UW Dining Athletic Performance Executive Chef

UW DINING ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE EXECUTIVE CHEF

Thank you for considering Housing & Food Services at the University of Washington, Seattle.

Housing & Food Services (HFS) provides on-campus housing to over 10,000 student residents and operates over 40 dining and café locations that serve the entire campus community. To successfully accomplish this, we employ over 1,200 students, classified and professional staff members who work throughout HFS, providing residential and dining services to the campus. As reflected in our mission statement-working together to enhance student life-teamwork and service to our students and customers are at the heart of our business.

At the University of Washington, diversity is integral to excellence. We value and honor diverse experiences and perspectives, strive to create welcoming and respectful learning environments, and promote access, opportunity, and justice for all. In Housing & Food Services, our DEI statement reads:

HFS will become an organization that prioritizes inclusive workplace communities, centered on belonging and opportunity for all staff. All HFS staff must accept responsibility to identify and interrupt biases, privilege, barriers, and power dynamics. We challenge ourselves to engage in open dialogue, active listening, and empathic learning.

Should you wish to learn more about our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion at UW Housing & Food Services, please reference this link Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement Training.

POSITION PURPOSE

The Athletics Performance Executive Chef works for Housing and Food Services (HFS) and is responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of dining services for UW Intercollegiate Athletics (ICA). Providing nutrition to power performance, this executive level chef position has responsibility for ensuring menus and programming meet the needs of UW Athletes and teams through creation of nutritionally optimal meals for athletes and coaches. This will be achieved through effective leadership of the dining facility team and planning in coordination with ICA dietitians.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Leadership (25%) :

• Develops and maintains positive and professional relationships with student athletes.

• Provides outstanding customer service and ensures specialty diets and other nutritional needs are met.

• Develops and maintains positive and professional relationships with guests, department colleagues, and stakeholders.

• Develops and maintains positive and professional relationships with culinary and front-line service staff through two-way communication, timely feedback, collaboration and consistent visibility in the kitchen and work unit.

• Leads and participates in weekly culinary planning and/or production meetings, tastings, training, etc.

• Monitors performance in unit safety, customer service and food safety.

• Identifies and utilizes multiple avenues for soliciting feedback and responding to complaints, questions, and special requests.

• Consults appropriately with HFS Human Resources to ensure that UW, HFS and bargaining unit policies, guidelines are followed in administering progressive, corrective action principles and union contracts are followed in addressing employee performance problems.

• Provides effective verbal presentation skills that show preparation, research and delivery scaled for small, large, and diverse groups.

Operations and Customer Service (20%):

• Develops and collaborates on short- and long-range goals for unit programming.

• Works as a partner with ICA dietetic staff in development of programming and menus.

• Directs staff on dining operation policies and procedures.

• Maintains consistent and responsive communication with ICA stakeholders, athletic teams, and UW Dining administration.

• Maintains proper controls over resources, including inventory and labor.

• Manages the inventory from ordering to utilization, including purchasing, receipt, storage, payment processing, production, and service.

• Monitors attendance and adjusts staffing to meet daily production needs.

• Establishes and ensures that inventory par levels are maintained to minimize waste; manage the documentation and disposal of waste.

• Ensures that displays, freezers and prep and storage areas are in clean and orderly condition and meet health department standards.

• Identifies and corrects unsafe conditions, such as poor equipment or work habits that might lead to an accident.

• Utilizes the Online Accident Reporting System (OARS) for every work accident and injury, notifying appropriate authorities and personnel.

• Works with ICA dietitians and athletic teams in planning special events.

Fiscal Management (10%) :

• Monitors performance of products, services, and programs, and collaborates with vendors to make adjustments as necessary to meet established financial and service goals.

• Contributes to the unit's business plan and budget in collaboration with UW Dining leadership.

• Monitors and reviews reports, including financial statements, production records, staffing schedules and inquiries from the HFS Financial team.

• Actively reviews business and financial data and proactively implements cost controls.

• Contributes to probable causes for budget variances or discrepancies and makes appropriate adjustments.

• Ensures that there are appropriate controls on resources, including separation of controls between purchasing, receiving and counting inventory.

Culinary Focus and Results (30%) :

• Develops recipes, sources, creates, and executes high-performance menus for all athlete, and coach meals, with a focus on local, nutrient-dense, high-quality foods to optimize health, performance, and recovery.

• Collaborates with the campus executive chef, onsite management team, Assistant Director, and ICA dietitians in development of menus and services.

• Trains staff in food preparation, production, and display.

• Designs and implements quality control measures to insure consistent taste, presentation, and food safety.

• Ensures that displays and presentations of food are attractive, including appropriate labels and signage.

• Monitors performance indicators for production, quality and service and intervenes when necessary to ensure goals are met.

• Develops and implements new concepts and products that align with customer needs, as well as the promotion of ICA activities and events.

• Keeps up with dining trends and communicates innovative ideas to the leadership team.

