Senior Pastry Chef

Job Summary

As a Senior Pastry Chef at The St. Regis Longboat Key Resort, you will exhibit creative baking and decorating talents by personally performing tasks while leading the staff in preparing quality and consistent pastries for all areas. You will work to continually improve guest and employee satisfaction while maintaining the operating budget. This role involves developing and training the pastry team to improve results while upholding high standards, and ensuring strict adherence to sanitation and food safety guidelines.

Candidate Profile

Education and Experience

• High school diploma or GED; 4 years experience in the culinary, food and beverage, or related professional area.

OR

• 2-year degree from an accredited university in Culinary Arts, Hotel and Restaurant Management, or a related major; 2 years experience in the culinary, food and beverage, or related professional area.

Core Work Activities

Leading the Pastry Team

• Supervises and manages employees, overseeing all day-to-day operations.
• Understands employee positions sufficiently to perform duties in their absence.
• Supervises and coordinates activities of cooks and workers engaged in food preparation.
• Utilizes interpersonal and communication skills to lead, influence, and encourage others, advocating for sound financial/business decision-making and demonstrating honesty/integrity.
• Encourages and builds mutual trust, respect, and cooperation among team members, serving as a role model.
• Ensures and maintains the productivity level of employees and supervises pastry preparation shift operations.
• Communicates performance expectations and establishes open, collaborative relationships with employees.
• Solicits employee feedback, utilizes an open-door policy, and reviews employee satisfaction results.
• Ensures regular, ongoing communication to create awareness of business objectives, expectations, and recognize performance.
• Leads shifts while personally preparing food items and executing requests based on specifications.

Ensuring Culinary Standards and Responsibilities are Met for Pastry Team

• Develops, designs, or creates new ideas and items for the Pastry Kitchen.
• Follows proper handling and right temperature of all food products, maintaining correct storage standards.
• Recognizes superior quality products, presentations, and flavor.
• Ensures employees maintain required food handling and sanitation certifications and complies with all applicable laws and regulations.
• Assists the Executive Chef with menu development associated with Pastry.
• Operates and maintains all department equipment, reporting malfunctions promptly.
• Prepares and cooks foods of all types, whether on a regular basis or for special guests/functions.
• Checks the quality of raw and cooked food products to ensure standards are met.
• Assists in determining food presentation and creates decorative food displays.

Ensuring Exceptional Customer Service Provided by Pastry Team

• Monitors and provides service behaviors that exceed customer satisfaction.
• Manages day-to-day operations, ensuring quality, standards, and meeting customer expectations daily.
• Supports service by communicating and assisting individuals to understand guest needs, providing guidance, feedback, and coaching.
• Sets a positive example for guest relations and empowers employees to provide excellent customer service.
• Responds to and handles guest problems and complaints.
• Interacts with guests to obtain feedback on product quality and service levels.
• Emphasizes guest satisfaction during all departmental meetings, focusing on continuous improvement.

Maintaining Culinary Goals

• Sets and supports achievement of culinary goals for pastry products, including performance, budget, and team goals.
• Provides specific guidance to prioritize, organize, and accomplish daily pastry operations work.
• Supports procedures for food and beverage portion and waste controls.
• Purchases appropriate supplies and manages inventories according to budget.
• Trains employees in safety procedures.

Managing and Conducting Human Resource Activities

• Identifies developmental needs of others and coaches, mentors, or helps them improve knowledge/skills.
• Participates in training staff on menu items including ingredients, preparation methods, and unique tastes.
• Ensures property policies are administered fairly and consistently.
• Ensures disciplinary procedures and documentation are completed according to SOPs and LSOPs, supporting the Peer Review Process.
• Reviews staffing levels to ensure guest service, operational needs, and financial objectives are met.
• Utilizes all available on-the-job training tools for employees.

Additional Responsibilities

• Provides information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates via telephone, written form, email, or in person.
• Analyzes information and evaluates results to choose the best solution and solve problems.
• Attends and participates in all pertinent meetings.

Key skills/competency

• Pastry Arts
• Baking Techniques
• Decorating Skills
• Menu Development
• Team Leadership
• Food Preparation
• Sanitation Standards
• Inventory Management
• Budget Management
• Customer Service Excellence