Executive Chef with Saint Louis Club – Clayton, MO

About the Club:

A group of innovative business leaders founded The Saint Louis Club in 1964. They craved a space where they could share ideas, make big plans and celebrate local, regional and global successes while enjoying distinguished food and wine, sometimes as a centerpiece, sometimes as a sideline but always carefully prepared, exquisitely presented and graciously served.

For nearly 60 years, the members have left enduring legacies of service and success. With a move from one side of Forsyth Blvd. to the other side of Forsyth Blvd. in 2023 The Saint Louis Club attempted to preserve its cherished, more-formal traditions, and they have embraced the advanced technology, emerging trends and more-casual vibe tomorrow’s leaders will demand.

Chef Position Specifics:

The St. Louis Club is seeking an experienced, creative, and service-driven Executive Chef to lead the Club’s culinary operations. The Executive Chef is responsible for delivering exceptional dining experiences for members and guests while maintaining the highest standards of quality, presentation, sanitation, and operational excellence. The Executive Chef will have a solid foundation in cooking having gone to a Culinary School and/or has had professional mentoring and worked with and for exceptional Chef’s. In other words, really knows how to cook! He/she understands member dining preferences and creates menu variety and consistency. He/she is expected to develop the culinary program that will meet and/or exceed members’ expectations. In summary, the Executive Chef understands the private club sector and is driven by pride, member satisfaction and teamwork.

This is an exciting opportunity for a culinary professional who thrives in a collaborative private club environment, wants to work in a ‘Dream Kitchen,’ and is passionate about elevating the member dining experience while developing and mentoring a strong talented culinary team.

Candidate Qualifications

• The Executive Chef is a team-oriented chef who will work with the team to build upon their skills, be open to feedback, and hold them accountable. A Chef who sets high expectations for the team and drives them to get there.
• The Executive Chef is a leader in the kitchen who will inspire all to always look for improvement.
• He/she is responsible for providing overall leadership and management for all food production and presentation. He/she demonstrates good judgment, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
• The Executive Chef is enthusiastic about all things culinary, can produce a quality product and get it out of the kitchen with a sense of urgency on a consistent basis. Working knowledge of food and wine pairings is a plus.
• Develop standard recipes and techniques for food preparation and presentation that help ensure consistent high quality. Keeps an eye on food costs; exercises portion control for all items served and assists in establishing menu selling prices.
• Provides mentoring leadership and fosters a culture of continuing education and development of future, up-and-coming culinarians. He/she will develop an annual training plan for the culinary staff.•Evaluates job performance of culinary staff; coaches and counsels to ensure staff are on track. Rewards and disciplines staff in a fair and appropriate manner.
• The Executive Chef has management and administrative skills with the ability to communicate with staff, other department heads, and membership.
• Occasional attendance at House Committee meetings to discuss menus and events
• Participate in the Budget Process and work with the General Manager and Controller to develop agreed upon labor cost numbers, food cost numbers and projected sales goals.
• The Executive Chef maintains communications with the membership by walking the dining rooms and engaging with members when business has declined. He/she will also provide commentary at wine dinners and/or special culinary events, provide food facts for Club Blog and meet with members to help plan their events.

A Note from the General Manager

From a member’s perspective, we serve the movers and shakers of the St. Louis business community. The Club is in the heart of the city’s business district. While the membership consists of high-level business people, we are the mid-west, and the membership is very nice, normal people. As with any cross-section of humanity there are always a few challenging individuals, but at least we know who they are and what they want. Internally we have a young developing team, but our core is strong and built with lifetime food and beverage professionals that want to build a team that wins national championships, consistently. I have been in the restaurant business for forty-seven years and look forward to working with someone who truly cares, has no ego, wants to lead by example, likes to have fun and laugh.

My ‘Best Advice’ I would give our new Chef is, “It is a marathon, not a sprint. We serve people who are here multiple times a week and like to see different things. Make one, two or three people happy every day and you win. Show up every day, work hard and have a great attitude and nothing will stop you”.

Initial Focus

1. Team Building & Leadership – Build and develop a strong culinary team that is quality driven and works with a sense of urgency. The new Executive Chef will serve as a teacher and mentor and help in staff development. Inspire the team and help build a strong culinary culture driven to excellence.
2. Set New Standards of Excellence – Develop an accommodating environment for members. Evaluate and set appropriate and enhanced standards of operation, execution, and delivery within the culinary operation. Work closely with the General Manager to ensure a cohesive experience. The goal is for the Club to become the members, Number #1 Dining Destination in Saint Louis.
3. Create New Menus – Evaluate all menus and develop the culinary program with evolving menu programming that pique member interest in ala carte dining and member events. He/she should use local sustainable products when possible and adhere to purchasing the highest quality products.
4. Review Delivery Systems – The new Executive Chef is expected to evaluate current systems in place and provide recommendations to improve speed of service and consistency of product and production.
5. Build Trust and Integrity with (FOH) Front of House – The Executive Chef has a “leadership by example” mentality and needs to earn the confidence and trust of the FOH staff. Maintain and promote positive relationships with members, management and staff throughout the club.

Additional Information

• Annual food sales are $2,837,867; Total F&B Sales are $4,039,826.
• The Club currently has a 30% food cost and the food cost budget at 30% with a sales mix of 39%, A La Carte and 61% Banquet.
• There are ten (18) culinary employees and four (9) stewards supported by a $2,400,000 labor budget.
• There are three (3) Sous Chefs (Executive Sous, AM Sous, PM Sous) a Pastry Chef, Banquet Chef and Chief Steward. The Chef does the Purchasing.
• The St. Louis Club has one (1) kitchen that is three (3) kitchens in one, banquet, fine dining, and casual dining. The kitchen is 8,000 sq. ft. with circular island suites, one for casual and one for fine dining. There is a separate banquet kitchen and all three are in one space in the center of the Club. Kitchen includes pantry department, pastry department, dishwashing department, pot washing department, and butchers station. Management rates the condition of all kitchens as a 5 out of 5.
• The Club has one (1) 42,000 sq. ft. Clubhouses, with 855 members whose average age is 48.
• The Club operates for twelve (12) months annually and closes on Sundays. The slower months are June, July and August. The busy months are October, November, December, April, and May.
• The Executive Chef reports to the General Manager and works closely with the Assistant Manager, Catering, Dining Room, Bar and Banquet Supervisors, Controller and Facilities Manager.
• The previous Chef was with the Club for eight years.

Dining

• Saint Louis Room – Formal with 70 seats, serving dinner only five days per week.
• Saint Louis Room – Casual with seats 70, serving breakfast and lunch five days per week.
• Bistro – Casual with 50 seats, serving dinner only five days per week.
• Corner Bar – Casual with 40 seats, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner six days per week.

• Private Parties – The Club has nine (9) private rooms seating from 8 to 260.
  The largest sit-down event the Club can hold is 260 members and/or guests.

The Club offers a generous base salary and benefits package including a 401k plan, health, life & dental insurance, ACF Dues and Conference and dining allowance. Relocation is available. Interested individuals should send resumes, a well-conceived cover letter, and supporting information (a digital Portfolio is encouraged).