• Can provide product information for newsletters, promotions, and customer inquiries through the Communication & Marketing department.

Supervision (5%) :

• Interviews and selects staff and ensures that staff are on-boarded to the work unit and attend required HFS and UW-required training.

• Supervises the work completed by direct reports, ensuring appropriate productivity, quality, customer service and adherence to UW and departmental policies and procedures.

• Provides guidance to direct reports on requirements and/or opportunities for learning and professional development.

• Engages, when necessary, in performance management of employees within the organization.

• Prepares and conducts ongoing and timely performance appraisals for all employees, providing proper performance-based feedback.

• Position must supervise at least 2 FTE to maintain this professional staff exemption and compensation.

• Will supervise a Program Assistant, a Chef de Cuisine and Assistant Manager, and will have 9 indirect reports.

CBORD (10%) :

• Under the general direction of the Campus Executive Chef, support the recipe input and validation process for CBORD FSS. This may include drafting recipes following established format and process, answering clarifying questions for Dining Systems team, and performing or facilitating production testing for accuracy.

• Support the recipe input and validation process for CBORD FSS. Write recipes for input following established process, answer clarifying questions for Dining Systems team, and perform or facilitate production testing for accuracy.

• Perform periodic reviews of system data and reports related to recipe costing and production methods to inform decisions related to menu, recipe and pricing changes. Work with Dining Systems team to make updates to system data.

• Review current system data and reports to inform decisions on vendor and product selection.

• Run and/or review system reports to analyze KPIs related to recipe costing, menu mix, and operational compliance with recipe specifications and/or established purchasing practices.

• Participate with ICA Dieticians in providing nutrition information for Notemeal.

IMPACT TO THE UNIVERSITY

The athletics dining program provides a high-quality dining experience to University of Washington student-athletes and teams, supporting academic and athletic performance.

WORKING CONDITIONS

This position is expected to maintain regular hours (8am-5pm M-F) during the work week to maximize availability for HFS meetings and to conduct daily business. Additional hours are required to provide a presence and coverage for meal services and HFS special events that may occur evenings and weekends.

POSITION REQUIREMENTS

• Maintain a regular, full-time onsite work presence.

• Depending on assignment, may travel to different sites on the Seattle Campus.

• Adapt to a variety of working conditions and venues:

• Maintain a daily presence in the office to perform administrative work, meet with employees, and to address any operational issues that arise in the front or back of the house.

• Maintain a daily presence in the production and service areas to provide training, test recipes, observe and interrupt unsafe food and occupational health practices.

• Daily use of a computer workstation or laptop to review/approve transactions, correspond via email, and participate in virtual meetings and training.

• Comply with essential staff designation that requires onsite presence during inclement weather and suspended operations to ensure consistent food service to our residents.

• Participate in special events that occur during evenings and weekends to support the Department and the University.

REPORTS TO

Assistant Director

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor's degree in hospitality and/or a certification by a recognized culinary institution, plus a minimum of Five (5) years of executive chef-level management experience in culinary operations.

Equivalent education/experience will substitute for all minimum qualifications except where there are legal requirements such as license/certification/registration.

ADDITIONAL QUALIFICATIONS

Experience and references must demonstrate:

• Comprehensive understanding of menu item specifics, including but not limited to dietary restrictions, food allergies and tolerances, ingredients, preparation processes, holding and serving temperatures, and HAACP guidelines.

• Leadership experience working within a high-volume seated restaurant, hotel, contract food services, university dining venue, or athletic dining facility.

• Effective execution of cook to order menu items in a restaurant setting.

• Effective expediting on the kitchen and service sides of a restaurant.

• Depth and breadth in concept development, kitchen management, food and labor cost controls, and plating and presentation.

• Effective training and leadership of staff.

• Effective interpersonal, organizational, analytical, communication and problem-solving skills.

• Effective supervision of staff, including training, giving constructive feedback and address performance through progressive, corrective action.

• Proficiency with Microsoft Office, including Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and Project.

DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Success working in a contemporary college/university dining environment.
• A minimum of three (3) years of experience in a culinary management role within an athletic nutrition setting (ex. professional sports team, collegiate athletic department, or Olympic team setting).

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT

• A satisfactory outcome from the employment reference check processes and education verification.

• Possession of a Washington State Food Handler's Card.

• ServSafe certification within three months of hire and maintenance of certification thereafter.

• Maintenance of a valid Washington State Driver's License.

Application Process:

The application process for UW positions may include completion of a variety of online assessments to obtain additional information that will be used in the evaluation process. These assessments may include Work Authorization, Cover Letter and/or others. Any assessments that you need to complete will appear on your screen as soon as you select "Apply to this position". Once you begin an assessment, it must be completed at that time; if you do not complete the assessment, you will be prompted to do so the next time you access your "My Jobs" page. If you select to take it later, it will appear on your "My Jobs" page to take when you are ready. Please note that your application will not be reviewed, and you will not be considered for this position until all required assessments have been completed.