Lead Cook at Luxury Senior Living Community

Description

Culinary services · Full time · Encino California

About The Vered 

The Vered is a modern senior living community in Encino, California, dedicated to providing an elevated living experience centered on exceptional service, genuine hospitality, and meaningful connections.

Our team is committed to creating a welcoming environment where residents feel at home, valued, and well cared for every day. We believe the smallest details can make a lasting difference, and we look for team members who take pride in their work, support one another, and share our commitment to delivering an exceptional resident experience.

At The Vered, we value teamwork, professionalism, and a hospitality-first approach—and we believe in recognizing and developing team members who consistently demonstrate these values.

About the Location

Located on Ventura Boulevard in the heart of Encino, The Vered offers a modern and welcoming senior living environment in one of the San Fernando Valley’s most desirable neighborhoods. Conveniently located near Sherman Oaks and major freeways, the community is thoughtfully designed to provide residents with comfort, connection, and an elevated living experience

Position Summary

The Lead Cook plays a key role in delivering a high-quality dining experience by preparing fresh, flavorful, and consistently presented meals for residents and guests. This position serves as a hands-on leader in the kitchen, supporting daily culinary operations, guiding team members during assigned shifts, and helping ensure food quality, safety, sanitation, and presentation standards are consistently met.

The ideal candidate brings strong culinary experience, attention to detail, and a passion for hospitality while leading by example in a fast-paced kitchen environment.

Join our Team: The Lead Cook is the Executive Chef's right hand — planning menus, running daily kitchen operations, and leading the team that prepares and serves every meal. You will shape both the resident experience and the employee experience: the standard you hold on the line becomes the standard of the house. We are looking for someone who stays level-headed under pressure, develops the people around them, and takes- real pride in consistency — because our guests come back tomorrow.

Essential Job Duties

• Lead day-to-day kitchen operations during assigned shifts, helping organize workflow and assign responsibilities to ensure efficient meal preparation and service.
• Prepare and cook menu items according to standardized recipes, portioning guidelines, presentation standards, and resident dietary needs.
• Ensure food is prepared, cooked, and served at the appropriate quality, temperature, and consistency.
• Inspect food prior to service to ensure presentation and quality meet community standards.
• Support the Executive Chef and culinary leadership with menu execution, daily specials, seasonal offerings, and other culinary initiatives.
• Provide guidance and hands-on support to Cooks, Prep Cooks, and other culinary team members as needed.
• Assist with training culinary team members on recipes, preparation techniques, sanitation, food safety, and proper equipment handling.
• Ensure proper food storage, labeling, dating, rotation, and handling in accordance with established food safety standards.
• Assist with receiving deliveries and ensure products are properly inspected, stored, dated, and rotated.
• Maintain clean, organized, and sanitary kitchen, preparation, and storage areas.
• Monitor food and supply levels and communicate inventory or ordering needs to culinary leadership.
• Help minimize food waste through proper preparation, portion control, storage, and rotation practices.
• Communicate effectively with front-of-house team members to ensure accurate and timely meal service.
• Support resident dietary needs, preferences, and special requests in coordination with culinary leadership.
• Interact professionally and warmly with residents and guests and use feedback to help continuously improve the dining experience.
• Follow all applicable food safety, sanitation, Health Department, OSHA, and community standards.
• Assist with special events, resident celebrations, catering, and other community dining functions as needed.
• Support other areas of Culinary Services based on operational needs.
• Perform other duties as assigned to support the culinary team and overall operation of the community.

The Vered Website 

The Vered LinkedIn  

Requirements

Qualifications

• High school diploma or equivalent required; culinary degree or formal culinary training preferred.
• Minimum of three (3) years of cooking experience in a restaurant, senior living, hospitality, or similar culinary environment.
• Current state-required food safety or sanitation certification, including Food Handler and/or Certified Food Manager certification, as applicable.
• Previous lead or kitchen supervisory experience preferred.
• Strong knowledge of food preparation, production, portioning, menu presentation, and food service delivery systems.
• Knowledge of applicable Health Department, OSHA, food safety, sanitation, and other regulatory requirements.
• Ability to follow standardized recipes while maintaining consistent quality, portioning, and presentation.
• Strong organizational and time-management skills with the ability to prioritize multiple responsibilities in a fast-paced kitchen environment.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to effectively communicate across culinary, dining, and management teams.
• Ability to provide direction, training, and support to culinary team members while working collaboratively as part of the team.
• Basic computer proficiency, including familiarity with Microsoft Office.
• Professional, dependable, flexible, and attentive to detail.
• Must maintain a flexible schedule based on community needs, including evenings, weekends, holidays, and community emergencies as required.

Physical Requirements / Working Conditions

• Ability to stand and walk for extended periods throughout the workday.
• Ability to frequently reach, bend, stoop, twist, push, and pull while performing culinary duties.
• Ability to lift and carry up to 50 pounds, using assistance or appropriate equipment when necessary.
• Ability to push and pull up to 50 pounds, with assistance when appropriate.
• Ability to safely operate standard commercial kitchen equipment, including mixers, ovens, ranges, grills, griddles, steam tables, steamers, slicers, knives, and other culinary equipment.
• Ability to frequently handle food, cookware, utensils, dishes, and kitchen supplies.
• Ability to read and process menus, recipes, resident orders, food labels, storage instructions, posted notices, chemical labels, and other information necessary to perform assigned duties.
• Ability to visually evaluate food quality, portioning, preparation, cleanliness, and presentation.
• Ability to hear kitchen timers, equipment signals, resident requests, and verbal communication in an active kitchen and dining environment.
• Ability to recognize conditions related to food preparation, storage, cleanliness, and sanitation.
• Ability to safely work around hot surfaces, steam, sharp utensils, cleaning and sanitation products, and other conditions commonly associated with a commercial kitchen.
• Ability to communicate professionally and respectfully with residents, families, guests, and team members, including during challenging or fast-paced situations.
• Must follow established food safety, sanitation, personal protective equipment, and workplace safety procedures.

Equal Opportunity Employer

The Vered is an equal employment opportunity employer. We do not discriminate against any applicant or employee based on race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age (40 and over), disability, military status, genetic information, or any other basis protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws, and we prohibit harassment of applicants or employees based on any of these protected categories. We comply with all applicable federal, state, and local laws, including but not to limited, respecting consideration of unemployment status in making hiring decisions. Completing an application does not guarantee that you will be offered a position. We review all applications and strive to hire the candidates who are the most qualified to perform the essential functions of the position with or without reasonable accommodation.