closely and collaboratively with the owner, the Executive Chef will be instrumental in taking the culinary program from initial concept and menu development through training, opening day, and ongoing operations.

The Executive Chef will have overall responsibility for the back-of-house operation, including:

• Collaborating with ownership to develop the opening breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus

• Recipe development, testing, documentation, and standardization

• Recipe costing, portioning, yields, and menu pricing recommendations

• Establishing food-cost targets and systems to maintain them

• Assisting with kitchen layout, equipment selection, smallwares, and opening needs

• Developing kitchen systems, prep procedures, station organization, and opening/closing procedures

• Establishing food safety, sanitation, cleanliness, and organizational standards

• Hiring and building the opening BOH team

• Training, coaching, counseling, and developing kitchen employees

• Creating prep lists, production systems, pars, and ordering procedures

• Managing purchasing, receiving, inventory, waste, and vendor relationships

• Scheduling and managing BOH labor

• Maintaining consistency in food quality, presentation, portions, and execution

• Leading the kitchen through opening and developing systems capable of supporting a high-volume operation

The right candidate is a hands-on leader and restaurant operator, not simply a talented cook.

We are looking for someone who:

• Has significant chef and kitchen leadership experience

• Has experience developing menus and recipes from inception through execution

• Understands food costing, inventory, purchasing, labor management, and restaurant financials

• Can build systems rather than relying on systems someone else created

• Is highly organized, clean, and detail-oriented

• Maintains exceptionally high standards for kitchen cleanliness and organization

• Leads by example and is willing to work alongside the team

• Is reliable, hardworking, and comfortable with the long hours sometimes required during a restaurant opening

• Maintains a positive, professional, and consistent demeanor

• Remains composed and solutions-focused under pressure

• Can coach and hold employees accountable while still developing and retaining good people

• Communicates effectively with both ownership and staff

• Takes pride in their professional appearance and the appearance of their kitchen

• Understands that consistency is just as important as creativity

Restaurant opening experience is strongly preferred.

High-volume breakfast and brunch experience is also strongly preferred. This concept will have a significant breakfast business, and we are particularly interested in chefs who understand the unique demands of a busy breakfast kitchen—including egg and griddle production, speed of execution, prep systems, station organization, ticket times, and maintaining quality and consistency during high-volume service.

Experience in high-volume breakfast, brunch, diner, hotel, or other multi-daypart restaurant operations would be particularly valuable.

This is a full-time salaried position with compensation based on experience and the value the candidate brings to the operation. We are intentionally keeping the compensation range flexible because we are interested in finding the right person rather than limiting the search to a predetermined salary.

This restaurant will be the second concept within a growing hospitality group, with additional concepts and locations planned for the future.

For the right individual, this is an opportunity to do more than run one kitchen. We are looking for someone who can grow with the company and potentially take on greater culinary and operational leadership responsibilities as the hospitality group expands.

If building a restaurant from the ground up and putting your own experience, organization, leadership, and culinary knowledge into an opening sounds like the opportunity you have been looking for, we would like to hear from you.

Please submit your résumé along with a brief introduction describing your culinary leadership experience, high-volume breakfast/brunch experience, and any restaurants or concepts you have helped open or develop.

Qualified candidates will be contacted to schedule a confidential interview.