Sous Chef

SOUS CHEF / KITCHEN LEAD THE PORCH Garden Café & Espresso Bar | Lynchburg, Virginia Rooted in the garden. Honest about where everything comes from. SOUS CHEF / KITCHEN LEAD Full-Time | Salaried | Lynchburg, Virginia Reports To: Head Chef and Owner / Founder Works With: Head Chef, Prep Cook, Pastry Chef Service Breakfast & Lunch Mon–Sat, Sunday Brunch, Hot Bar — counter service with table delivery Schedule: To be determined, two days off. Compensation: Competitive salary + shift meal + full team tip pool Growth Path: Genuine advancement path to Head Chef as The Porch grows WHO WE ARE The Porch is a garden café and espresso bar opening in Lynchburg, Virginia. We are built around the belief that where food comes from, how it is grown, and what happens to it afterward are not incidental details — they are the whole point. Our physical space is a living garden — a patio, a screened porch, private garden nooks surrounded by plants, flowers, and natural light. Our menu is built around organic, single-origin, and sustainably sourced ingredients. Our food waste is composted and returned to the community. We are open seven days a week — breakfast and lunch Monday through Saturday, with Sunday brunch as our signature and most celebrated service. We also operate a hot bar and take-home packaging program — beautifully made comfort food for guests to take home for dinner, produced with the same sourcing integrity as our café menu. Lynchburg's post-church Sunday brunch culture is real and intense. By eleven-fifteen, the garden fills. Sunday is our biggest day and it demands our strongest kitchen. Both kitchen leaders are present on Sundays. You will be one of them. THE ROLE The Sous Chef and Kitchen Lead at The Porch is not a supporting player. You are a genuine partner in this kitchen — present alongside the Head Chef on our five busiest service days, and fully in charge on Mondays. You will contribute your own skill, your own food philosophy, and your own leadership to every shift. You will help develop our Prep Cook. You will hold the standard on the days that matter most. You will support hot bar production and restocking on your shifts. And on Sunday — our biggest and most joyful service — you and the Head Chef will run the kitchen together at full strength. This Is a Growth Role: You will be part of building something from the ground up — the menu, the sourcing relationships, the kitchen culture, the hot bar program. When The Porch grows, this role grows with it. We promote from within. Saturday Is Not What You Might Expect: Saturday at The Porch is a coffee house day — guests lingering over exceptional espresso, ordering a pastry, maybe a small sandwich when they get genuinely hungry. Afternoon picks up again for happy hour. Saturday requires a different presence than a weekday rush. We are looking for someone who can read the room and adjust accordingly. WHAT YOU WILL DO Kitchen Leadership Lead the Prep Cook and kitchen support through every service day with clarity and calm Execute the full menu to recipe standard with consistency every day Make confident real-time decisions about quality, timing, and in-service adjustments Communicate any issues to the Head Chef clearly and without drama Hot Bar & Take-Home Support Execute the small hot bar batch production on your shifts per the Head Chef's established recipes and schedule Monitor hot case temperature, quality, and restocking throughout service Ensure take-home packaging is properly labeled and presented to The Porch's standard Support hot bar prep on Mondays — your solo day requires you to manage both café service and hot bar production independently Line Cooking & Execution Work the line with genuine skill and speed — this is a working chef role Execute all kitchen stations as needed — you should be fully comfortable everywhere in our kitchen Maintain knife skills, mise en place discipline, and technical precision Ensure every plate and every hot bar item reflects The Porch's commitment to quality and ingredient integrity Menu, Sourcing & Recipe Collaboration Work closely with the Head Chef on menu and hot bar development Maintain all recipes in our recipe management system with care and accuracy Understand and articulate the sourcing story behind every dish and every hot bar item Contribute to seasonal updates with genuine knowledge of local producers Team Development & Culture Actively mentor and develop our Prep Cook Participate in The Porch's pre-opening immersion week — including time at the dish station Contribute to a kitchen culture of equal dignity and honest communication Participate in weekly pre-shift meetings Participate in our food waste composting program WHO YOU ARE Your Food Foundation You are a genuinely skilled cook — sharp knife skills, disciplined mise en place, an honest palate You understand organic sourcing, sustainable fishing, and farm-to-table cooking at a real working level You are curious about ingredients — where they come from, who grew them, what they taste like at their best You have worked breakfast or brunch service and understand its specific rhythm You understand batch production — you have made large quantities of something beautiful and held it correctly Your Kitchen Character You are steady — a difficult service focuses you rather than rattles you You are honest — if something is not right, you say so and fix it You are genuinely humble about every role in a kitchen — you respect the prep cook and the dishwasher You understand that consistency is a form of craft — Monday's quiet service deserves the same standard as Sunday's packed brunch Your Leadership Instincts You lead by example — your team models your behavior under pressure You are a teacher — watching a prep cook nail something they have been working on genuinely satisfies you You communicate clearly and do not leave people guessing You are the kind of cook that makes a kitchen feel calmer when you walk in QUALIFICATIONS Required Minimum 2 to 4 years of professional kitchen experience with demonstrated ability to run a kitchen independently Genuine experience with breakfast, brunch, or café service Some experience with batch production or hot bar / cafeteria-style food service Articulable food philosophy around organic sourcing and ingredient integrity ServSafe Food Handler Certification — current or obtainable before opening Ability to work Wednesday through Sunday, mornings and midday Strongly Preferred Culinary training — formal degree, apprenticeship, or equivalent Experience running a kitchen service solo under real conditions Familiarity with recipe management software or willingness to learn Knowledge of Virginia's local and regional agricultural community Experience with composting or zero-waste kitchen practices This Role Is Not Right For You If You are not genuinely comfortable leading a kitchen on your own You have no experience with breakfast or brunch service You are not interested in developing junior kitchen staff You are not drawn to The Porch's food philosophy and sourcing values COMPENSATION & BENEFITS Salary: Competitive and commensurate with experience — discussed openly and honestly Tip Pool: Full participation in The Porch's whole-team equitable tip pool Shift Meals: Complimentary meal up to $25.00 every shift Schedule: Wednesday through Sunday, mornings and midday — home by mid-afternoon, no late nights Family Discount: 30 percent off for immediate family members when dining at The Porch with you present Growth Path: The Porch promotes from within — genuine advancement trajectory for the right person HOW TO APPLY Please send the following to [insert application email address]: A genuine letter telling us who you are as a cook, what you believe about food, and why The Porch is right for you right now. Your résumé or a summary of your professional kitchen experience. Two or three dishes or hot bar items you are genuinely proud of, with a paragraph on each. Tell us about a service you ran on your own — what happened, what you learned, how it changed how you cook or lead. Two professional references we may contact. The Porch is an equal opportunity employer. We hire on character, skill, and values — nothing else. Employment Type: Full Time Salary: $25,000 - $47,000 Annual Bonus/Commission: No