Executive Chef

Job description

EXECUTIVE CHEF – GROUND-FLOOR RESTAURANT LEADERSHIP LOCATION: PITTSBURGH, PA STATUS: FULL-TIME COMPENSATION: $95,000+ (DOE) HIGHLIGHTS: GROUND-FLOOR RESTAURANT BUILD | DIRECT MENTORSHIP FROM THE FOUNDER | COMPENSATION ABOVE INDEPENDENT-RESTAURANT MARKET WHY YOU’LL LOVE WORKING HERE 408 Heirloom is a new restaurant taking shape alongside the Bistro To Go family, built around a simple mission: honoring the craft of culinary arts through genuine hospitality and a real sense of community. We are building a menu around local farmers, local produce, and heritage-style dishes drawn from different regions of the world, all centered on one idea: every dish should come with a story, not just land on the plate. This role exists to own 408 Heirloom’s culinary operations so the standard holds even when the founder isn’t in the room, starting with elevated catering today and building toward a restaurant kitchen. You’ll cook at the highest level, own sourcing and food cost, and help build the systems and team the restaurant will run on for years to come. Success looks like catering events that clients rate highly while meeting food-cost targets, a back-of-house that’s fully built and ready on opening day, and a founder who can step back into growth rather than staying anchored in daily kitchen operations. Right now, you’ll work closely with Chef Kevin Hermann and the Bistro To-Go culinary team, learning how Heirloom sources products, orders for complex events, and executes the kind of elevated, made-to-order catering menus that embody our standards. As the restaurant’s build-out progresses, the focus shifts to creating the back-of-house from scratch: standardized recipes, training manuals, and station design. We are handing over a space We’ve designed and trusting you to help fill it, with real authority over how the kitchen runs day-to-day. We are entrusting the operational success of this unique establishment in your hands. We will work alongside you during the opening phases of Heirloom to ensure you have all that you need to succeed, and the brand identity and culture continue to thrive. WHAT WE VALUE - Hospitality First – Hospitality isn’t a department at Heirloom; it’s the standard to which the whole kitchen is accountable, not just something the front of house handles. Presentation, tone, and follow-through are held to that standard even when things get busy, because protecting the guest experience matters as much as protecting the food. - Craft Over Paycheck – This is a place for people who love the detail and the craft of what they do, not just a place to collect a check. The role will require long days and hard moments, and the people who thrive here are here because they genuinely want to give back to their team, their guests, and their community. - Builder’s Mindset – When something could work better, the expectation is to bring it forward rather than sit on it or quietly work around it. This kitchen and this restaurant are still being built, and the right person treats that as an opportunity rather than a problem. - Grace With High Standards – Standards here are high, but there’s room to grow into them. Correction and direction from ownership are part of the process, and the expectation is to take that feedback and apply it right away, without needing to prove yourself at the team’s expense. - Team-First Leadership – The kitchen team is central to how Heirloom will run once the founder steps back, so leaders here are expected to pay attention to their people daily, not just their output. Building a team that holds standards during service without the founder present is part of the job from day one. WHAT YOU’LL DO - Execute 408 Heirloom’s elevated catering events alongside the Bistro To Go culinary team, managing ordering and holding to schedule with only minor oversight on sourcing. - Build 408 Heirloom’s back-of-house from the ground up — standardized recipes, training manuals, kitchen systems, and station and production flow — ahead of the restaurant’s target opening. - Help design and organize the physical kitchen, including the walk-in and prep kitchen layout, equipment, and smallware placement, as the restaurant’s build-out progresses. - Create seasonal, farm-sourced menu items that flex with product availability, cross-utilize ingredients, and adjust the menu when a product runs short, rather than serving something you can’t execute well. - Lead and develop the kitchen team, providing day-to-day coaching and building a team that upholds standards during service in the founder's absence. - Once the restaurant opens, run the kitchen’s daily operations — cooking, ordering, and managing one to two catering events per week — working closely with Kevin Hermann along the way. COMPENSATION: - $95,000+ base salary, depending on experience BENEFITS: - 401(k) retirement plan with 3% company match - Wellness pay - Paid time off - 50% off daily lunch and parking WHY THIS JOB STANDS OUT A True Ground-Floor Build This isn’t a role that inherits someone else’s finished restaurant — you’ll help design the physical kitchen, build the recipes and training manuals, and shape the systems 408 Heirloom will run on from day one. The founder is handing over a space he’s designed and trusting you to help fill it. Few executive chef roles in Pittsburgh offer this level of input before a single guest walks through the door. Direct Access to an Owner Who Wants to Teach Chef Kevin has opened and run large-scale kitchens himself, including designing a 200-seat restaurant from the ground up, and says plainly that he wants to teach this role everything he knows rather than hold anything back. That kind of mentorship and knowledge transfer is rare in an industry where some chefs guard what they know out of fear of being replaced. You’ll be learning directly from someone actively working to make himself unnecessary in the kitchen. Built for Craft, Not Just Scale 408 Heirloom is intentionally staying at 85 seats, with a growth plan built around quality and reputation rather than chasing rapid, large-scale expansion. That means the kitchen’s standards, sourcing, and menu craft remain the priority, rather than being stretched thin by growth for growth’s sake. For a chef who wants to build something excellent rather than something merely big, that’s the environment here. Backed by an Established Hospitality Family 408 Heirloom operates alongside Bistro To Go, a Pittsburgh hospitality company with more than twenty years of reputation and a 2025 Pittsburgh Caterer of the Year award. That means access to established sourcing relationships, an experienced culinary team, and real infrastructure, all while building something entirely new. You get the resources of an established organization with the ownership and creative latitude of a ground-floor role. WHO WE’RE LOOKING FOR Someone who is… - A chef with at least 10-15 years in professional kitchens, including five or more years at the management level, who has held an executive chef or sous chef role with real, growing responsibility. - Someone with strong experience in scratch cooking to match the restaurant’s theme and vision. - Someone whose background blends resourceful, independent kitchens with more structured environments — not purely corporate-chain experience — and who has made a lot happen with limited resources in the past. - A calm, steady presence when a kitchen is behind and orders are stacking up, someone who makes clear decisions under pressure rather than escalating with the room. - Confident in their own skill while genuinely curious about how this specific kitchen already works, willing to ask questions and learn before proposing changes. - A natural builder who brings ideas and fixes forward rather than sitting on a problem or quietly working around it. - Someone who connects food to its origin for the guest, builds real relationships with local farmers and producers, and shows up in front of guests with genuine hospitality rather than staying in the back. SOUND LIKE A FIT? LET’S TALK. Reach out today — we’d love to meet you.