Chef de Cuisine | Opening Leadership Team
$70,000 Salary + Bonus Structure
Oso Underground is seeking a Chef de Cuisine (CDC) to join our opening leadership team and help establish the standards, culture, and culinary program of a new restaurant in Fort Collins.
This is a hands-on culinary leadership position for someone who wants more than a title. We're looking for a hospitality professional who wants to lead people, develop their craft, contribute creatively, and help build a kitchen from the ground up.
About Oso Underground
Oso is centered around molecular mixology and casual fine dining; built by hospitality people, for hospitality people.
Our culinary program is worldly by design - drawing inspiration from ingredients, techniques, traditions, and flavors from around the world rather than defining ourselves by a single cuisine. Curiosity is at the center of what we're building, and we want our menu to continue evolving as our team learns, experiments, and creates.
Our concept was born from a love of this industry; the late nights, the controlled chaos of service, the creativity, the relationships built across a bar or behind a line, and the people who choose to make hospitality their craft.
We're creating the kind of bar/restaurant we've always wanted to work in: one where creativity is encouraged, education is constant, mentorship matters, and taking pride in what you do is non-negotiable.
We want to shake things up in Fort Collins. That means challenging some of the traditional ideas of what a restaurant kitchen can be and creating an environment where talented people are given the opportunity to contribute, experiment, learn from one another, and continuously get better.
Our Chef de Cuisine isn't simply responsible for managing a kitchen - they are a hospitality professional, educator, mentor, creative contributor, and leader.
If you've always wanted to work somewhere built around collective creativity, this is that opportunity.
One Culinary & Beverage Program. One Team.
At Oso Underground, the relationship between culinary and beverage isn't something we bring out for a pairing dinner or special tasting event.
It exists every day. On every menu.
Our molecular mixology program and culinary program are intentionally intertwined. Research and development will regularly cross between the kitchen and bar—from ingredients, techniques, preservation and fermentation to aromatics, textures, flavor development, presentation, and the ways food and beverage can influence one another.
The Chef de Cuisine will work closely with our beverage leadership and Culinary Director to explore those intersections and help develop a cohesive Oso experience.
We don't believe creativity should stop at the kitchen door or the edge of the bar.
And we don't believe in an "us and them" relationship between the front and back of house.
FOH is just as much BOH, and BOH is just as much FOH.
We are one hospitality team working toward one guest experience. That philosophy should be visible in the way we communicate, train, develop menus, solve problems, conduct R&D, and show up for one another every day.
We're looking for a CDC who is excited to lead within that environment.
The Role
As Chef de Cuisine at Oso Underground, you'll lead the day-to-day operations of our kitchen while helping develop the people, systems, and standards that define our culinary program.
This is a working leadership position. We want a CDC who understands that great leadership happens alongside the team - not exclusively from an office.
You'll work closely with our Culinary Director through a high-level mentorship and development program designed to continue advancing your culinary, operational, financial, creative, and leadership skills.
You'll also have a meaningful creative voice at Oso. Our menu isn't intended to remain static, and creativity isn't reserved for one person. The CDC will participate in menu development, recipe testing, seasonal evolution, technique development, cross-department R&D, and the continued progression of our culinary identity.
We're looking for someone who genuinely loves what they do and wants to keep learning. Experience matters, but curiosity does too. We believe the strongest culinary leaders never reach a point where they believe they have nothing left to learn.
What we do expect is that you care.
Care about the food. Care about the details. Care about the numbers. Care about your team. Care about developing the person standing beside you. Care about what's happening behind the bar. Care about what's happening in the dining room. Care about the guest experience. And take pride in building something exceptional.
