Culinary Teaching Assistant/Sous Chef

Calling all food Enthusiasts and Chef’s looking for their NEXT BEST opportunity in the culinary world! How would you like to be a part of a growing organization that is mission driven, upskilling, and building new talent for the hospitality industry in Chicago? This opportunity could be for you!

Position: Culinary Teaching Assistant/Sous Chef

Reports to: Lead Instructor

Position Type: Fulltime Salary

Location: McCormick Place Lakeside Center

2301 S. DuSable Lake Shore Drive E 1002

Chicago, Illinois 60616

Mission Statement: Our mission is to up-skill incumbent hospitality professionals, build new talent for the hospitality industry and place people into unionized career pathways through training programs which include registered apprenticeships. We recruit, train, and retain skilled employees and provide ongoing professional development and support to individuals in the Chicagoland area, who will deliver high quality guest services to our employer partners and to the public.

Vision Statement: UHCHI will be the premier hospitality training provider in the Chicagoland area.

Our history: UNITE HERE Chicago Hospitality Institute (UHCHI) is a 501(c)(3) workforce development organization, born out of a partnership between UNITE HERE Local 1 and hotels, event venues and food service employers in the Chicagoland area.

Job Summary

The Culinary Teaching Assistant/Sous Chef supports the Executive Chef Instructors with teaching solid, rigorous classes for apprentices interested in becoming professional line cooks. All students are encouraged to participate fully with high performance outcomes. Proper techniques are taught in fine detail based on the Culinary Institute of America’s standards of teaching.

Responsibilities and Duties

The Sous Chef/Teaching Assistant (TA) helps the program succeed by providing educational experiences to our students so they can obtain and maintain their first jobs in professional kitchens throughout Chicagoland.

The Sous Chef/TA follows the style, the class plans, and recipes previously developed by the program. You'll support the school in driving student and program success.

The Sous Chef/TA sets the example in properly following policies and procedures, while guiding and supervising assistants to do so as well. As unusual situations come up, you're able to come up with excellent and timely solutions to help our students, and then follow up with managing staff.

You will be responsible for:

• Arriving to the training facility early enough to allow for a smooth and successful class
• Modeling professional behavior to supervise and motivate a team to provide an excellent teaching and learning environment
• Modeling, encouraging, providing, and insisting upon an inclusive environment for all students of all races, national origins, genders, religion, disabilities, sexual orientations, veteran statuses, or marital statuses
• Freely sharing your extensive culinary knowledge with our students
• Assisting during clean-up as necessary to get the class finished on time
• Assuring that the kitchen is spotless at the end of each class, staying until everything is proper
• Promoting the program throughout the community and with our industry partners
• Providing feedback on class plans and recipes
• Ensuring a smoothly operating class
• Handling student issues in a polite, efficient, and confidential manner
• Keeping food and supplies properly stocked and in an orderly fashion
• Communicating successes and concerns with the program director and support staff
• Show prudence with program budget
• Other duties as determined by the Lead Instructor

Qualifications and Skills

Essential Skills:

• • Directs food preparation and collaborates with Lead Chef Instructor
  • Helps in preparing food mis en place for Kitchen Lab Demos
  • Produces high quality plates, including both design and taste
  • Oversees and supervises students
  • Assists with menu planning, inventory, and management of supplies
  • Ensures that food is top quality, and that kitchen is in good condition
  • Keeps stations clean and complies with food safety standards
  • Offers suggestions and creative ideas that can improve upon the kitchen’s performance
  • Prepares food properly
  • Orders food and operational supplies, ensuring food is available for daily assignments
  • Monitors and maintains kitchen equipment
  • Solves problems that arise and seizes control of issues in the kitchen
  • Able to easily move around the kitchen in tight spaces, coaching and guiding assistants and students
  • Able to patiently communicate verbally, and work cooperatively with assistants, students, support staff, employer partners, and interested members of the community
  • Able to be on your feet for up to 6 hours at a time while assisting in class
  • Must have a keen sense of taste and smell, to inspect food quality and flavor, and with the tongue, nose, and mouth, be able to distinguish subtle differences in taste, flavors, and/or scents in order to balance foods being cooked and presented to the satisfaction of the National Chef
  • Able to bend, stoop, kneel, reach, push, and pull in order to demonstrate cooking techniques, to gather and put away cooking equipment, and supplies
  • Able to use hands in all manners customarily used in a commercial restaurant kitchen, to grab, hold, grasp, turn, lift, or any, and all other customary hand motions or usage, in order to chop, slice, slice, stir, and/or to demonstrate any, and all other culinary techniques
  • Able to work a flexible schedule including nights, weekends, and holidays as needs dictate
  • Ability to operate a computer, keyboards, and mouse as needed by the program
  • Able to keep regular and predictable attendance
• Able to lift and/or move food, merchandise, and/or kitchen equipment weighing up to 50#, including moving and placing objects below the waist and above the head
• Able and willing to handle and pour wine, beer, and liquor, used in demonstrating cooking techniques
• Willing and able to reasonably respond by phone, email, and texts to arrange scheduling and to communicate updates to management
• Additional responsibilities as assigned by management

Environmental Conditions

Sous Chef/TA will be:

• Working with an open flame and/or other heating units, and exposure to a warm or hot kitchen temperature
• Working with sharp knives and other sharp cutting tools
• Physically exposed and airborne exposed to a wide variety of foods including common allergens
• Exposure to normal and customary commercial cleaning products
• Closing and securing the building late at night or weekends in a remote area

Candidates should be able to demonstrate the following experience and required qualifications:

• At least 10 years kitchen experience on the “line” in a fine-dining environment
• At least five years of experience in charge of a kitchen department or restaurant
• Some experience with a broad line of fine breads, cakes & pastries
• Culinary Associates degree, or equivalent experience considered in place of degree
• Strong communication skills
• Ability to model professional behavior, to supervise and motivate a team to provide an excellent educational environment
• Valid Food Manager's Sanitation Certification and Proctor's Certification, or ability to be certified
• Must be at least 21 years old
• Familiarity with MS Office Suite (Word, Excel, Outlook)

We are an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. All qualified candidates will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, national origin, gender, religion, disability, genetic information, sexual orientation, veteran status, or marital status.

This job description represents a summary of the typical functions of the job and is not considered to be an exhaustive or comprehensive list of all possible job responsibilities, tasks, and duties. The responsibilities, tasks, and duties of the job holder might differ from those outlined specifically in the job description; other duties, as assigned, will become part of the job. This job description is not an employment agreement or contract. Full participation and teamwork is expected at all times. We have the exclusive right to alter this job description at any time without notice, even after employment.

Full Benefits Package