Chef de Cuisine

CHEF DE CUISINE — Westside Gastropub, Santa Monica

A gastropub on the Westside is looking for a chef de cuisine to run the kitchen daily. An executive chef with serious credentials is producing the menu direction. You execute, refine, train, manage costs, and bring your own creativity as the concept develops. Autonomy grows as you get situated.  

180 seats. Two patios. Two bars. Full liquor license. Farmers market driven. A concept unlike anything else in the city.

What you'd do:

Run the kitchen — hiring, training, scheduling, managing BOH. You're at the stove every service and building systems between services.   Build recipe cards, food cost tracking, labor management, prep lists, ordering, inventory. The kitchen needs a leader who creates structure.   Source from local farmers markets. Build vendor relationships. The menu follows the seasons.   Create dishes worth talking about — seasonal specials, monthly features, food that people photograph and come back for.

Who you are:

3-5 years of kitchen leadership at a restaurant you're proud of. You've run a kitchen, not just worked in one.  You know food cost — you've tracked it, managed it, and hit targets. Non-negotiable.  You know labor — scheduling, overtime, and the relationship between labor cost and revenue.

Gastropub, farm-to-table, or ethnic cuisine background. Soulful food done with intention.  Farmers market sourcing is second nature.  You're organized. And you want to build something.

What we offer:

$75,000-85,000 to start, depending on experience.  An executive chef guiding the creative direction — a partner and mentor invested in your success.   Real ownership of the kitchen. Your systems. Your dishes. Your team.  Increased autonomy and a clear growth path as the concept scales.  An owner with 25 years of restaurant experience who respects the kitchen and won't micromanage your service. 

No recruiters.