Job Description

Traveling Sous Chef

High-Volume Culinary Leadership | Nationwide Deployments

$20/Hour + Overtime | Weekly Pay | Approximately 30 Days On / 14 Days Off

Compensation & Deployment Highlights

• $20 per hour plus applicable overtime
• $45 per diem while on assignment
• Weekly pay
• Nationwide travel
• Approximately 30 days on assignment followed by 14 days off
• Approximately 12-hour shifts during deployments
• Travel and lodging provided for qualifying assignments

The Opportunity

Sharp Spoon Network is recruiting experienced, hands-on, high-volume Sous Chefs on behalf of a nationally recognized leader in disaster response, remote workforce support, and large-scale culinary operations.

We are looking for culinary professionals who can do more than manage a kitchen.

You must be able to lead a culinary team, personally execute professional cooking techniques, maintain high food-quality standards, and support operations producing 1,000 or more meals during a single meal service.

This is a traveling culinary leadership position supporting projects throughout the United States, including data centers, disaster-response operations, remote workforce camps, military-support projects, and temporary food-service facilities.

Successful candidates must combine strong professional cooking skills with kitchen leadership, purchasing, inventory management, food and labor cost control, and the ability to adapt quickly to unfamiliar operating environments.

This is not an entry-level chef position or a primarily administrative kitchen management role.

We need experienced culinary leaders who are equally comfortable directing a production team and stepping onto a cooking station when necessary.

What You'll Do

High-Volume Culinary Production

• Support the execution of high-quality breakfast, lunch, and dinner services in large-scale culinary operations.
• Help plan and coordinate production for meal services involving 1,000 or more meals.
• Personally prepare and cook menu items using professional culinary techniques.
• Execute standardized recipes, batch cooking, and large-scale food preparation while maintaining flavor, freshness, temperature, and presentation.
• Support scratch cooking and quality-focused menu execution.
• Maintain consistent food quality and portion standards throughout demanding meal periods.
• Organize prep schedules, cooking assignments, and production workflows.
• Troubleshoot production challenges without compromising food safety or quality.

Kitchen Leadership

• Supervise, train, coach, and work alongside cooks and kitchen assistants.
• Coordinate staffing and station assignments to meet production requirements.
• Support the Executive Chef / Project Manager in daily kitchen leadership.
• Maintain accountability for kitchen organization, sanitation, and production performance.
• Demonstrate professional cooking techniques and correct preparation or quality issues.
• Step into cooking and production positions whenever operationally necessary.
• Help maintain an efficient, professional, and accountable kitchen team.

Operational Management

• Assist with food purchasing, vendor coordination, and inventory management.
• Monitor food costs, labor costs, waste, portion control, and production efficiency.
• Support staffing, scheduling, and labor allocation.
• Assist with menu planning, recipe execution, and production forecasting.
• Maintain food safety, sanitation, and applicable HACCP procedures.
• Help manage receiving, storage, product rotation, and ingredient availability.
• Support independent operational decisions when directed or when immediate action is required.

Deployment Operations

• Adapt quickly to unfamiliar kitchen layouts, equipment, teams, and production requirements.
• Support temporary, remote, and high-volume culinary operations.
• Maintain quality and operational discipline under changing conditions.
• Work effectively with new culinary teams and project leadership.
• Support kitchen setup, operational transitions, and production changes as required.

Minimum Qualifications — Required

Applicants must meet one of the following two professional culinary experience requirements:

Path A — Professional Chef Experience

At least five years of hands-on, high-volume professional chef experience.

Qualifying experience must include actual professional cooking, high-volume food production, and meaningful culinary responsibilities.

Relevant positions may include Sous Chef, Executive Sous Chef, Executive Chef, Chef de Cuisine, or Head Chef when hands-on chef duties are documented.

A Kitchen Manager, Food Service Director, Restaurant Manager, or other management title does not independently satisfy this requirement.

OR

Path B — High-Volume Culinary Production Experience

At least ten years of qualifying high-volume professional culinary production experience.

Experience must demonstrate substantial hands-on professional food preparation, recipe execution, batch cooking, and quality-focused meal production.

General food-service employment, kitchen administration, concessions management, or supervisory experience without meaningful professional cooking does not satisfy this requirement.

Mandatory Single-Service Production Experience

Candidates must have documented experience producing at least 1,000 meals during ONE meal service.

This may be breakfast, lunch, dinner, or a comparable single meal period.

Applicants must be able to identify:

• The employer or operation where this volume was achieved.
• The approximate number of meals produced during that single service.
• Their personal cooking, production, or culinary leadership responsibilities.
• The kitchen team involved in producing the meal service.

Producing 1,000 meals across an entire day does not satisfy this requirement.

