# Sous Chef, Kauai



## Mitch Kauai

'Āina Kauaʻi is looking for a Sous Chef with a passion for excellence to help launch our new restaurant in Kilauea, Kauaʻi. You'll be responsible for preparing, cooking, and presenting food to our guests and managing kitchen operations.

*Responsibilities*

• Manage all activities in the kitchen, including food preparation and production, and management and training of kitchen staff.

• Ensure that food products, presentation, and plating are of the highest quality, and are prepared to serve in a timely manner.

• Ensure efficient, cost-effective operation and profitability of food production.

• Ensure compliance with all sanitation and health and safety standards.

• Monitor holding and storage operations, stocking and food rotation, and guarantee food service sanitation standards are met.

• Supervise and inspect all preparation and cooking equipment on a regular basis to ensure that they are kept clean, sanitary, and in perfect operating order. Oversee necessary kitchen appliance repairs.

• Schedule employees to ensure that the kitchen is adequately staffed at all necessary times.

• Track, record, and maintain inventory stock including foods, beverages, and kitchen supplies. Order and arrange pickup or delivery of foods and supplies.

• Assist with the preparation and design of food and drink menus.

*Qualifications (Required)*

• Impeccable professionalism, reliability, character, and integrity.

• Genuine passion for producing excellent quality food with local, organic, seasonal ingredients using a clean, fresh, minimalist, Washoku-driven aesthetic.

• Sincere curiosity-driven desire to innovate.

• Collaborative attitude with an emphasis on excellent customer service.

• Commitment to ensuring our success as a team.

• Strong communication abilities, with employees, vendors, and customers.

• Ability to effectively manage, direct, and train a team.

• Problem solving capabilities and willingness to thrive in a fast-paced and sometimes high-pressure environment.

• Time management strengths with the ability to multi-task.

• Knowledge of health and safety standards. Safe Food Handling Certification preferred.

• Solid understanding of cooking methods, ingredients, kitchen equipment, and related processes.

*Qualifications (Desired)*

• Experience working in a high-end Japanese restaurant preparing a wide range of Japanese dishes in innovative and traditional ways including experience preparing Sushi and Washoku or Kaiseki style meals.

• Experience working in a high-end restaurant that includes Hawaiian elements.

• Ability to build necessary systems and procedures to launch kitchen operations for a new restaurant.

• Experience launching a new restaurant.

• Relationships and experience to attract, hire, and retain excellent staff in Kauaʻi market.

• Knowledge of the Japanese & Hawaiian food supply chains and ability to acquire high end specialty Japanese and Hawaiian ingredients including locally sourced organic produce.

• Experience selecting, breaking down, and preparing fish. Know-how to bring out the best attributes of each Hawaiian fish raw and cooked.

• Ability to design plating styles that will delight guests and look great in photographs.

*About 'Āina Kauaʻi*

'Āina Kauaʻi is a new restaurant inspired by Aloha ʻĀina ("love of the land"). Our menu evolves from a quest to find the most inspiring ways to draw out the essence of the foods given to us by this land and surrounding waters. We creatively apply Washoku and other synergistic culinary principles in a constant search for exciting and delicious ways to prepare and present the foods of Hawaiʻi to our guests in a way that connects authentically to the nature of the islands.

We are building an intimate space with a clean, minimalist, and relaxed Japanese-inspired aesthetic. There will be 14-22 seats, a sushi-style bar, and dining tables. Part of the kitchen will be open to the dining area. We expect to start serving guests in June 2019.

*Working At 'Āina Kauaʻi*

'Āina Kauaʻi is a small restaurant with a small team located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean near the northern shores of Kauaʻi. Kauaʻi, the Garden Isle, is the oldest and northernmost island in the Hawaiian chain and is draped in emerald valleys, sharp mountain spires and jagged cliffs aged by time and the elements. This is a place where the Aloha Spirit is alive. Here, you'll be working with some of the freshest and most vibrant produce and fish found anywhere in the world, including unique textures, flavors, and aromas of tropical fruits and vegetables rarely found in the United States.

In this special place, we are building a special team of inspired and passionate individuals who wish to dedicate themselves to providing our guests with an exceptional experience arising from our inquiry into time and place in Kauaʻi. We're seeking people who are drawn to our vision and want to co-create a high performing team and successful restaurant business. We care about and help each other. We engage with each other, our guests, and our community with unwavering integrity. We enjoy this journey together. We interpret the beauty of the islands in novel ways and leave our guests with feelings of awe, gratitude, and connection.

We believe that attitude counts as much as skill. As a result, we're more interested in finding people who will come together to create a superb team than in specific skills or experience. If you feel a connection with what we're setting out to achieve, and believe you have the ability to execute, we want to hear from you. That said, we are looking a Sous Chef with proven skills running a professional kitchen.

This is an opportunity to create something special, to live and work in a place that offers an unparalleled lifestyle, and to be part of a team that propels each member to higher levels of achievement.

Additional benefits include relocation assistance, health insurance, and competitive salary.

*About Kilauea, Kauaʻi*

The town of Kilauea is located on the North Shore of Kauaʻi. We enjoy comfortable tropical weather all year and are surrounded by breathtaking natural beauty. Within a few miles of our restaurant, you can hike some of the most beautiful trails in the world, surf world class waves, stand-up paddle, swim, play golf, or relax on one of nine picture perfect beaches. From Kilauea, it is easy to enjoy the North Shore's dramatic natural beauty or to access other adventures and amenities in Kapaa and Lihue. You'll also be joining a small and close-knit community with genuine values that are hard to find today.


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