Job Title: Culinary Operations Chef 

Company: CASCADA F+B 

Location: Portland, OR (Located in CASCADA)

Employment Type: Full-time Hourly

Reports to: Executive Chef

About Us: 

CASCADA F+B is growing our team specifically in our Forbidden Fruit Café, Alberta Street Coffee shop and our ever expanding Events. 

Job Summary:

The Culinary Operations Chef is responsible for overseeing and coordinating culinary operations across our café, coffee shop, and events/banquet program. This position serves as the connection between each outlet, ensuring teams are prepared, food is executed consistently, event commitments are met, and operations run smoothly and on time.

This is a hands-on leadership position. The Culinary Operations Chef will work alongside the team when needed, including executing events and banquets, while also managing the bigger operational picture. They will oversee sous chefs and kitchen leads, maintain accountability across departments, and work closely with the Executive Chef on menu development, systems, and overall culinary standards.

The ideal candidate is highly organized, comfortable managing multiple moving pieces, and able to move between daily café operations, production, events, and leadership responsibilities.

Key Responsibilities:

Multi-Outlet Culinary Operations:

· Oversee culinary operations across the café, coffee shop, and events/banquet program.

· Coordinate production, prep, staffing needs, and communication between all three outlets.

· Ensure every outlet is properly stocked, organized, and prepared for service.

· Establish and maintain pars, prep lists, production schedules, and ordering systems.

· Identify operational needs before they become service issues.

· Ensure food quality, presentation, portioning, and execution remain consistent across all outlets.

· Maintain clear communication between culinary leadership, FOH leadership, events, and other departments.

Events & Banquets:

· Work events and banquet services as required.

· Review event contracts, BEOs, menus, guest counts, dietary restrictions, and service expectations prior to each event.

· Ensure the culinary team understands and executes everything that has been committed to the client.

· Coordinate event prep, production timelines, staffing, equipment, and product needs.

· Ensure events are fully prepared and executed accurately and on time.

· Communicate changes or potential issues to the appropriate teams before service.

· Assist with event menu development, tastings, and special requests.

Leadership & Team Management:

· Directly oversee sous chefs, kitchen leads, and other assigned culinary team members.

· Set clear expectations and hold culinary leaders accountable for their areas of responsibility.

· Follow up on assigned projects, prep, ordering, cleanliness, organization, and service readiness.

· Help develop sous chefs and leads into stronger, more independent leaders.

· Delegate effectively while maintaining oversight of final execution.

· Assist with scheduling and deployment of culinary staff based on outlet and event needs.

· Support training, coaching, performance management, and implementation of kitchen standards.

· Create a culture of accountability, urgency, organization, professionalism, and teamwork.

Inventory, Ordering & Organization:

· Ensure all outlets maintain appropriate inventory and pars.

· Oversee ordering and receiving practices within assigned operations.

· Ensure products needed for upcoming events and services are ordered with adequate lead time.

· Monitor shortages, substitutions, waste, over-ordering, and unnecessary spending.

· Maintain organization of walk-ins, freezers, dry storage, event storage, and production areas.

· Work with culinary leadership to improve purchasing, food cost, and inventory systems.

Menu & Food Development:

· Collaborate with the Executive Chef on new dishes, menus, specials, and concepts.

· Participate in recipe testing, tastings, and menu development.

· Help translate new menu items into systems that can be executed consistently by the team.

· Develop and maintain recipes, specifications, plating standards, and production procedures.

· Identify opportunities to improve quality, efficiency, profitability, and guest experience.

Standards & Execution:

· Ensure all culinary operations meet company standards for food quality, cleanliness, sanitation, organization, and professionalism.

· Maintain proper food safety and sanitation practices.

· Ensure recipes, portions, presentation standards, and procedures are being followed.

· Maintain strong communication regarding upcoming events, large orders, menu changes, staffing challenges, and operational needs.

· Step into production or service wherever needed to support successful execution.

Schedule & Availability:

This position requires a flexible schedule based on the needs of the business.

The Culinary Operations Chef must be available to work a combination of mornings, evenings, weekends, holidays, events, and banquet services as required. The schedule may change based on event volume and the operational needs of the café, coffee shop, and other culinary outlets.

This is not a position dedicated to one individual outlet. The Culinary Operations Chef is expected to move between operations based on where leadership and support are most needed.

Qualifications:

· Previous culinary leadership experience, preferably as a Sous Chef, Executive Sous Chef, Chef de Cuisine, Banquet Chef, or similar leadership position.

· Experience managing and developing kitchen teams.

· Strong organizational and time-management skills.

· Experience with high-volume production and/or events and banquets strongly preferred.

· Ability to manage multiple outlets, deadlines, and priorities simultaneously.

· Strong understanding of ordering, inventory, pars, prep systems, and food cost.

· Ability to read and execute event contracts, BEOs, production sheets, and event timelines.

· Strong communication and leadership skills.

· Comfortable working both administratively and hands-on in the kitchen.

· Ability to remain organized and solution-oriented in a fast-paced environment.

· Strong culinary skills and an interest in continued food and menu development.

· Ability to work a varied schedule to include Days, Nights, Weekends, Holidays and a variety of working hours including early morning and late nights.

What Success Looks Like:

A successful Culinary Operations Chef knows what is happening across all three culinary outlets and stays ahead of what each team needs.

Events are prepared correctly and on time. Contracts and BEOs are followed. Kitchens are stocked. Sous chefs and leads know what is expected of them and are held accountable. Communication between outlets is clear. Problems are identified early rather than during service.

Most importantly, this person creates structure around the culinary operation so that the Executive Chef does not have to personally manage every detail for each individual outlet.

What We Offer:

· A supportive and dynamic work environment.

· Robust PTO plan for full-time team members.

· Health coverage for full-time team members.

· Employee discounts on food and beverages.

If you’re excited to lead culinary operations across Cascada’s café, coffee shop, and events program, we’d love to hear from you!

Equal Opportunity Statement:

Cascada F&B LLC provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, marital status, amnesty status, or veteran status. We are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive community. If you need accommodation for the interview or application process, please notify the hiring manager.