Executive Chef – Key Job Responsibilities

- Culinary & Kitchen Operations
- Lead and oversee all culinary operations across the hotel, including restaurants, banquets, room service, bar/café, and special events. - Ensure consistent food quality, presentation, taste, portion control, and adherence to established recipes and standards. - Develop and maintain SOPs for food preparation, production, storage, service, and kitchen operations. - Ensure smooth coordination between the kitchen, F&B; service, stewarding, purchase, stores, and other operational departments. - Drive innovation in culinary offerings while maintaining the hotel's brand positioning and guest expectations.
- Menu Planning & Engineering
- Develop and periodically review menus based on guest preferences, market trends, seasonality, and business requirements. - Conduct menu engineering to maximise profitability while maintaining quality. - Introduce new dishes, concepts, promotions, buffets, themed events, and culinary experiences. - Ensure appropriate menu pricing in coordination with F&B; and Finance teams.
- Food Cost & Profitability
- Take ownership of food cost and kitchen profitability. - Ensure food cost remains within the approved budget and established benchmarks. - Monitor wastage, pilferage, overproduction, portion control, and yield. - Analyse food cost reports and take corrective action wherever required. - Work closely with Purchase and Stores to ensure effective procurement and inventory management.
- Revenue & Business Contribution
- Actively contribute towards achieving the hotel's F&B; revenue targets. - Develop culinary promotions and special experiences to generate incremental revenue. - Support banquets, weddings, corporate events, festivals, and other revenue-generating activities.



- Work closely with Sales & F&B; teams to develop customised menus and commercial offerings.
- Guest Experience & Quality
- Drive improvement in guest satisfaction through food quality, consistency, presentation, and service coordination. - Monitor guest feedback, online reviews, complaints, and food-related GSI scores. - Ensure prompt resolution of food-quality-related guest complaints. - Maintain high standards of culinary presentation and overall dining experience.
- Hygiene, Food Safety & Compliance
- Ensure strict compliance with FSSAI requirements, HACCP principles, hotel hygiene standards, and food safety procedures. - Conduct regular kitchen inspections and hygiene audits. - Ensure proper storage temperatures, labelling, FIFO/FEFO, cleaning schedules, pest control, and personal hygiene standards. - Ensure all kitchen equipment is properly maintained and operated safely.
- Team Leadership & People Development
- Lead, motivate, and develop the entire culinary team. - Plan manpower requirements in line with business volumes and operational needs. - Conduct training, coaching, skill development, and performance reviews for kitchen associates. - Identify high-potential talent and develop succession plans for key culinary positions. - Maintain discipline, grooming, attendance, productivity, and professional standards within the kitchen team.
- Procurement & Inventory




- Work closely with Purchase and Stores to ensure timely availability of quality ingredients. - Approve specifications and quality standards for food products. - Monitor inventory levels and minimise unnecessary stock holding. - Evaluate suppliers based on quality, consistency, pricing, and delivery standards. - Ensure proper receiving, storage, issuing, and utilisation of food materials.
- Budgeting & Financial Management
- Prepare and manage the annual culinary budget in coordination with F&B; and Finance. - Control manpower, food, consumable, and operational costs. - Monitor monthly financial performance against budget. - Identify opportunities for cost optimisation without compromising guest experience or quality.
- Kitchen Infrastructure & Equipment
- Ensure proper utilisation and maintenance of kitchen equipment. - Identify requirements for new equipment, replacement, upgrades, and kitchen improvements. - Coordinate with Engineering for preventive maintenance and timely resolution of equipment breakdowns. - Ensure kitchens remain operationally effective and appropriately equipped.
- Coordination & Leadership
- Participate in daily operational meetings and management reviews. - Coordinate closely with the General Manager, F&B; Manager, Purchase, Finance, HR, Sales, and Engineering teams. - Provide regular updates on culinary performance, food cost, manpower, guest feedback, and operational challenges. - Take ownership of corrective actions and ensure timely closure of identified gaps.

Overall responsibility: The Executive Chef should be accountable for culinary excellence + guest satisfaction + food cost + F&B; profitability + team capability + hygiene and food safety, rather than being responsible only for kitchen production.

📌 Executive Chef (Kolkata)
🏢 Polo Hotels Group
📍 Kolkata