Executive Pastry Chef - Ralph Brennan Bakery

Executive Pastry Chef

New Orleans, Louisiana | Bakery Commissary

We are seeking an experienced, creative, and highly organized Executive Pastry Chef to lead the pastry and baking program at our New Orleans bakery commissary.

Our commissary is the production heart of a growing culinary operation, specializing in artisan breads, New Orleans king cakes, classic and contemporary pastries, and desserts for restaurants. We are looking for a chef who combines strong technical pastry skills with leadership, production discipline, creativity, and a genuine appreciation for the food culture of New Orleans.

This is a hands-on leadership position for a chef who is excited to build exceptional products, develop talented teams, establish systems, and maintain consistently high standards across multiple production programs.

Key Responsibilities

Culinary Leadership

o Lead the development and execution of all pastry, baking, and dessert programs produced through the commissary.

o Develop and maintain recipes, formulas, production methods, and quality standards.

o Create seasonal and specialty pastries, desserts, and king cake offerings while maintaining core products.

o Develop desserts for affiliated restaurants in collaboration with restaurant chefs and culinary leadership.

o Balance creativity and innovation with consistency, efficiency, scalability, and cost control.

o Maintain a strong connection to New Orleans culinary traditions while incorporating contemporary pastry techniques and ideas.

Bread & Baking Program

o Oversee production of artisan breads, including mixing, fermentation, shaping, proofing, scoring, and baking.

o Establish and maintain consistent standards for dough development, fermentation, hydration, temperature, and finished product quality.

o Help develop and expand the bakery's bread program as production needs evolve.

King Cakes & Seasonal Production

o Lead the development and large-scale production of traditional and specialty New Orleans king cakes.

o Plan seasonal production well in advance, including recipes, staffing, ingredients, packaging, and production schedules.

o Maintain exceptional quality and consistency during high-volume periods.

o Develop new flavors and limited-edition offerings while respecting the traditions surrounding king cake.

Restaurant Desserts

o Collaborate with restaurant culinary teams to develop plated desserts, composed desserts, sauces, garnishes, and other pastry components.

o Design desserts that can be executed consistently in a restaurant environment.

o Create production systems that allow the commissary and restaurant teams to work efficiently together.

o Support menu changes, special events, holidays, and private dining programs.

Team Leadership & Operations

o Recruit, train, mentor, and lead pastry and baking team members.

o Establish clear production standards, prep lists, recipes, pars, and daily/weekly production schedules.

o Build a positive, professional, accountable kitchen culture.

o Manage labor efficiently while maintaining product quality and team development.

o Maintain high standards for sanitation, food safety, organization, and workplace safety.

o Coordinate with purchasing and operations teams to maintain appropriate inventory and control food costs.

o Monitor yields, waste, labor, and product consistency.

o Ensure the commissary is organized and prepared for daily production.

Qualifications

o 5 years of professional pastry and/or baking experience, with significant leadership experience.

o Proven experience leading a pastry department, bakery, commissary, or high-volume production kitchen.

o Strong technical knowledge of breads, laminated doughs, enriched doughs, cakes, custards, creams, chocolate, frozen desserts, and plated desserts.

o Demonstrated experience with high-volume production and scaling recipes.

o Experience developing and maintaining standardized recipes and production systems.

o Strong understanding of food cost, labor management, inventory, and production planning.

o Excellent organizational and communication skills.

o Ability to train and develop pastry cooks and bakers at varying skill levels.

o Ability to work calmly and effectively in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.

o Strong attention to detail and commitment to consistency.

o A passion for both classic pastry and contemporary techniques.

o A deep appreciation for New Orleans food culture is highly valued.

The Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate is both chef and collaborator — someone who can spend the morning working alongside the team on a production bake, troubleshoot a sourdough or laminated dough issue, develop a new king cake flavor in the afternoon, and then work with a restaurant chef on a new plated dessert.

You should be comfortable moving between craft and operations: understanding the details of fermentation and pastry technique while also thinking about production schedules, labor, food cost, purchasing, scalability, and team development.

We are particularly interested in candidates who are excited by the opportunity to help shape and grow a distinctive New Orleans baking and pastry program.

Ralph Brennan’s six high-energy, high-experience restaurants (plus a bakery) stand apart for our commitment to inspired, locally-sourced cuisine and gracious hospitality served up in New Orleans’ most revered and iconic dining rooms.

Benefits:

• Flexible schedule
• Paid time off
• Health insurance
• Dental insurance
• Vision insurance
• Life insurance
• Disability insurance
• 401(k)
• 401(k) matching
• Employee discount

Job Type: fulltime, parttime

Education: No education required

Work location: On-site

Ralph Brennan Bakery. 3930 Euphrosine St, New Orleans, LA, 70125