SYSTEM EXECUTIVE CHEF - Catholic Health System - N

Job Summary

Working as a System Executive Chef offers the opportunity to lead culinary excellence across a large, multi-site healthcare system while collaborating with talented teams dedicated to delivering exceptional patient, retail, and catering experiences. This leadership role is responsible for driving culinary strategy, operational consistency, and innovation across six acute care hospital food service accounts with approximately $40 million in managed volume.

The System Executive Chef will provide oversight of all culinary operations, ensuring high standards of food quality, patient satisfaction, food safety, sanitation, and financial performance. This role will lead menu development, purchasing strategies, inventory management, food cost controls, and culinary talent development while fostering a culture of continuous improvement and excellence.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide strategic culinary leadership across six acute care hospital accounts, ensuring consistency in food quality, presentation, safety, and service standards.
• Develop and implement innovative menus for patient dining, retail operations, physician dining, executive catering, and special events.
• Partner with operational leaders to drive performance, guest satisfaction, and financial results across the system.
• Lead, mentor, and develop Executive Chefs, culinary managers, and frontline culinary teams to build a high-performing organization.
• Ensure compliance with all regulatory, safety, sanitation, and infection prevention standards within healthcare food service environments.
• Drive food cost management, purchasing efficiencies, inventory controls, and waste reduction initiatives.
• Champion culinary innovation, wellness-focused offerings, sustainability initiatives, and industry best practices.
• Analyze operational trends, performance metrics, and customer feedback to identify opportunities for continuous improvement.
• Collaborate with clinical, nutrition, and hospital leadership teams to support patient-centered dining programs and enhance the overall dining experience.
• Support system-wide culinary training, succession planning, and talent development initiatives.

Preferred Qualifications

• Culinary degree strongly preferred.
• Bachelor's degree in Culinary Arts, Food Service Management, Hospitality Management, or a related field preferred.
• Seven or more years of progressive culinary leadership experience, including multi-unit food service oversight.
• Healthcare, acute care, or hospital food service experience strongly preferred.
• Proven success leading large-scale culinary operations with significant managed volume and multiple locations.
• Experience overseeing patient dining, retail food service, catering, and special events programs.
• Strong financial acumen with expertise in food cost controls, labor management, purchasing, and inventory optimization.
• Demonstrated ability to lead, coach, and develop diverse culinary teams.
• Comprehensive knowledge of culinary trends, nutrition, food safety, sanitation, quality assurance, and hospitality excellence.
• Strong communication and relationship-building skills with executive leadership, clinical partners, clients, and associates.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite and food service management systems.
• ServSafe® Certification required, or ability to obtain within a designated timeframe.

This position provides a unique opportunity to shape the culinary vision and operational success of a large healthcare system while influencing the dining experience for patients, visitors, and caregivers across multiple hospital locations.