Executive Pastry Chef

Executive Pastry Chef

Sugar Bliss | Chicago, IL | Full-time | On-site

About the role

Sugar Bliss is hiring an Executive Pastry Chef to lead our Chicago kitchen. This is a leader who happens to bake, not a baker who happens to lead. From day one, you set the standards, build the team, and own the rhythm of a boutique kitchen that is visible to every customer who walks through our door. You partner directly with the CEO on production planning, product economics, and where the menu goes next. The kitchen runs because you run it.

About Sugar Bliss

Sugar Bliss has been part of Chicago's cake culture for more than 17 years. We are a woman-owned, brand-forward boutique known for cupcakes, custom cakes, French macarons, and a growing experiences and tower program. Our work shows up at weddings, in corporate accounts and healthcare campuses, at industry events like Sweets and Snacks, and on the daily counter that defines our reputation. The kitchen is small in footprint and large in standard. The product is the brand.

Why this role matters

This role is rare. Sugar Bliss does not churn through pastry leadership. The Executive Pastry Chef sets the operating reality of the kitchen for years, not weeks. The person who steps into it shapes the product, the team, and the next chapter of the boutique.

What you own

You run a boutique kitchen end to end: the team, the production calendar, the standards, the cost structure, and the relationship between the kitchen and the rest of the business. You are part of the management team, not a department head reporting in.

Leadership and team

• Build, develop, and hold accountable a kitchen team capable of running daily production without owner interruption.
• Hire at every level. Run interviews, structure stages, and make the call. Onboard new hires until they meet Sugar Bliss standards.
• Develop two sous-level deputies who can run the kitchen when you are on PTO or pulled into a special project.
• Set the example for quality, pace, and cleanliness. Enforce the Sugar Bliss code of conduct on breaks, phones, and dress.
• Manage staffing levels through the shift, including coverage on weekends when the kitchen needs it.

Production and quality

• Own daily prep lists and the par sheet system. Reset pars on a monthly cadence and pivot for seasonal demand.
• Hold the line on consistency. Recipes, weights, finishes, plating, and packaging meet the boutique standard every day.
• Ensure catering, custom cakes, and special orders ship on time and accurate, including peak-volume weekends and event spikes.
• Serve as the point of contact when front-of-house or a customer needs a kitchen answer.

Operations and P&L

• Hold kitchen labor inside the agreed target band over a rolling 12-week window.
• Hold ingredient and packaging COGS inside the agreed target band. Tie waste reduction and recipe accuracy directly to the food cost line.
• Own vendor relationships. Negotiate pricing with Restaurant Depot, ingredient suppliers, and packaging vendors. Place orders, verify invoices, and confirm freshness on receipt.
• Place seasonal ingredient orders by the 15th of the month so production is never blocked by procurement.
• Build and enforce daily, weekly, and monthly cleaning and sanitation schedules. The kitchen is inspection-ready every day.

Cross-functional partnership

• Partner with the CEO on direction, product economics, and decisions that affect cost, quality, or capacity.
• Coordinate with Lizzie on operations and special initiatives, including the experiences and tower program.
• Coordinate with Rachel on marketing and rollout timing so launches do not collide with production capacity.
• Keep front-of-house in the loop on availability, sub-outs, and case strategy. Information moves both ways without drama.

Strategic contribution

• Develop new recipes with product economics in mind. A new item is a margin decision before it is a flavor decision.
• Drive menu evolution: seasonal flavors, custom cake direction, and the experiences and tower program in partnership with Lizzie, the cake direction lead, and the CEO.
• Treat zero waste as a system, not a punishment. Build the standards and structures that make waste rare instead of policed.
• Bring outside perspective. Trends, technique, and supplier intelligence should reach the CEO through you.

What success looks like

Twelve months in, the kitchen looks different. Specifically:

• Kitchen labor as a percent of revenue holds inside the target band over a rolling 12-week window.
• Ingredient and packaging COGS holds inside the target band, with a documented playbook for waste, yield, and substitutions.
• Zero customer-impacting case-out moments during peak weekends. Pars and prep are calibrated to demand.
• Two trained sous-level deputies can run the kitchen for at least a week with no quality drop.
• Catering, custom cakes, and wholesale orders ship on time and accurate at a rate the team can quote with confidence.
• New seasonal items launch on a predictable cadence with margin reviewed before they hit the case.
• The CEO spends less time inside the kitchen because the kitchen no longer needs her there.

Who thrives here

This role is for the chef whose presence steadies the kitchen. Even disposition, calm under pressure, the kind of leader who manages projects to completion and earns buy-in from the team and from peer managers without raising their voice. You read a kitchen the way a coach reads a team. You build deputies instead of dependencies. You can hold a recipe to a tenth of a gram and still see the labor line, the product mix, and the customer at the counter. You communicate in clear sentences, you give feedback that lands, and you do not lose your temper when a Saturday goes sideways. You have opinions about waste, about pricing, about pastry. Sugar Bliss has been built on consistency and craft, and the chef who fits this role brings consistency and craft to every interaction, not just to the product.

A real transition window

The current Executive Pastry Chef is staying through an eight-week handoff. You inherit the kitchen with the systems, recipes, vendor relationships, and team rhythms intact, and you have time to learn before you lead. Hiring at this level is rare at Sugar Bliss, and we are setting this transition up to give you the runway you deserve.

What you bring

• Five or more years of pastry experience, with at least two in a leadership role running a team of three or more.
• A track record of holding labor and food cost inside a target band, not just hitting it once.
• Direct experience with par sheet production planning, recipe costing, vendor negotiation, and inventory management.
• Hiring and onboarding judgment. You can spot a stage that will work and a stage that will not.
• Range across cake, cupcake, French macaron, tart, cookie, and seasonal pastry. Boutique-level finish, not commodity.
• Comfort working customer-visible: this is a brand-forward kitchen, and the team is part of the experience.
• Food safety credentials current or obtainable in the first 30 days.
• Available on weekends. Catering volume and retail traffic do not respect the calendar.

Compensation and benefits

• Salary range: $80,000 to $100,000, based on experience.
• Health and dental benefits.
• Retirement plan.
• Vacation and paid time off.
• A direct line to the CEO and a real seat at the management table.

How to apply

Send a resume and a short note directly to the CEO at [email protected]. Tell us about a kitchen you are proud of and a number you held inside its target band, and about who you developed under you and where they are now.

Pay: $80,000.00 - $100,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• Dental insurance
• Employee discount
• Health insurance
• Paid time off
• Retirement plan

Work Location: In person