Executive Bakery & Pastery Chef

As the Executive Pastry & Bakery Chef, the role leads the entire pastry and bakery. Responsibilities include managing the product development for inflight, lounges, events and operations for pastry and bakery, overseeing recruitment and exit processes, and reporting directly to the President of the Culinary Studio with a dotted line to the MD/GM. The role is integral to achieving operational objectives, maintaining hygiene and quality management standards, and conceptualizing, designing, and presenting service modules in lounges. The Executive Pastry & Bakery Chefcollaborates with the culinary and product development teams to build and maintain menus, recipes, and product GRIDS. Additionally, the role supports culinary operations, plans and cooks for menu presentations and workshops, and conducts in-house meal tastings. Communication with the purchasing department, checking products against customer standards, and addressing irregularities in daily production are key responsibilities.

Main Duties and Responsibilities:

• Lead the product development and production for pastry & bakery, including scheduling, holiday planning, annual goal-setting meetings, and training.
• Manage the recruitment and exit process of the Pastry & Bakery.
• Be part of the Culinary Studio.
• Achieve operational objectives and performance targets agreed with the client.
• Ensure and maintain hygiene and QM standards.
• Conceptualize, design, and present service modules in lounges.
• Develop, build up, and maintain menus and recipes in cooperation with the Culinary Studio and the product development team.
• Build up and maintain product GRIDS in cooperation with the product development team, product, and planning team, and the account manager.
• Have overall insight and responsibility for recipe management.
• Support and be available for the culinary operations team.
• Plan and cook for new menu presentations, workshops, etc., with the Culinary Studio, product development team, and culinary operations team.
• Carry out all menu presentations, workshops, and showcases involving products for the customer.
• Support the culinary operations team in recipe management and menu implementation.
• Plan and execute in-house meal tastings of customer products in cooperation with the product development team, QA, AM, and the culinary operations team.
• Be present at regular in-house meal tastings of the Airport Lounge.
• Check products regularly according to customer standards.
• Communicatively exchange with the purchasing department about new products, product research, and product requirement profiles.
• Inform the President of the Studio, QA, AM about irregularities in daily production.
• Support in the development of solutions.
• Maintain the value of the equipment and machinery used.
• Be a member and trainer of the Culinary Trianing Academy and jointly responsible for all product development and operations topics.
• Ensures recipes and menus created are optimal for the production facilities and not increase complexity of the operations.
• Ensures menus designed are suitable for the airline industry and can be produced effectively, efficiently adding meals to the average of 200+ thousand meals produced daily.

Qualifications

Education:

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Culinary Arts, Food Science, or a related field.

Work Experience:

• Minimum of 8 years of experience in culinary leadership and product development roles.
• Proven track record in managing product development teams and collaborating with culinary operations.
• Experience in menu and recipe development, in-house tastings, and customer presentations.

Language / Communication Skills:

• Fluency in English, written and spoken. Other languages an advantage.

Organization Structure

Direct Line Manager (Title): President Culinary Studio

Dotted Line Manager (Title, if applicable): MD/GM

Number of Direct Reports: 1-3

Number of Dotted Line Reports: n/a

gategroup Competencies Required to be Successful in the Job:

• Thinking – Information Search and analysis & problem resolution skills
• Engaging – Understanding others, Team Leadership and Developing People
• Inspiring – Influencing and building relationships, Motivating and Inspiring, Communicating effectively
• Achieving – Delivering business results under pressure, Championing Performance Improvement and Customer Focus

Demonstrated Values to be Successful in the Position

Employees at gategroup are expected to live our Values of Excellence, Integrity, Passion and Accountability. To demonstrate these Values, we expect to observe the following from everyone:

• We treat each other with respect and we act with integrity
• We communicate and keep each other informed
• We put our heads together to problem solve and deliver excellence as a team
• We have passion for our work and we pay attention to the little details
• We foster an environment of accountability , take responsibility for our actions and learn from our mistakes
• We do what we say we will do, when we say we are going to do it
• We care about our coworkers, always taking an opportunity to make someone’s day better