Chef de Cuisine (Executive Sous Chef)

Company Overview:
Black Briar is a creative American restaurant anchored by an open coal grill, a serious raw bar, and ingredient-first cooking with a Chicago tavern soul. Led by Chef Jimmy Papadopoulos, we are opening in the West Loop and building something permanent - a kitchen with a point of view, a team with standards, and a menu that earns its place in the city we love.

We are looking for a Chef de Cuisine (CDC) who has cooked with fire, led with encouragement, and understands that a great kitchen is built on culture as much as technique.

The Role:
The CDC is the operational heart of the Black Briar kitchen. You execute and evolve the culinary vision in partnership with the Chef/Owner - holding the line standard, developing your team, and owning every aspect of kitchen performance from prep through close. You report directly to the ownership group and are their most trusted voice behind the pass.

This is a working leadership role. You are on the line, in the walk-in, and in the weeds with your team. If you lead best from a distance, this is not the kitchen for you.

The Kitchen
The Black Briar kitchen is built around a coal grill and a raw bar. The menu is ingredient-driven, live-fire forward, and rooted in American tavern cooking - refined without being precious. Dishes earn their place on the menu through flavor, not novelty. The kitchen team is expected to understand why every item exists and execute it without variation.

What You Own: 
Job Summary

• Full BOH operations across all service periods - prep, line execution, breakdown, and sanitation
• Daily follow-through on all BOH systems to the standard set by the Chef/Owner
• Food quality, consistency, portioning, and presentation - tasted, touched, and verified every shift
• Kitchen labor management - scheduling, phasing, and real-time adjustments based on volume and projection
• Food cost performance - bi-weekly inventory, waste reduction, and creative use of surplus product
• Receivables check-in and oversight of daily prep and pre-shift readiness
• Equipment maintenance, utility discipline, and kitchen safety in compliance with all City of Chicago and State of Illinois health and sanitation standards

What We're Looking For:
Qualifications + Skills

• Minimum 5 years in progressive kitchen leadership, with at least 2 years as a Chef or CDC at a full-service, high-volume concept
• Live-fire cooking experience preferred - coal, wood, or open-flame
• Raw bar familiarity is a plus
• Proven financial accountability - food cost management, inventory discipline, and budget performance
• Strong leader - someone who develops cooks, not just directs them
• Valid City of Chicago and State of Illinois Food Sanitation License required
• Proficiency with kitchen management systems and basic computer applications
• Chicago market experience preferred - serious candidates from comparable markets will be considered

Who You Are
You are technically precise and instinctively hospitable. You hold your station to a standard you would be proud of on the worst Tuesday in February - not just on a Saturday when the room is full and the energy is high. You develop your cooks because you remember who developed you. You take food cost personally. You treat sanitation as a baseline, not a checklist. You are looking for a kitchen where the craft is taken seriously, and the team is worth building with. You want to cook food that means something in a city that has high standards for exactly that.

If that is you, we want to hear from you.

Compensation & Benefits

• Salary Range: $70k - $90k
• Performance bonus tied to food cost, kitchen consistency, and team retention metrics
• Health benefits with employer contribution
• Employee dining benefit
• Annual performance review with merit increase opportunity

Black Briar is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building a team that reflects the city we are proud to call home.