Executive Chef at Waldorf Astoria Dubai International Financial Centre

The Executive Chef at Waldorf Astoria Dubai International Financial Centre, a Forbes 5-Star luxury hotel, is responsible of the hotel’s culinary strategy and daily kitchen operations, ensuring exceptional menu quality, consistency, and guest experiences across all dining venues. This role will develop a high-performing team, drive efficiency and profitability, maintain the highest brand and hygiene standards, and position the hotel’s restaurants and bars as preferred luxury destinations within the market.

What will I be doing?
An Executive Chef at Waldorf Astoria Dubai International Financial Centre will be responsible for performing the following tasks to the highest standards:

Commercial
•    Develop the Culinary and Stewarding business plan, considering market strategy, financial targets and business volumes, as well as customer and team member experience.
•    Manage the Culinary and Stewarding budget and forecast to support achievement of the hotel’s commercial goals.
•    Review departmental results - including sales, food costs, profit margins, wastage, breakage, guest satisfaction - and take action with the Culinary and Stewarding management team to improve performance.

Excellent Food
•    Partner with the F&D Operations team to create attractive F&D concepts, menus, products and promotions that drive revenue and profit.
•    Deliver delicious, high quality, well-presented food to meet guests’ needs - and Instagram feeds!
•    Support Hilton’s sustainability goals through local sourcing strategies, use of seasonal produce, minimizing food waste, recycling, and efficient energy and water consumption.

Exceptional Guest Experiences
•    Ensure the Culinary team prepare, present and deliver dishes on time, with pride and precision, to create exceptional guest experiences.
•    Make sure that food allergies and dietary requirements are treated with absolute seriousness and that all chefs are trained on correct food handling.
•    Review and act on guest feedback, taking prompt action to resolve guest complaints and improve guest loyalty.
•    Collaborate with F&D Operations to enhance the hotel’s image through online reputation management for F&D, driving positive reviews on key platforms and websites.

Great Working Environment
•    Lead, develop and inspire the Culinary and Stewarding teams, creating an inclusive environment where all Team Members can thrive and achieve their professional goals. 
•    Practice great people management, from recruitment to training to succession planning and recognition.
•    Develop an efficient Culinary and Stewarding workforce plan to identify current and future needs based on forecast business volumes, budgets and HR guidelines.
•    Communicate well and often, building great relationships with key stakeholders.

Day-To-Day Essentials
•    Make sure Culinary and Stewarding operations strictly comply with all regulations (including health, safety and hygiene, food safety certification, daily kitchen records and labelling) and that potentially hazardous situations are identified, reported and corrected.
•    Work with the Purchasing team to identify and select suppliers and create efficient purchasing processes.  Put controls in place to maintain high quality of produce and equipment.
•    Work with the Finance team to set the minimum and maximum stocks of all food, material and equipment.  Make sure FFE, kitchen upkeep and inventories are maintained.
•    Keep up to date with what is happening in F&D – current and future trends, markets, ingredients, competitors and suppliers – to drive innovation.

What are we looking for?
An Executive Chef at Waldorf Astoria Dubai International Financial Centre is always working on behalf of our Guests and working with other Team Members. To successfully fill this role, you should maintain the attitude, behaviours, skills, and values that follow:
•    Current/Previous experience as Executive Chef
•    Solid experience with luxury hotel brands
•    Commercial focus, with a demonstrated ability to deliver exceptional business performance and results
•    Inspirational leadership and people management skills, with experience in leading, developing and motivating a large team and working effectively with other departments
•    Excellent verbal and written communication skills, able to deliver a compelling message for the right audience, from team briefings to commercial business presentations to representing the hotel publicly
•    Guest focus, experienced in implementing and maintaining the highest standards of food production, quality and hygiene to deliver memorable guest experiences
•    Effective relationship management skills to build and maintain good working relationships with key stakeholders, internally and externally, including suppliers
•    Creativity, strategic thinking, and strong problem-solving skills, with the ability to work effectively in a fast-paced environment while remaining composed, adaptable, and focused when managing competing priorities
•    Fluency in English 
•    Experience or strong understanding of social media management 
•    Proficiency in F&D systems 
•    Competence in Microsoft Office applications (e.g., Word, Excel, PowerPoint)

It would be advantageous in this position for you to demonstrate the following capabilities and distinctions:
•    Experience working with Forbes Standards
•    Relevant qualifications and educational background
•    Previous experience in UAE
•    Experience in leading Michelin Guide award-winning restaurants

What will it be like to work for Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts? 
Waldorf Astoria provides guests the exceptional environment and the personalized attention of True Waldorf Service that creates a singular experience. If you understand the value of personalized attention and know how to treat even the most extraordinarily different experiences with the same rich level of customer service, you may just be the person we are looking for!