Join Our Team
Kitchen Leadership + Culture
You will help build a kitchen where standards are high and people are treated like people.
You’ll lead, coach and develop the team; establish clear expectations; train cooks; participate in hiring and onboarding; give meaningful feedback; and build leadership underneath you.
We believe great kitchens can be disciplined without being destructive.
Leadership here means being present, getting your hands dirty and working alongside the team.
Systems + Operations
Creativity needs structure. You’ll build and maintain the systems that allow our kitchen to execute consistently, including:
Recipes and SOPs
Prep lists and station pars
Opening and closing standards
Food safety and sanitation
Ordering, receiving and inventory
Waste tracking
Menu costing and portion standards
Equipment and kitchen organization
When something repeatedly falls through the cracks, we look at the system not just the person.
Financial Responsibility
You’ll work with ownership to manage food cost, labor, purchasing, inventory, waste, pricing and productivity while protecting the quality of our ingredients and the integrity of our food.
Who Thrives Here
You might belong here if you:
Love seasonal cooking and working with farmers
Have strong savory fundamentals
Care about preservation, fermentation and whole-animal cooking
Understand food and labor costs
Are organized and systems-minded
Can teach and develop cooks
Know how to balance structure with creativity
Stay curious and notice the details
Are willing to jump in wherever the kitchen needs you
Believe hospitality starts with how we treat one another
Experience
Strong candidates will have significant professional kitchen experience and previous leadership experience as a Sous Chef, Chef de Cuisine, Executive Sous Chef or Executive Chef.
Experience with sourdough, preservation, fermentation, charcuterie, whole-animal cooking, local agriculture or direct farmer relationships is highly valued.
What Success Looks Like
Success looks like a calm, prepared kitchen; a team that knows what is expected; strong systems; responsible food and labor costs; less waste; meaningful farmer relationships; seasonal food; and cooks who are constantly learning.
It looks like a kitchen that can operate at a high level without losing its humanity.
And ultimately, it looks like building something the entire team is proud to call Jane & the Lion.
Farmer → Cook → Table → Community.
Food for Rebel Souls.
Interested? Send us your résumé + a little about yourself.
CHEF
CHEF | FULL-TIME | HOUSTON, TXJane & the Lion Bakehouse is looking for an Executive Sous Chef who wants to build something, not simply run a kitchen.
We are a sourdough bakery, café, market business and gathering place rooted in seasonal food, local agriculture, old-world skills and thoughtful hospitality.
We are looking for a culinary leader who can turn our philosophy into a kitchen that works: great food, strong systems, a healthy team culture and a deep respect for ingredients and the people who produce them.
What You Will Lead
You will take ownership of the day-to-day culinary leadership of Jane & the Lion’s savory kitchen, working closely with Jane, the Chef Team, Bakery, FOH, farmers and producers.
You will lead:
Seasonal breakfast and lunch programs
Specials, sandwiches and composed plates
Savory pastry collaboration
Jane’s Pantry, preservation and fermentation
Whole-animal utilization and low-waste cooking
Farmers market offerings
Dinners, events and collaborations
Our menus start with what is available, not the other way around. We want a chef who looks at what our farmers are growing and asks:
What can we make with this?
Seasonal + Low-Waste Cooking
We believe good cooking means understanding the ingredient completely.
You’ll help the team find thoughtful uses for seasonal abundance, trim, bones, fat, stems, peels, day-old bread and other by-products through broths, preserves, ferments, sauces, charcuterie and other traditional techniques.
The goal is simple: use what we have well and waste less.
