WE’RE HIRING
CDC (FOUNDING EXPERIMENTAL CHEF
& CULINARY SCIENTIST)
LOCATION
South Goa, Goa
ROLE
Full-time | On-site | Founding culinary leadership
Craftels is developing its next culinary destination venture—a drinks-first experience where food, cocktails, beer, architecture, music, nature and experimentation come together.
We are looking for a chef who thinks like a scientist.
Someone obsessed with questions such as:
Q What happens if we change the temperature, technique, fermentation, smoke, texture, ingredient or sequence?
Q Can a familiar Goan ingredient become something completely unexpected?
Q Can an experimental dish still be reproduced hundreds of times without losing its soul?
THE ROLE
This is a hands-on commercial kitchen role. Your job has three clear outcomes:
1. Conduct hundreds of disciplined culinary experiments.
2. Turn the strongest discoveries into exceptional, commercially viable recipes.
3. Build the systems and train the kitchen so every guest receives the dish exactly as it was intended.
YOUR FIRST MANDATE
Before the launch menu is frozen, conduct at least 100 documented culinary trials.
An experiment may test an ingredient, sauce, cooking technique, fermentation, texture, combination, plating method, holding time or service process. We are looking for disciplined iteration, not random novelty.
Every experiment must end with a clear decision:
- Approve
- Improve and retest
- Hold for later
- Reject
EVERY APPROVED DISH MUST BE CONVERTED INTO A COMPLETE OPERATING RECIPE CONTAINING:
✓ Ingredients measured in grams
✓ Preparation and cooking method
✓ Yield and portion size
✓ Ingredient and plate cost
✓ Required equipment
✓ Preparation and service time
✓ Holding limits and shelf life
✓ Allergen information
✓ Plating photograph
✓ Acceptable quality range
✓ Rejection criteria
WHAT YOU WILL OWN
- The culinary identity and menu development of Craftels’ next destination venture
- Continuous food experimentation and product improvement
- A focused launch menu of approximately 24–28 dishes
- Recipe development, costing and documentation
- Ingredient and vendor specifications
- Kitchen trials and service simulations
- Training and certification of station chefs
- Quality control at the pass
- Reviewing guest feedback and improving recipes
- Ensuring that creativity survives commercial-volume execution
- Building culinary intellectual property that can travel to future Craftels locations
You will lead the culinary team and work closely with the General Manager, beverage team, procurement, finance and the Founder.
The General Manager will own the complete venue operation. You will own the food—from the first experiment to the final dish received by the guest.
WHO SHOULD APPLY
You may be right for this role if you:
- Have led a serious commercial kitchen
- Possess an exceptional palate and genuine curiosity
- Enjoy experimenting more than repeating familiar menus
- Can combine creativity with precise measurement
- Understand food cost, yield, waste and kitchen throughput
- Can document recipes clearly enough for another chef to reproduce them
- Can train people without making the kitchen dependent on you
- Can execute consistently during high-volume service
- Are excited by Goan ingredients, global techniques and unconventional combinations
- Are willing to live and work full-time in South Goa
A famous employer, hotel-school degree or social-media following will not substitute for demonstrated craft.
COMPENSATION
The selected candidate may choose between:
OPTION A
₹1,50,000 per month
OPTION B
₹1,00,000 per month
plus 2% of the adjusted Profit After Tax of the operating business.
fixed salary.
Shortlisted candidates will complete:
- A culinary portfolio review
- A discussion about three experiments they attempted—including one that failed
- A live cooking and improvisation trial
- A recipe-standardization exercise
- A commercial costing exercise
- A high-volume service simulation
HOW TO APPLY
Email [email protected] with the subject: Please cc it to [email protected] and also to [email protected]
Application — Founding Experimental Chef — Craftels’ Next Culinary Venture
Please include:
- Your CV
- Current and expected compensation
- Notice period and earliest joining date
- Current location and willingness to relocate to South Goa
- Menu, food portfolio or photographs of your work
- A short note describing the most interesting dish you have developed
- A short video introducing yourself, showing your cooking or presenting one dish you have created
- Which compensation option you prefer and why
- Please put everything in one folder and share the google drive link
We are not looking for someone to inherit a finished menu.
We are looking for the person who will discover what Craftels’ next culinary destination can become.
Pay: ₹80,000.00 - ₹120,000.00 per month
Benefits:
- Food provided
- Health insurance
- Leave encashment
- Life insurance
- Paid sick time
- Paid time off
- Provident Fund
Ability to commute/relocate:
- South Goa District, Goa: Reliably commute or planning to relocate before starting work (Required)
Experience:
Work Location: In person
