Executive Chef Position: Mountaintop

Executive Chef Position: Mountaintop

Cashiers, North Carolina

At the top of the world, amidst the grandeur of the Blue Ridge Mountains, where the air is fragrant and fresh, natural springs cascade through ancient hardwood forests and life is tempered with the genteel charm and rich traditions of the Carolinas.

This is Mountaintop Golf & Lake Club: A family-centric, private residential community and club that offers stunning natural beauty, lifestyle concierge services, and a luxurious mountain retreat. Mountaintop includes an inspired golf course masterfully crafted by Tom Fazio, premier dining, a world-class spa and state of the art wellness center, a resort-style swimming pool, tennis facilities, and a private Lake Club 15 minutes away on the shores of picturesque Lake Glenville.

Mountaintop provides convenient and comfortable access to a host of summertime family recreation activities and inviting outdoor adventures and wilderness experiences including backcountry hiking trails, horse packing, fly-fishing, white water rafting and luxury overnight camping.

Mountaintop is nestled between the historic mountain towns of Highlands and Cashiers at an elevation of 4,000 feet. The property includes 251 estate lots, ranging in size from one-half acre to five acres and 75 luxurious cabins and lodges spread amidst 731 acres.

Discovery Land Company is a San Francisco-based real estate firm specializing in the creation of world-class golf and residential communities. It owns fourteen premier properties throughout the United States and also includes Baker’s Bay in Great Guana Cay, Bahamas and El Dorado in Los Cabos, Mexico.

Food & Beverage

The premier activities and adventures available at Mountaintop are well-matched to the culinary offerings that the 335 members and their guests enjoy — the cuisine is described as “comfort food with a gourmet twist.”

Annual food and beverage revenues are approximately $1.2M and the menus are updated daily. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served in the clubhouse seven days a week from mid-April through December. The 43,000 square foot clubhouse has dining facilities that seat 180 members and guests.

The Lake Club, a 3,000 square foot facility located 15 miles from the main clubhouse, seats 50.

Mountaintop also has a 10th hole food outlet and three comfort stations on the golf course, as well as a pool outlet that is open from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

In addition to the premier dining services available throughout the property, Mountaintop has a General Store that stocks homemade goodies such as ice cream, beef jerky, malted milk balls, and assorted flavors of fudge and candied nuts.

Organizational Structure

Mountain Golf and Lake Club operates under the General Manager/COO organizational structure. The Executive Chef reports to the GM/COO, Robert Duckett, CCM. See page 4 for more information about Mr. Duckett.

There are approximately 20 kitchen staff at Mountaintop including three sous chefs, and a pastry chef.

Executive Chef (EC) Position Overview

The Executive Chef at Mountaintop is responsible for all food and beverage Back-of-the-House (BOH) operations while working closely with Front-of-the-House (FOH) staff to ensure quality and innovative services, products and offerings to members and guests.

The EC leads, manages, motivates and directs a staff of 20, to achieve the objectives set by the GM/COO and EC. The EC creates the standards for kitchen policies and procedures, communicates these policies and ensures that the policies are adhered to by all BOH staff.

The EC is responsible for ensuring that all food is consistently outstanding – from standard club fare to special culinary events throughout all food venues. The EC understands that quality and consistency in producing and delivering popular club menu items is just as important to the member experience as producing memorable and sophisticated culinary specialty dinners, and is responsible to ensure that their team approaches each activity with identical focus.

The EC is a positive and enthusiastic ‘face’ for culinary operations for the Club, and is comfortable conversing and interacting in both back and front of house settings as they interface with diverse constituencies (members, staff, etc.) throughout the day. Developing solid relationships is important in this position.

The EC at Mountaintop is a strong team builder who mentors and challenges himself/herself and the staff to continue to create and produce at a higher level. Additionally, the EC encourages staff to participate in generating ideas and draws on individual staff member’s strengths and specialties for continuous improvement of the culinary program.

The EC leads by example and will step in to work any place on the line as needed, but is expected to be the executive ‘lead’ in these areas on a day-to-day basis.

The EC leads the BOH initiative relative to accident prevention, training and retention of staff, and sanitation and safety standards. The EC pays sharp attention to detail, enforces the highest standards of sanitation and safety, and ensures that all BOH staff approach the standards with the same level of focus.

The EC has a proven track record of controlling food and labor costs. The EC is adept at creating and managing a budget and executing/reporting to defined business standards.

The EC is responsible for leading the product knowledge training for FOH personnel through daily pre-meal meetings and special food knowledge training programs.

The EC creates and updates menus on a daily basis and develops and documents recipes and controls to ensure consistency.

The EC works as a strategic and operational partner with the managers and staff of Mountaintop to develop information sharing, strong communication, superior internal and external customer relationships and high performance teamwork to achieve club objectives.

The EC is someone who looks at mistakes as ‘opportunities’ for improvement, and instills this mindset and outcome into his/her team, while at the same time epitomizing the perspective of being ‘readily open and embracing of input,’ as well as is approachable by both members and staff.

Ultimately, the Executive Chef of Mountaintop is a critical and positive ‘face’ of culinary operations at the Club. The EC is an integral part of the overall success of the operation, and is a strong ‘influencer’ on each constituency they interface with while performing their duties. The responsibility to lead this facet of the organization from a passionate, creative, supportive, progressive and ‘team’ focused perspective is of critical importance for long-term success.

