Sous Chef

Description

Become part of an inclusive organization with over 40,000 teammates, whose mission is to improve the health and well-being of the unique communities we serve.

Summary:

The Sous Chef supports the Executive Chef in the day-to-day leadership and execution of culinary operations across both patient and retail foodservice at UNC Rex Hospital. This is a hands-on, working leadership position that requires strong operational judgment, consistency, and accountability in a high-volume healthcare setting. The Sous Chef plays a critical role in maintaining food quality, service accuracy, sanitation compliance, and staff engagement while supporting the mission of patient-centered care.

Responsibilities:

* Provides daily functional leadership to culinary staff by assigning work, setting priorities, and ensuring smooth workflow throughout all service periods.

* Actively works alongside the team in food production, retail service, patient meal service, and station coverage as operational needs require.

* Ensures patient meals are prepared and served accurately, including adherence to therapeutic diets, food allergies, and special dietary requests.

* Monitors service flow, ticket times, and food quality across multiple service areas, making real-time adjustments to staffing and production.

Additional Duties and Competencies:

* Ensures full compliance with food safety, sanitation, and infection control standards in alignment with hospital policies and regulatory requirements.

* Maintains production documentation, recipe compliance, and waste logs to support quality control and cost accountability.

* Conducts daily team huddles and communicates expectations clearly; escalates operational concerns and updates to the Executive Chef as appropriate.

* Trains, coaches, and mentors' culinary staff on food preparation standards, safe equipment operation, and proper handling procedures.

* Maintains and updates recipes within Computrition and collaborates with Registered Dietitians to support clinical nutrition needs.

* Establishes and enforces cleaning and preventive maintenance schedules for kitchen equipment and work areas.

* Conducts routine kitchen audits and actively prepares the operation for health department inspections and Joint Commission readiness.

* Provides leadership coverage in the absence of the Executive Chef, ensuring continuity of service and decision-making.

* Assists with call-out coverage and support scheduled to maintain safe staffing levels and uninterrupted service.

UNC Health Leadership Competencies:

* Patient-Centered Care: Demonstrates a clear understanding of how culinary operations support patient outcomes and experience.

* Safety & Quality Focus: Consistently prioritizes food safety, infection prevention, and regulatory compliance.

* Team Engagement: Leads with professionalism, respect, and accountability while fostering a collaborative kitchen culture.

* Operational Excellence: Maintains efficiency and accuracy in a fast-paced, high-volume environment.

* Communication: Communicates clearly and effectively with culinary teams, leadership, and interdisciplinary partners. Through multiple mediums such as Phone, Text, Email, Teams and in person.

* Adaptability: Responds effectively to changing service demands, staffing challenges, and operational priorities.

Education Requirements:
* AOS in culinary arts or ACF certification preferred.
Licensure/Certification Requirements:
Professional Experience Requirements:
* Minimum five (5) years of experience required. Experience in high-volume operations, familiarity with scratch cooking, and the ability to function in a high-paced kitchen are also required.
Knowledge/Skills/and Abilities Requirements:
* Language Skills: Ability to read and comprehend simple instructions, short correspondence, and memos. Ability to write simple correspondence. Ability to effectively present information in one-on-one and small group situations to customers and other employees of Rex Healthcare. Ability to read and interpret documents such as safety rules, operating and maintenance instructions, and procedure manuals. Ability to speak effectively before groups of employees. Mathematical Skills: Ability to add, subtract, multiply, and divide in all units of measure, using whole numbers, common fractions, and decimals. Ability to compute rate, ratio, and percent. Reasoning Ability: Ability to solve practical problems and deal with a variety of concrete variables in situations where only limited standardization exists. Ability to interpret a variety of instructions furnished in written, oral, diagram, or schedule form.

*Strong working knowledge of food safety regulations and healthcare compliance standards.

*Ability to lead teams without direct supervisory authority while maintaining accountability.

*Comfortable making independent operational decisions in the absence of senior leadership.

*Strong organizational and time-management skills in a multi-service environment.

*Proficient verbal and written communication skills are appropriate for a healthcare setting.

*Working knowledge of electronic recipe and nutrition systems.

* Serv Safe Certification Required

Preferences:

Computrition experience

Prior restaurant, healthcare or hospital food service experience

Legal Employer: NCHEALTH

Entity: UNC REX Healthcare

Organization Unit: Rex FNS Main

Work Type: Full Time

Standard Hours Per Week: 40.00

Salary Range:$20.74 - $29.52 per hour (Hiring Range)

Pay offers are determined by experience and internal equity

Work Assignment Type: Onsite

Work Schedule: Variable

Location of Job: US:NC:Raleigh

Exempt From Overtime: Exempt: No

This position is employed by NC Health (Rex Healthcare, Inc., d/b/a NC Health), a private, fully-owned subsidiary of UNC Heath Care System. This is not a State employed position.

Qualified applicants will be considered without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, status as a protected veteran or political affiliation.

UNC Health makes reasonable accommodations for applicants' and employees' religious practices and beliefs, as well as applicants and employees with disabilities. All interested applicants are invited to apply for career opportunities. Please email applicant.accommodations@unchealth.unc.edu if you need a reasonable accommodation to search and/or to apply for a career opportunity.