Additional Required Culinary and Operational Experience

Qualified candidates must demonstrate:

• Hands-on professional cooking and culinary leadership.
• Experience executing quality-focused menus in high-volume kitchens.
• Strong recipe execution, batch preparation, and professional cooking techniques.
• Ability to maintain food quality, flavor, freshness, and presentation during large meal services.
• Experience supervising and supporting professional kitchen teams.
• Knowledge of kitchen staffing, production assignments, and labor efficiency.
• Experience with purchasing, inventory management, and food cost control.
• Experience with labor management, scheduling, or labor cost control.
• Knowledge of professional food safety and sanitation practices.
• Ability to work independently and make sound operational decisions.
• Ability to support an Executive Chef while also assuming responsibility for assigned kitchen operations.
• Adaptability to changing locations, equipment, staffing, and deployment conditions.

Employment Stability

Candidates should demonstrate an average employment tenure greater than 12 months per job during the most recent five years.

Employment dates and job changes will be reviewed during screening.

Relevant Culinary Backgrounds

We especially value qualifying experience in:

• Upscale hotels and resorts
• Professional catering and high-volume banquets
• Quality-focused contract and workforce dining
• Cruise-ship culinary operations
• High-volume restaurant and hospitality kitchens
• Military culinary operations
• Remote-site and offshore culinary operations
• Disaster-response and mobile kitchens
• Temporary culinary deployments and task-force operations

Experience must demonstrate both qualifying production volume and meaningful professional cooking responsibilities.

Fast-food transaction volume, basic food assembly, reheating prepared meals, or kitchen management alone does not establish the required culinary qualifications.

Travel and Deployment Requirements

Candidates must:

• Be willing and available to travel nationwide.
• Work approximately 30 consecutive days on assignment followed by approximately 14 days off.
• Be willing to work approximately 12-hour shifts, including weekends and holidays when required.
• Have a valid driver's license and reliable transportation.
• Be comfortable working in temporary kitchens, remote locations, and changing operational environments.
• Be able to perform essential job duties, with reasonable accommodation where applicable.
• Be willing to complete applicable background screening, drug testing, and onboarding requirements.

Assignments may involve hotels, remote accommodations, temporary facilities, and other lodging arrangements based on project requirements.

Preferred Qualifications

Additional consideration may be given to candidates with:

• Experience producing 1,500 or more meals during a single service.
• Experience leading kitchen teams of 20 or more employees.
• Strong scratch-cooking skills and experience executing diverse menus.
• Experience with high-volume protein preparation, sauces, starches, vegetables, and complete entrees.
• Demonstrated success maintaining culinary quality during large-scale production.
• Experience controlling food and labor costs in complex kitchen operations.
• Previous experience in remote workforce camps, mobile kitchens, or disaster-response deployments.
• ServSafe Food Protection Manager certification.
• Culinary degree, diploma, or formal professional training.
• Experience independently managing kitchen operations in the absence of an Executive Chef.

Compensation & Benefits

• $20 per hour plus applicable overtime
• $45 per diem while on assignment
• Weekly pay
• Travel provided for qualifying assignments
• Lodging provided during qualifying deployments
• Company-provided equipment and resources as applicable
• Opportunities for advancement based on performance and business needs

Assignment schedules, overtime eligibility, lodging arrangements, travel provisions, and compensation terms are confirmed by the client during hiring.

Annual earnings are not guaranteed and should not be represented as a fixed annual salary.

Before You Apply

Please apply only if you can answer YES to ALL of the following:

1. Do you have at least five years of hands-on, high-volume professional chef experience OR ten years of qualifying high-volume professional culinary production experience?
2. Have you produced at least 1,000 meals during ONE breakfast, lunch, dinner, or comparable single meal service?
3. Have you personally cooked professional menu items and executed recipes in a high-volume kitchen?
4. Do you have experience supervising kitchen employees and supporting culinary production?
5. Have you worked with purchasing, inventory, staffing, and food and labor cost control?
6. Can you maintain high food-quality standards during large-scale meal production?
7. Are you willing to travel nationwide for approximately 30 days at a time and work approximately 12-hour shifts?
8. Do you have a valid driver's license and reliable transportation?

Candidates without the required professional culinary experience or the mandatory 1,000-meal single-service production experience will not qualify for this position.

About Sharp Spoon Network

Sharp Spoon Network has been retained to recruit qualified candidates on behalf of our client.

Selected candidates will become employees of the client, not Sharp Spoon Network.

Final compensation, overtime eligibility, benefits, schedules, travel arrangements, and employment terms are established by the client and confirmed during the hiring process.

Apply Today

If you are an experienced, hands-on culinary leader with proven high-volume production experience and a commitment to excellent food quality, we encourage you to apply.

Your resume should clearly identify your qualifying chef or culinary production experience, employment dates, largest single-service meal volume, kitchen leadership responsibilities, and hands-on cooking duties.

Qualified candidates will be contacted by a Sharp Spoon Network recruiter for an initial screening conversation.

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