Job Overview
We are seeking a skilled and creative Indian Specialty Chef with strong experience in traditional and modern Indian desserts, kebabs, flatbreads, and specialty savory foods.
The ideal candidate should understand authentic Indian flavors and cooking techniques while also being capable of developing standardized recipes suitable for restaurant service, catering, and packaged-food production. This position will play an important role in product development, kitchen execution, quality control, staff training, and the creation of distinctive food products under our growing culinary brands.
Key Responsibilities
Indian Desserts and Mithai
- Prepare a wide range of traditional and contemporary Indian desserts and mithai.
- Demonstrate expertise in products such as:
- Gajar ka halwa
- Besan laddoo
- Pinni
- Coconut laddoo
- Barfi
- Kalakand
- Gulab jamun
- Rasmalai
- Kheer
- Halwa varieties
- Milk-based and nut-based desserts
- Develop desserts with consistent taste, texture, appearance, portion size, and shelf life.
- Assist in creating healthier versions using natural ingredients, reduced or no refined sugar, gluten-free ingredients, and other dietary modifications.
- Understand proper handling of dairy, ghee, nuts, date paste, natural sweeteners, and other specialty ingredients.
Kebabs and Savory Foods
- Prepare high-quality vegetarian and non-vegetarian kebabs.
- Demonstrate experience with items such as:
- Seekh kebabs
- Chicken tikka
- Malai kebabs
- Tandoori chicken
- Galouti-style kebabs
- Shami kebabs
- Paneer tikka
- Vegetable kebabs
- Dal- and legume-based kebabs
- Properly marinate, portion, shape, cook, and finish kebabs.
- Maintain consistency when using tandoors, grills, ovens, griddles, and commercial cooking equipment.
- Develop products suitable for restaurant service, catering, freezing, reheating, or packaged retail sale.
Flatbreads and Dough Preparation
- Prepare a variety of Indian flatbreads, including:
- Naan
- Tandoori roti
- Roomali roti
- Paratha
- Kulcha
- Chapati
- Poori
- Bhatura
- Millet- and lentil-based flatbreads
- Gluten-free flatbread options
- Understand dough fermentation, hydration, resting, portioning, rolling, cooking temperatures, and holding procedures.
- Train kitchen staff to produce flatbreads efficiently and consistently.
Product Development and Standardization
- Develop and test new menu items and packaged-food concepts.
- Convert traditional recipes into documented commercial recipes.
- Establish exact ingredient weights, preparation steps, cooking temperatures, yields, portion sizes, and production costs.
- Participate in taste testing and improve recipes based on feedback.
- Help scale recipes from small test batches to larger commercial batches.
- Work with management on products that are flavorful, visually appealing, operationally practical, and financially viable.
- Assist in evaluating packaging, freezing, thawing, reheating, and shelf-life performance.
Kitchen Operations and Quality Control
- Maintain high standards for flavor, freshness, presentation, sanitation, and food safety.
- Inspect ingredients and finished products for quality and consistency.
- Minimize waste through proper production planning and ingredient utilization.
- Maintain accurate production, batch, temperature, and inventory records.
- Follow FIFO procedures and proper labeling, storage, cooling, and reheating requirements.
- Ensure compliance with local health regulations and company food-safety standards.
- Maintain a clean and organized workstation and production kitchen.
Training and Leadership
- Train cooks and production employees on recipes, techniques, portioning, sanitation, and presentation.
- Create simple production procedures that can be followed consistently by other team members.
- Provide constructive feedback and help improve kitchen performance.
- Work cooperatively with culinary, operations, purchasing, packaging, and management teams.
Required Qualifications
- Minimum of 3–5 years of professional experience preparing Indian food.
- Strong hands-on experience with Indian desserts, mithai, kebabs, and flatbreads.
- Thorough knowledge of Indian spices, ingredients, regional flavors, and traditional cooking methods.
- Experience working with tandoors, grills, commercial ovens, mixers, fryers, and flat-top griddles.
- Ability to produce consistent results using standardized recipes.
- Ability to scale recipes for higher-volume production.
- Good understanding of food safety, sanitation, cooling, storage, and allergen controls.
- Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
- Ability to stand for extended periods and lift ingredients or equipment commonly used in a commercial kitchen.
- Willingness to taste, test, document, and improve recipes.
Preferred Qualifications
- Culinary education or professional culinary certification.
- Experience in a commercial bakery, mithai shop, Indian restaurant, hotel, catering company, or food-manufacturing operation.
- Experience developing packaged, refrigerated, or frozen food products.
- Experience with healthier recipe development, including:
- Gluten-free products
- Grain-free products
- Reduced-sugar or no-refined-sugar desserts
- Dairy-free products
- Millet- and lentil-based products
- Clean-label ingredients
- Knowledge of food costing, batch records, yield calculations, and inventory management.
- Familiarity with HACCP, ServSafe, GMP, or commercial food-production standards.
Personal Attributes
The successful candidate should be:
- Passionate about authentic Indian food
- Creative but disciplined
- Detail-oriented
- Consistent and dependable
- Comfortable documenting recipes
- Open to developing healthier and modern interpretations
- Able to balance authenticity with commercial practicality
- Interested in helping build a growing culinary brand
Performance Expectations
Success in this position will be measured by:
- Consistency of taste, texture, portion size, and presentation
- Successful development of market-ready products
- Accuracy of standardized recipes and production procedures
- Food-cost and waste control
- Kitchen cleanliness and food-safety compliance
- Ability to train other team members
- Customer and management feedback
- Reliability and ability to meet production schedules
Employment Details
- Position: Indian Specialty Chef – Mithai, Kebabs & Flatbreads
- Employment Type: Full-time
- Schedule: May include mornings, evenings, weekends, and holidays based on production and business requirements
- Compensation: Based on experience, culinary skills, and product-development capabilities
- Location: [Insert work location]
Application Requirements
Applicants should submit:
- A résumé describing relevant culinary experience
- A list of Indian desserts, kebabs, flatbreads, and specialty dishes they can prepare
- Photographs or a portfolio of their work, when available
- Professional references
- Compensation expectations
- Availability to complete a paid practical cooking assessment
Practical Cooking Assessment
Final candidates may be asked to prepare a selection of products such as:
- One traditional Indian dessert
- One healthier or naturally sweetened dessert
- One vegetarian kebab
- One non-vegetarian kebab
- Two varieties of Indian flatbread
Candidates will be evaluated on flavor, texture, authenticity, consistency, presentation, cleanliness, organization, ingredient utilization, and ability to explain and document their process.
Work Location: In person
