Pastry Chef

Department: Food and Beverage

Position:        Pastry Chef

Reports To:    Executive Chef; Executive Sous Chef

Supervisory Responsibilities:   Bakers, pastry cooks and general kitchen personnel        

Position Overview:   Supervise and coordinate the production of desserts, confections, wedding cakes, custom cakes, pastries, pizza dough, bakery outlet and banquet desserts

These duties may be described as, but not limited to:

• Prepare all pastry and dessert items for buffet, banquet and restaurant use according to standard recipes.
• Create and maintain standardized recipes and costing for all outlets.
• Creation of standard and custom multi-tier wedding cakes.
• Supervise all pastry staff including hiring, training, counseling, and discipline.
• Visually inspect appearance of all cold food for proper color combination and overall presentation to maintain appeal.
• Supervise additional kitchen staff when necessary.
• Assist in scheduling appropriate number of staff according to daily needs, banquet functions and weekly forecasts.
• Ensure proper storage of all pastry items in refrigerators and freezers to maintain product freshness.
• Due to the cyclical nature of the hospitality industry, employees may be required to work varying schedules to reflect the business needs of the hotel.  In addition, attendance at all scheduled training sessions and meetings is required.
• Properly rotate food products to keep spoilage and waste to a minimum.
• Ensure that all equipment in work area is properly cleaned.
• Perform other duties as required, i.e., special orders/buffet presentations and cross-training.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Abilities:

• Requires good communication skills, both verbal and written.
• Thorough knowledge of pastry and dessert.
• Knowledge of accepted sanitation standards.
• Extensive experience with slicers, mixers, grinders, food processors, etc.
• Basic mathematical skills necessary to understand recipes, measurements, requisition amounts and portion sizes.
• Most work tasks are performed indoors.  Temperature generally is moderate and controlled by hotel environmental systems; however, must be able to work in extreme temperatures like freezers (-10º F) and kitchens ( 110º F), possibly for one hour or more.
• Must be able to stand and exert well-paced mobility for up to 4 hours in length.  Length of time of these tasks may vary from day to day and task to task.
• Must be able to exert well paced ability in limited space and to reach other departments of the hotel in a timely manner.
• Ability to physically self-demonstrate culinary techniques, i.e., cutting, cooking principles, plate presentation, safety, and sanitation practices.
• The worker is subject to noise.  There is sufficient noise to cause the worker to shout to be heard above the ambient noise level.
• Must be able to lift 15 pounds on a regular and continuing basis.
• Requires grasping, writing, standing, sitting, walking, repetitive motions, bending, climbing, listening, and hearing ability and visual acuity.
• Requires manual dexterity to use and operate all necessary equipment.

Minimum Qualifications:

• High school or equivalent education required.  Bachelor’s Degree preferred.
• Minimum of two years experience as a pastry chef in a similar size operation

This job description is not an exclusive or exhaustive list of all job functions that an employee in this position may be asked to perform from time to time.