Responsibilities
- Lead day-to-day BOH operations and service execution
- Establish and maintain culinary, operational, sanitation, and organizational standards
- Lead, coach, mentor, and develop Line Cooks, Prep Cooks, Dishwashers, and future BOH leaders
- Create a kitchen culture rooted in professionalism, accountability, education, respect, and hospitality
- Maintain consistency in recipe execution, presentation, portioning, and quality
- Manage prep systems, ordering, inventory, receiving, waste, and product rotation
- Monitor and actively manage food cost, labor, productivity, and other key BOH performance metrics
- Participate in BOH hiring, onboarding, training, scheduling, and performance development
- Partner closely with the Culinary Director, beverage leadership, FOH leadership, and ownership
- Contribute creatively to worldly menu development, recipe development, testing, seasonal changes, and culinary innovation
- Participate in cross-functional R&D between the culinary and molecular mixology programs
- Explore opportunities for shared ingredients, techniques, flavor profiles, and complementary food and beverage experiences
- Maintain compliance with all food safety, sanitation, and health department requirements
- Lead by example during preparation and service
- Continuously identify opportunities to improve our food, systems, people, and overall operation
Who We're Looking For
- Previous culinary leadership experience required
- Strong professional kitchen and culinary fundamentals
- Experience leading, coaching, and developing teams
- Understanding of food cost, labor management, inventory, ordering, and kitchen financials
- Strong organizational and communication skills
- Ability to maintain composure and lead effectively during high-volume service
- A hands-on leadership style and willingness to work alongside the team
- Genuine interest in world cuisines, ingredients, techniques, and culinary exploration
- Excitement about collaborating with a progressive beverage and molecular mixology program
- A hospitality-first mentality that sees FOH and BOH as one team
- Curiosity and a desire to continuously develop your own skills
- Openness to feedback, coaching, collaboration, and new ideas
- High level of accountability, dependability, and professionalism
- Most importantly, pride in your craft and the people you lead
Mentorship, Education & Professional Growth
We believe great restaurants should develop great hospitality professionals - and that philosophy doesn't stop when someone reaches a leadership position.
We aren't looking for someone who thinks they already know everything.
We're looking for someone talented enough to contribute, confident enough to lead, and curious enough to continue learning.
As Oso grows, we want the people who help build it to grow with it. There will be opportunities to take on greater creative, operational, and leadership responsibilities as the concept develops and proves itself.
Creative Ownership & R&D
We want our CDC to have a voice.
You'll have the opportunity to collaborate directly with our Culinary Director and beverage team on menu development, seasonal changes, recipe testing, plating, techniques, ingredients, molecular mixology, and new culinary ideas.
Our worldly menu creates room to explore rather than stay confined to one culinary lane. Our beverage program creates another creative laboratory entirely.
An ingredient discovered through culinary R&D may inspire a cocktail. A technique being explored behind the bar may create an opportunity on the plate. A preservation method, fermentation, aromatic, texture, or unexpected flavor combination may find a home in both.
Compensation & What We Offer
- $70,000 annual salary
- Performance-based bonus structure
- High-level mentorship and professional development with our Culinary Director
- Meaningful creative involvement in menu and recipe development
- Direct involvement in culinary and molecular mixology R&D
- Opportunities for increased leadership responsibility as Oso grows
- Comprehensive opening training and development
- Continued culinary and leadership education
- A collaborative environment where ideas and creativity are encouraged
- The opportunity to build and develop your own BOH team
- Team meals and shift drinks
- The opportunity to help establish the culture, standards, and future of a new restaurant from day one
Help Us Build Something Different
Opening a restaurant gives us a rare opportunity: we get to decide what kind of place we want to be before the first plate ever leaves the kitchen.
We want Oso Underground to be a restaurant where talented people are proud to work, where creativity is collective rather than guarded, where leaders develop people rather than simply manage them, and where hospitality professionals are given the space and support to become better at what they love doing.
We want a restaurant where the kitchen understands the bar, the bar understands the kitchen, FOH understands BOH, BOH understands FOH, and everyone understands that we are responsible for the same experience.
We're not interested in doing things a certain way simply because that's how they've always been done.
We're here to learn, create, challenge ourselves, develop people, and build something we're proud to put our names behind.
If you've been waiting for the opportunity to lead a kitchen, develop your own team, strengthen your craft, collaborate across culinary and beverage, and have a genuine creative voice in what comes next, we want to meet you.
Pay: From $70,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Food provided
- Paid time off
Work Location: In person
