General Manager (Head Chef)

Job Description

Position: General Manager (Head Chef)
Location: Fort Wayne, Indiana
Status: Salaried Management

Be Creative…with Creative Dining Services!

Creative Dining Services is currently seeking an experienced General Manager (Head Chef) at Lincoln Financial in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This position provides overall leadership for the dining services operation while also serving as its senior culinary leader.

The General Manager (Head Chef) is responsible for ensuring an exceptional dining experience through strong culinary execution, effective team leadership, sound financial management, and a commitment to client and guest satisfaction. This individual will lead daily operations, develop the culinary and service teams, maintain high standards of food quality and presentation, and ensure that the expectations of the client are consistently met or exceeded.

This is a hands-on culinary management position. The successful candidate must possess demonstrated culinary knowledge and kitchen leadership experience and be comfortable actively supporting food production, menu development, recipe execution, quality control, and service during key business periods.

As the department leader, the General Manager (Head Chef) creates a collaborative and professional work environment while producing excellent culinary and operational outcomes in a fiscally responsible manner.

Essential Functions/Responsibilities

• Provides overall leadership and direction for the dining services operation, ensuring consistently high levels of food quality, hospitality, client satisfaction, and guest engagement.
• Serves as the senior culinary leader for the account, actively overseeing and supporting food production, menu execution, kitchen workflow, presentation standards, and culinary consistency.
• Maintains a visible, hands-on presence in the kitchen and dining operation, particularly during high-volume production and service periods.
• Develops creative, appealing, and operationally sound menus that reflect current culinary trends, client expectations, customer preferences, seasonality, and available resources.
• Ensures recipes, production standards, portion controls, presentation expectations, and food quality specifications are consistently followed.
• Provides culinary coaching and direction to cooks and other food production employees, strengthening technical skills, consistency, productivity, and confidence.
• Through effective planning and organization, ensures high levels of customer satisfaction, positive client relations, and long-term account retention.
• Achieves unit operating budgets through effective planning, forecasting, purchasing, labor management, inventory control, waste reduction, and other cost-control practices.
• Participates in the budget and forecasting process with the Creative Dining Services Area Director, providing accurate and timely information.
• Reviews financial results and key performance indicators and develops appropriate corrective action plans when needed.
• Ensures the accurate and timely completion of all required financial, operational, administrative, and client reporting.
• Recruits, trains, coaches, develops, supervises, and evaluates management and hourly team members to achieve strong performance, engagement, and retention.
• Establishes clear performance expectations and holds employees accountable while fostering a respectful, collaborative, and service-oriented workplace.
• Ensures staffing and scheduling levels appropriately support food production, service expectations, customer demand, and financial objectives.
• Implements and maintains high standards of culinary quality, food presentation, service, sanitation, safety, and professional appearance throughout the operation.
• Conducts ongoing evaluations of food quality, production practices, service, sanitation, safety, purchasing, administration, and overall operational performance.
• Ensures compliance with Creative Dining Services’ sanitation and safety programs as well as all applicable federal, state, and local health regulations.
• Ensures that all purchasing, receiving, storage, inventory, and food production practices support maximum product utilization, quality specifications, sustainability efforts, and responsible cost management.
• Leads merchandising, marketing, promotional, and customer-engagement initiatives in collaboration with the Area Director and client.
• Maintains effective communication with the client, Area Director, onsite leaders, employees, and other key partners.
• Conducts regular management and team meetings and communicates relevant company, client, and operational information.
• Evaluates overall account performance and recommends operational, culinary, staffing, or service improvements as needed.
• Ensures compliance with all Creative Dining Services policies, procedures, standards, and programs.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

The Ideal Candidate Will Have:

• Demonstrated culinary experience, including hands-on food preparation, kitchen leadership, menu development, recipe execution, production planning, and quality control.
• Experience leading a culinary or food service operation in a corporate dining, hospitality, restaurant, university, healthcare, senior living, or comparable environment.
• The ability and willingness to actively support culinary production and service when operational needs require it.
• A strong understanding of culinary techniques, food presentation, flavor development, portion control, food safety, sanitation, and kitchen organization.
• Proven experience managing food cost, labor cost, inventory, purchasing, budgets, and operational performance.
• Strong leadership, coaching, communication, problem-solving, and client-relations skills.
• A bachelor’s degree in Culinary Arts, Hospitality Management, Food Service Management, Business, or a related field is preferred.
  • In lieu of a bachelor’s degree, significant successful culinary and food service management experience may be considered.
• A minimum of five years of progressive culinary and food service leadership experience is strongly preferred.
• ServSafe Certification required or the ability to obtain certification within the designated introductory period.
• Allergen awareness certification required or the ability to obtain certification within the designated introductory period.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office and the ability to learn and effectively utilize company systems and technology.

We Offer:

• Competitive pay
• Opportunity to access pay whenever you need it through DailyPay
• Medical insurance
• Dental insurance
• Vision insurance
• Access to TextCare - healthcare without a co-pay!
• Bonus opportunities
• 401(k) with company match
• Paid time off
• Professional development opportunities
• And much, much more!

Why Creative Dining Services?

Creative Dining Services partners with colleges and universities, Fortune 100 companies, full-service senior living communities, conference centers, K–12 schools, and camps to provide a different kind of hospitality and facility management experience—one that is fun, innovative, and focused on the communities we serve.

Why? Because that’s how it should be.

Creative Dining Services is an Equal Opportunity Employer.