Initial Priorities

Consistently exceed member expectations for quality, presentation, creativity and value.

Develop team members’ skills and abilities and continue to create a culture among the staff that encourages creativity and passion for the work that they perform.

Maintain a high level culinary reputation and continue to evolve, experiment and change with current culinary trends.

Continue to attract high quality staff who return every season.

Develop close relationships with members, staff, and vendors in order to better understand their needs resulting in high satisfaction for all constituencies.

General Qualifications & Experience

A strong and passionate leader and culinary professional with a proven track record of providing premium-level services in a multiple facility and membership constituency environment, and with a personality that is commensurately appropriate to the Mountaintop experience.

Is a passionate culinarian who strives to continually improve his/her skills, experiment with trends, and continuously evolve the menus and offerings.

Has a minimum of five years prior management experience as an Executive Chef in a premier private club and/or resort environment including banquet, casual and fine dining operations.

Success in ‘farm-to-table,’ locally grown or procured provisions, with a proclivity for healthy, yet innovative options will be favored.

Has a track record for sourcing quality products and ingredients from multiple vendors, if necessary.

Has a broad knowledge of U.S. and International wine appellations, vineyards, and wineries, as well as an understanding and talent for wine and food pairings, is important, as well as the ability and interest to share that knowledge and enthusiasm with staff.

Has exceptionally strong food and beverage credentials, and most importantly, the ability to consistently define and achieve goals and objectives. This includes proven and verifiable leadership qualities with demonstrated ability to direct, coordinate and control all facets of an active food and beverage operation with revenues of $1.2M.

Has culinary knowledge across multiple ethnic and cultural cuisines.

Is a professional with a verifiable, positive career track, unblemished by inappropriate behavior of any sort that would be potentially detrimental or embarrassing to the membership of Mountaintop.

Must be in compliance with and actively support a drug-free workplace.

Must possess verifiably strong written and oral communications skills.

Must have computer skills including but not limited to Microsoft Outlook, Word, and Excel. This position also requires technical skills to effectively manage multiple restaurants in one location.

Education and Certification

Culinary arts degree from an accredited school or equivalent experience. is preferred

Certified in food safety.

Traits, Skills and Competencies

Must understand and practice the member service philosophy at the Club and be fully engaged in and fulfilled by providing members with consistent, high quality food and innovative plate presentation.

Is meticulous about food handling, cleaning, and organizing the kitchen and insists that all BOH staff do the same.

Continually looks for opportunities to improve BOH service and learns and incorporates lessons from prior experiences. Must be willing to listen to staff and members for input and understands that the EC and entire BOH department are there to fulfill members’ needs.

Is a well-respected, proactive member of the management team and is able to generate thoughts and ideas that result in increased sales and improved member satisfaction.

Inspires and motivates not only kitchen staff but everyone around them.

Excellent financial skills, with the ability to quickly assimilate numbers and reports.

Is knowledgeable regarding typical club BOH F&B critical benchmarking and financial metrics that lead to proactive responses to trending curves.

Possesses strong organizational skills.

Is an innovative leader in all aspects of the position. Is visionary and trend setting yet understands and is respectful of long-standing club culinary traditions and is able to balance both into menu, specials, and banquet offerings.

Exceptionally strong communication and facilitation skills, both written and verbal, with the appropriate personal presence, and a desire and ability to interact effectively before diverse constituencies of members, staff, vendors and others who are part of the success of Mountaintop.

Understands that flavors and consistency are key drivers of the private club experience in all food offerings. The EC is just as passionate about producing the best meat loaf and chicken fried steak as preparing the most complex dishes and exploring the latest culinary trends.

Understands that Clubs are all things to all people and enjoys producing diverse offerings from casual to gourmet trends.

Miscellaneous

Proactively solves problems, develops and proposes solutions to problems that occur, anticipates the needs of staff and members, and can react quickly.

Manages time and establishes priorities. Is a self-starter and well organized.

Someone who has been a “difference maker” wherever he/she has been in the past.

A person of proven integrity and honesty.

A person who is well-traveled and enjoys exploring culinary experiences all over the world.

A person who is committed to professional growth and development, for him/herself and his/her team of associates.

Someone who enjoys their work and likes to have fun.

Someone who is confident in their abilities yet humble in their interactions.

GM/COO Profile

Robert J. Duckett, CCM, has served as the GM/COO of Mountaintop since it opened in 2005. Prior to that he worked for Discovery Land Company’s Mirabel Club in Scottsdale, AZ. He has a strong background in hospitality leadership and developing and mentoring a cohesive team of service-driven, high performing professionals. Mr. Duckett is an active member of the Club Managers Association of America (CMAA) and has a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from St. Joseph’s College in Indiana.

Mission and Core Values of Mountaintop

The Mission at Mountaintop is to enrich the lives of the Mountaintop Family through a genuine desire to create memorable experiences that last a lifetime!

Cover Values

Honesty

Enthusiasm

Hospitality

Quality

Fun

To Apply

Interested candidates should submit a resume and thoughtful, detailed cover letter describing their alignment with the qualifications outlined in this profile and the reason for their interest in the Executive Chef position at Mountaintop.

To apply either:

1.Click this link to upload your resume and cover letter (Word or PDF format).

Or

2.Email your Word or PDF resume and cover letter (saved as “Last Name, First Name Resume” and “Last Name, First Name Cover Letter” respectively) to:

Scottsdale Office

480-443-9102

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