Find & Apply For Chef Jobs in Wappingers Falls, New York

Chef de Cuisine - Puerto Rican Scratch Kitchen Café

Con Leche Job Type:

Full-time Location:

Hudson Valley, New York Schedule:

Weekends, evenings, holidays, brunch, and special events required

Reports To:

Executive Chef/Ownership About Café Con Leche Café Con Leche is an award-winning, chef-owned Puerto Rican restaurant and seven-time Best of Hudson Valley winner for Best Latin Cuisine. Our food is rooted in Puerto Rican culture, family recipes, fresh ingredients, and scratch preparation. We produce our sofrito, marinades, sauces, fillings, batters, desserts, and many other kitchen components in-house. Our menu combines traditional Puerto Rican dishes with premium steaks, fresh seafood, contemporary specials, brunch, catering, and private events. We are seeking an experienced, hands-on Chef de Cuisine who can lead our culinary team, protect the authenticity and quality of our food, and maintain consistent execution in a high-volume kitchen. Position Summary The Chef de Cuisine is responsible for the daily leadership and operation of the Café Con Leche kitchen. This position oversees food quality, preparation, service execution, staffing, training, ordering, inventory, sanitation, food cost, and labor control. This is not a desk-only management position. The Chef de Cuisine must be comfortable working the line, leading preparation, tasting food, training employees, and stepping into any station when needed. The right candidate will respect Puerto Rican culinary traditions, understand scratch cooking, and have the leadership skills to maintain consistency during regular service, busy weekends, brunch, catering, holidays, and private events. Responsibilities Lead daily kitchen preparation and service. Maintain Café Con Leche's recipes, flavor profiles, cooking methods, portions, and plating standards. Ensure food is fresh, properly seasoned, consistently prepared, and served at the correct temperature. Protect the authenticity and cultural integrity of our Puerto Rican cuisine. Oversee the scratch preparation of sofrito, sauces, marinades, fillings, batters, desserts, and other core components. Conduct line checks and ensure every station is stocked, organized, clean, and ready before service. Taste and inspect food throughout preparation and service. Work the line and provide station coverage when necessary. Train, coach, supervise, and develop cooks, prep cooks, dishwashers, and other kitchen employees. Build a professional kitchen culture based on respect, accountability, communication, urgency, and teamwork. Create production plans based on reservations, sales projections, catering orders, private events, and anticipated volume. Coordinate restaurant service, brunch, large parties, catering, and off-site events. Maintain recipe, portion, yield, and presentation consistency. Monitor food cost, waste, spoilage, overproduction, and employee meal usage. Assist with ordering, inventory, product rotation, and maintaining proper par levels. Carefully manage premium proteins and seafood, including steak, lobster, shrimp, salmon, grouper, and snapper. Assist with kitchen scheduling and labor management. Monitor attendance, punctuality, overtime, and employee performance. Maintain compliance with health-department and food-safety requirements. Enforce proper labeling, dating, storage, cooling, reheating, temperature control, and FIFO procedures. Maintain allergen awareness and oversee the safe preparation of allergy-sensitive orders. Ensure the kitchen, equipment, refrigeration, storage areas, floors, and workstations remain clean and inspection-ready. Communicate staffing, food-quality, inventory, equipment, or operational concerns to ownership promptly. Work closely with front-of-house management to provide a consistent guest experience. Assist the Executive Chef with specials, recipe development, seasonal menus, and culinary improvements. Our Scratch-Kitchen Expectations At Café Con Leche, quality and authenticity cannot be replaced by shortcuts. The Chef de Cuisine must ensure that: Established recipes and preparation methods are followed. Food is tasted and properly seasoned at every stage. Fresh herbs, aromatics, vegetables, and quality proteins are handled with care. Frozen or prepackaged substitutions are not used without authorization. Traditional dishes maintain the flavor and character of Puerto Rican cuisine. Speed and volume never become excuses for inconsistent or poorly prepared food. Waste is minimized through proper ordering, storage, rotation, fabrication, and portioning. Qualifications At least three years of progressive culinary leadership experience. Previous experience as a Chef de Cuisine, Executive Sous Chef, Sous Chef, Kitchen Manager, or similar kitchen leader preferred. High-volume, full-service, scratch-kitchen experience required. Knowledge of Puerto Rican, Caribbean, or Latin cuisine strongly preferred. Genuine respect for Puerto Rican culture and culinary traditions required. Experience working with premium steaks, seafood, sauces, fried foods, rice production, brunch, catering, or banquets is highly desirable. Strong knowledge of food cost, inventory, ordering, waste control, portioning, and labor management. Ability to read, follow, teach, and enforce standardized recipes. Strong leadership, communication, organization, and problem-solving skills. Ability to remain calm, organized, and professional during high-volume service. Food-protection certification required or must be obtained after hiring. English proficiency required; bilingual English/Spanish strongly preferred. Reliable transportation required. Physical and Scheduling Requirements Ability to stand for extended periods in a fast-paced kitchen. Ability to lift and carry up to 50 pounds safely. Ability to work around heat, steam, open flames, sharp tools, and wet surfaces. Flexible availability, including mornings, evenings, weekends, holidays, brunch, and special events. Local travel may occasionally be required for catering or off-site events. Who We're Looking For We are looking for a chef who leads from the kitchen—not from the office. The successful candidate will take ownership of food quality, kitchen organization, employee development, sanitation, and execution. Our cuisine represents our family, our culture, and our reputation. The Chef de Cuisine must understand the responsibility that comes with protecting those standards and ensure guests can taste the pride and care behind every plate. Café Con Leche is an equal-opportunity employer. Employment decisions are based on qualifications, performance, business needs, and the ability to uphold our professional and culinary standards.

Pay:

$75,000.00 - $85,000.00 per year

Benefits:

401(k) 401(k) matching Dental insurance Food provided Health insurance Paid time off Retirement plan Vision insurance

Work Location:

In person