Chef de Cuisine - Specialty Restaurant

The MGallery Hotel Collection features boutique hotels, each with its own original design and unique stories to tell. Choosing to join MGallery is choosing to live and experience Memorable Moments.

MGallery Nairobi Gigiri will feature 105 rooms and suites; four restaurants, including an all-day dining venue, a signature dining experience, a pool bar, and a rooftop restaurant and bar; meeting rooms and a business centre; and wellness facilities spanning a gym, pool and spa.

With a prime location on Gigiri’s Limuru Road, fairly close to Nairobi’s city centre and Village Market, it will attract UN and NGO delegates, consultants and contractors, as well as diplomats, leisure visitors and the local community.

Scope and Objectives 

The position is responsible of managing daily kitchen activities of our specialty restaurant - Kahani which embraces an Indian Fusion cuisine. The position includes overseeing staff, aiding with menu preparation, ensuring food quality and freshness, and monitoring ordering and stocking.  Ensuring a high quality dining experience through leadership of junior culinary team.  Ensuring all hygiene, cost control systems are followed and maintain a close working relationship with F&B and other operational departments.

Primary Responsibilities

• Manage daily kitchen operation, quality control & food hygiene
• Assign in detail, specific duties to all employees under your supervision & instruct them in their work, in order to manage the daily kitchen operation, quality control & food hygiene
• Ensuring creative menu planning, all recipes & product yields are accurately costed, reviewed regularly, as well as MEP is done according to recipes, portion control & waste minimization 
• Efficient preparation of dishes and meals according to recipes, portion control & waste management
• Assists to analyze monthly P&L & month-end reports & sets periodical budget & forecast
• Check the taste, temperature and visual appeal of food items prepared to ensure that the quality and portion are consistent and as per specifications set out
• To work in close conjunction with the F&B manager and respective & teams, to create a yearly marketing Plan for the outlet
• Provides guidance to junior kitchen staff members, including, but not limited, to line cooking, food preparation, and dish plating
• Improve waste reduction & manage budgetary concerns
• Oversees and organizes kitchen stock and ingredients
• Supervises all food preparation & presentation to ensure quality and restaurant standards
• Responds to and handles guest problems and complaints & reports always to senior
• Make recommendations to the Executive Chef regarding succession planning
• Accuracy in recipes, cost control, ordering & stock management
• Strict adherence to purchasing procedures
• Leading by example on all hygiene requirements (safe personal hygiene and sanitary food-handling practices, labelling and FIFO/FEFO practices)
• Regular review of guest comments so that improvements can be driven in VOG
• Liaison between F & B departments and rest of hotel effective for guest experience
• To be aware of all financial budgets and goals
• Ensure that all safety, health, security and loss control policies and procedures and Government legislation are adhered to
• Prevent the use of contaminated products in any phase of food preparation and prevent colleagues who are ill or suffering from an infection from taking part in the preparation or handling of food

Team Management

• Manage & provide leadership to all subordinate such as jr. sous chef, cdp, commis as well as stewarding & ensure adherence to all company and hotel policies and procedures at all times
• Interview, select and recruit team members 
• Project a positive and motivated attitude amongst all colleagues & conduct regular team meetings where active attendance is key
• Ensure positive & constructive feedback on work performance is given very regular in fair manner to encourage a positive & eager environment 
• Coach and counsel employees in a timely manner, in accordance with company policies, don’t hesitate to involve seniors in order for best level outcome & always keep following up on
• Identify strengths and weaknesses, take personal interest of each team mate & provide timely feedback on very regular base
• Ensure that weekly work schedules are administered in anticipation of business levels, operating budgets and service standards, furthermore that public holiday & annual leave planners are very proactive & regularly reviewed in order to avoid extensive accrual & all are file correctly as per standards set by hotel and local authorities 

Other Responsibilities

• Follow guidelines provided in colleague handbook
• Set example to others on personal hygiene and cleanliness on and off duty
• Perform other reasonable duties assigned by senior
• Acquire culinary knowledge and skills to grow as a leader
• Interface the needs/requirements of other departments with the kitchen: chefs office, engineering, food & beverage, security, finance, talent & culture, stewarding and food safety hygiene
• Attend all briefings, meetings and trainings as assigned by management
• Ensure cleanliness and appearance of all kitchens and related areas
• Provide a level of safety & security for all team members whilst working

Profile

Knowledge and Experience

• Minimum of 2-4 years of experience in Indian Fusion style of cuisine.
• Relevant culinary school or college diploma, preferred
• Strong working knowledge with computer, Microsoft office, procurement & requisition module
• Good reading, writing and oral proficiency in English language

Competencies

• Strong leadership & interpersonal skills with ability to communicate with all levels of employees 
• Service oriented with an eye for details, able to work well in stressful & high-pressure situations & take quick decisions 
• Ability to work effectively and contribute in a team
• Good presentation and influencing skills
• Multicultural awareness and able to work with people from diverse cultures
• Flexible and able to embrace and respond to change effectively
• Ability to work independently and has good initiative under dynamic environment
• Self-motivated, energetic, team player able to reflect on to his team
• Hungry to learn and apply in operation in order to grow