Executive Chef - Circuit of the Americas

Proof of the Pudding is a chef-led hospitality company delivering food and beverage experiences at some of North America’s most complex sports, entertainment, cultural, and live-event venues.

Founded in Atlanta in 1979, Proof has built a national reputation for doing hospitality differently — from-scratch cooking at scale, hyper-local sourcing, and a partnership-first approach that treats clients as collaborators, not contracts. The company serves professional and collegiate sports venues, convention centers, cultural institutions, and large-scale destination events across the United States and Internationally.

The food service team at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) is seeking an experienced culinary leader to join our team as the Executive Chef. This Chef will headquarter at COTA and oversee the day-to-day responsibilities as well as planning the execution of the large scale events. The ideal candidate has proven experience in large scale catering, is a strong leader with a mindset for team development, and is a creative and talented chef.

Circuit of the Americas is a premier destination for world-class motorsports and entertainment in the US. The track is set on 1,500 acres just outside of Austin, TX. Food service consists of hospitality and concessions of sporting events, a daily staff café, multiple concerts, and year-round racing events including one of America’s only F1 races – The Grand Prix.

Responsibilities:

• Execution of culinary operations including planning, ordering, menu creation, and supervision of all special event production and menus.
• Development of menu and staff, logistical planning, and event day execution
• Work closely with the sales, operations, and staffing teams to ensure all aspects of service are discussed, communicated, and understood.
• Meets venue financial objectives by forecasting requirements; preparing an annual budget; scheduling expenditures; analyzing variances; initiating corrective actions.
• Create financial reporting, to include declining balance, invoice tracking and labor vs. sales reports.
• Develop, implement, and communicate creative menu items that adhere to the venue’s standard.
• Execution of special events and food service while maintaining the highest level of food quality and presentation
• Manage financial goals and food cost of multiple coinciding events while maintaining and tracking the culinary budget.
• Ensure proper safety and sanitation of all kitchen/food service areas.
• Create and maintain the overall moral of the kitchen and culinary team.
• Schedule staff and food production in accordance with the demands of business by working closely with the staffing and sales departments to ensure communication and budgets are maintained.
• Responsible for training, accountability, and scheduling of the culinary staff
  • Working with the HR team to ensure schedules for FOH & BOH are concurrent with scheduled events.
• Oversee logistical planning and execution of special events including communicating equipment needs and kitchen layouts.
• Develop comprehensive prep sheets, food distribution plans, and efficient culinary event logistics.
• Create relationships and maintain existing relations with subcontractors and 3rd parties.
• Execute 3rd party contracts for events, assist in all logistical planning for partners with the operations team.

Performs other related duties as needed.