Kitchen Manager -de Lazy Lizard in Ocean City, Maryland at OC LIZARD LLC

At de Lazy Lizard, the Kitchen Manager plays a critical leadership role in maintaining the speed, quality, organization, and consistency of the kitchen. In a high-volume, fast-paced tropical restaurant environment, the Kitchen Manager helps lead the back-of-house team while ensuring every dish meets the restaurant’s standards before reaching the guest.

The Kitchen Manager is responsible for overseeing daily kitchen operations, coordinating food production across all stations, managing ticket flow during service, maintaining food quality and presentation standards, and supporting a clean, organized, and efficient kitchen environment. This position works closely with chefs, line cooks, expos, food runners, and restaurant management to ensure smooth operations throughout every shift.

Strong leadership and communication skills are essential for this role. The Kitchen Manager is expected to lead by example, maintain professionalism under pressure, assist with training and coaching kitchen staff, enforce safety and sanitation standards, and help keep the team focused during high-volume service periods. Responsibilities also include monitoring prep levels, assisting with inventory and ordering, managing kitchen cleanliness, handling shift organization, and helping ensure all recipes and procedures are followed consistently.

The ideal candidate is organized, dependable, detail-oriented, and capable of leading a team in a fast-paced environment while maintaining a positive attitude and strong sense of urgency.

Leadership experience is required. Previous high-volume kitchen management experience is strongly preferred.

If you’re ready to lead a fast-paced kitchen team, maintain high standards, and help deliver a great guest experience every shift, we’d love to have you join the team at de Lazy Lizard.

• Ability to work in a fast-paced, high-volume restaurant environment.
• Strong communication, leadership, and organizational skills.
• High attention to detail and accuracy.
• Ability to remain calm, focused, and professional under pressure.
• Ability to stand for extended periods and move quickly in a busy kitchen environment.
• Leadership experience required.
• Manage the flow of tickets from the kitchen to the dining area to maintain speed and organization during service.
• Verify all plates for accuracy, presentation, and completeness before they leave the kitchen window.
• Confirm modifiers and special requests are correct before food is delivered to guests.
• Coordinate timing between multiple kitchen stations so entire orders are completed together.
• Communicate clearly with cooks, food runners, and managers to keep service running smoothly.
• Monitor ticket times and work with the kitchen team to keep food moving during high-volume periods.
• Assist with training, coaching, and supporting kitchen staff throughout shifts.
• Maintain cleanliness, organization, and sanitation standards throughout the kitchen and expo areas.
• Help oversee opening, closing, prep, and daily kitchen operations.
• Lead by example while maintaining a positive attitude and strong sense of urgency during service.