Kitchen Trainer Chicago Market Full-Time

Fairgrounds is building something different — a café where the food program matters just as much as the coffee. We're expanding our food offerings across the Chicago market (River North, Oak Park, and University of Chicago), and we need someone who lives and breathes kitchen execution to make sure every plate that goes out is right.

This is not a desk job. You'll be in the cafés — on the line, at the prep station, and shoulder-to-shoulder with our teams. You'll own food training and execution across three Chicago locations, lead new menu launches from recipe to plate, and make sure our standards don't slip as we grow.

As Kitchen Trainer, you'll be responsible for training all café staff on food preparation, assembly, plating, and quality standards. You'll build and run hands-on training sessions for new hires and ongoing skill development. When we launch new menu items, you'll lead the rollout from recipe development through to in-café execution — writing and refining SOPs, training teams before items go live, and auditing execution during launch. You'll also conduct regular kitchen audits across all three locations, checking portioning, temperature, presentation, and speed, and coaching in real time when gaps come up.

Beyond training, you'll help cafés establish and maintain prep schedules, par levels, and batch production that scales across locations without sacrificing quality. The goal is cross-café consistency — a guest should get the same A.B.L.T. at River North as they do at Oak Park. You'll standardize build stations, ingredient specs, and plating across the entire market.

We're looking for someone with 2+ years in a commercial kitchen — line cook, prep cook, or junior kitchen leadership role. You know your way around a prep sheet, a batch cook, and a Friday lunch rush. You've trained people before, even if it wasn't your official title. You care about the details — the difference between "good enough" and "right" keeps you up at night. You can read a recipe and teach it to someone who's never made it before, and patience is a skill you've developed. You're organized enough to manage three locations without dropping the ball on any of them, and you're hungry to step up from the line into a role where you shape how a kitchen operates — not just how you cook. Food safety certification (ServSafe or equivalent) is preferred but not required — we'll get you certified if needed.

Fairgrounds operates on four brand pillars: Clarity (simplify relentlessly), Craft (excellence is the expectation), Courtesy (lead with respect), and Cleanliness (every space, every detail, every day). We're obsessed with craft, customer experience, and constant improvement.

Compensation is $25–$30/hr including average tip rate. Benefits include health insurance, paid time off, and free café food and coffee. Schedule is primarily daytime shifts with flexibility for launch weeks and occasional weekends. Regular travel between River North, Oak Park, and UofC locations is required (all within Chicago metro). This role is built to grow with the market — as Fairgrounds expands its food program, this position grows with it.