Assistant Kitchen Manager

Assistant Kitchen Manager

Location: Chicago, IL (Fulton Market)

Employment Type: Full-Time (30-40 hours)

About OMAKAI

OMAKAI is a traditional sushi restaurant with one aim: to be known for blowing people's minds. Everything we do rests on three guarantees: warm rice for contrast, crispy nori for texture, and kind service. Every guest, every visit.

We serve high-quality traditional sushi at an accessible price, and we are growing across South Florida and expanding to other cities nationally with our full-service restaurants and hand roll bars. We aim to hold ourselves to a five-star hotel standard in a casual dining room, which means the details matter here more than they do in most restaurants.

We treat every guest with genuine kindness and focus heavily on execution. Our team runs on accountability, reliability, and doing what we say we will do.

Position Overview

We are seeking an exceptional Assistant Kitchen Manager with at least two years of sushi or Japanese kitchen experience, including time working multiple stations on a busy line. Prior experience leading or training chefs is preferred. Strong knife skills and working knowledge of prep, slicing, nigiri, and hand roll stations are required.

The Assistant Kitchen Manager runs the kitchen alongside the Kitchen Manager and takes the lead when the Kitchen Manager is away. You will lead, manage, and hold the back-of-house kitchen team accountable during the shift, oversee prep, service, and breakdown across every station, enforce recipe adherence to OMAKAI's standards, own a defined set of responsibilities assigned by the Kitchen Manager for your location, and support inventory counts and vendor ordering. We are looking for a chef who wants to grow into a Kitchen Manager, corrects a chef in the moment rather than letting a standard slip, is not afraid to confront the team to uphold standards, and knows what excellence looks like on a busy line.

Responsibilities

• Lead, manage, and hold the back-of-house kitchen team accountable during every shift, setting the tone for performance and standards
• Ensure chefs are performing to standard, addressing issues in the moment rather than letting them carry into the next shift
• Coach chefs patiently and keep morale steady across prep, service, and breakdown
• Communicate concerns, staffing gaps, and performance issues to the Kitchen Manager clearly and early
• Lead the back-of-house team when the Kitchen Manager is away, confronting staff when needed to uphold standards
• Oversee all kitchen operations across prep, service, and breakdown
• Confirm every station is set up correctly and fully stocked before service begins
• Keep the stations running smoothly during service, re-sequencing the line when a station falls behind or an ingredient runs short
• Ensure every station is properly cleaned and restocked after service
• Ensure every dish is executed according to OMAKAI's recipes and standards
• Monitor consistency across all stations throughout the shift
• Correct any deviation in technique, portioning, or presentation immediately
• Catch an off cut or plating before it reaches the pass
• Own a defined set of responsibilities assigned by the Kitchen Manager for your location, such as supervising a specific chef station or daypart
• Run back-of-house in the Kitchen Manager's absence, keeping the team, the standards, and the stations on track
• Identify operational issues early and bring them to the Kitchen Manager with practical solutions
• Follow the recipe and the process instead of improvising to save time
• Assist with inventory counts, tracking, and reporting as directed by the Kitchen Manager
• Receive and place vendor orders on assigned days
• Verify deliveries against invoices and check product quality on arrival
• Flag any discrepancies or shortages in a timely manner

Qualifications

• Two years of sushi or Japanese kitchen experience required, including experience working multiple stations on a busy line
• Experience leading, coaching, or training chefs preferred
• Knife skills and station knowledge across prep, slicing, nigiri, and hand rolls
• Food manager and sexual harassment prevention certifications required, and