Chef de Cuisine

Lula Cafe, the James Beard Award-winning farm-to-table restaurant in Logan Square, Chicago, is hiring a Chef De Cuisine.

For 24 years we have been a vibrant and empathetic restaurant, always searching, always changing, always looking for new paths forward.

Today we are looking for a unique individual to lead our pm kitchen team.

The chef will work directly, and daily, with Chef / Owner Jason Hammel and Executive Chef Andrew Holladay. Together we will craft an ever-changing, dynamic menu of seasonal dishes designed to make us feel alive, to bring us closer to beauty, honesty, and joy.

Through the craft of cooking, we will explore the traditions and experiences of both our collective and unique pasts, sharing this with a team of young cooks who want to learn and thrive.

We are looking for someone who can bring new energy, skills, vision and passion to Lula. But it has to be someone who shares our values.

Ours is a kitchen built around care and respect, where a team strives not for some Chef-articulated perfection but rather for something closer to a collective ambition toward doing our best.

Our team wants to succeed together, because they like the work, respect the products, care for the community, and want to learn.

This culture extends beyond our kitchen to our relationships with farmers and purveyors who share this same ambition. We’re looking for a leader who understands how to run a kitchen like this, but who can also challenge it and help it develop and mature.

At Lula we believe that great hospitality can be nourishing, purposeful, funny, tender, and real. We believe in respecting the hard labor that goes into this work, by giving our team the resources, training and guidance they need to excel, and by listening and collaborating with them as we go.

We center healthy work conditions, strong wage growth, and measurable happiness among the staff. This is the transformative power of hospitality.

Together, our team of managers and chefs mentor and guide, lead by example and courage, and not by fear. We believe in serious effort, conscious choices, hard work for good outcomes, and enjoying each other’s company.

Interested candidates can apply here, with a resume and a cover letter answering the question, Why Lula? Responses can also be sent directly to

Key Responsibilities include menu development, quality control, financial stewardship, cost and waste management, and hiring and training of staff.

The Chef de Cuisine will have the following qualifications :

• Experience in a fine dining or similar restaurant, at least 3 years in a leadership role, sous chef or similar
• Understanding and proficiency with budgets, spreadsheets and financial analysis
• An open schedule
• Ability to work at least 50 hours per week, depending on business needs
• Fluency with IT and google, excel, quickbooks, POS, misc. scheduling software

The Chef de Cuisine will take on the following responsibilities :

• Prep, cook!
• Center Lula's core values, vision, mission (see website)
• Elevate food quality and service standards
• Oversee menu development
• Reduce waste, uphold sustainability standards
• Maintain team oriented culture for BOH employees and managers
• Oversee health and safety standards for BOH employees
• Track COGS and LABOR expense by department
• Meet weekly budget goals
• Understand and control product costs
• Hire and train new employees
• Manage BOH employees, including conflict resolution and disciplinary actions, and performing employee reviews
• Oversee all shift meetings and huddles , including staff tastings
• BOH employee scheduling
• Write and organize recipes and production plan
• Expedite
• Source new products, work with new farms, introduce new ideas, techniques, applications of the craft

Benefits & Perks : Health Insurance, Dental Insurance, Vision Insurance, Paid Time Off, 401k, Potential Bonuses, Dining Discounts