The Hightail Resort, opening in June, is looking for a sous chef.
We will be opening the first ever fine dining restaurant on a regenerative bison ranch, serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner exclusively to guests of the resort. With a focus on seasonality, sustainability, and haute cuisine, the Hightail aims to push the limits of conventional resort fine dining, and elevate Montana’s food scene to the global stage. This is a very ambitious project, combining ranch life’s inherent demand for hard work, grit, and determination, with fine dining’s elegance, stature, and finesse.
This is a seasonal position for the first year, as the resort will not be open full time to the public- but rather booked only for specific events and themed weeks. That being said, the job is full time pay from June thru October. Going forward, if it is a good fit, full time salaried employment will be offered to individuals committed to staying on the team.
About the job: The sous chef will be working side by side with the chef every day to prepare and serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner to the guests. For the first season, there will be no other full time kitchen employees, meaning that the sous chef and the chef will have to do literally everything that needs to be done in order to run and maintain a restaurant. This is manageable not only due to the drive and work ethic of the chef, but thankfully also due to the schedule of operations for the first season. This staffing structure allows the sous chef to truly be core to the operation by involving themselves in every aspect of the restaurant, and taking ownership and responsibility of areas they excel in. Individuals must be driven to be part of something bigger than just a job, but rather an opportunity to build and grow something amazing. However, if you’re just looking for a job, we can probably work something out.
About the chef: Gavin Lambert is a chef based out of Boston, Massachusetts, who will be moving to Montana to open and operate the restaurant at The Hightail. Gavin cut his teeth cooking in New York City at age 18, and worked his way through the fine dining circuit for five years before returning to his hometown in Massachusetts, where he ran several restaurants over the course of three years. After the pandemic shut down restaurants nationwide, Gavin and his wife Rachel started several successful food businesses, with the most recent being a tasting menu pop up restaurant offering elegant, refined cuisine across the Boston metro area. Gavin’s philosophy around food is simple- to honor inherent deliciousness and intricacy in each humble ingredient, while also employing cutting edge techniques and preparations to manipulate the natural world to fit his vision. He believes the purest and most impactful food experiences come from a place of nostalgia and memory, and that it is the job of true chefs and artists to elicit a powerful transcendentalist interaction with each bite. With a focus on seasonality, locally sourced and foraged ingredients, and of course, regeneratively harvested bison, The Hightail’s menu will feature concepts and ideas both inherent in the land, and derived from far away- creating a truly unique dining experience for each guest.
Desired qualities and experience:
Positive attitude is just about the only quality that is mandatory here. Everything else can be learned, taught, improved upon, or corrected, if necessary.
Good personal hygiene- also mandatory
Detail oriented- this is a low volume restaurant, but 20 covers will feel like 140 when running a seven-course tasting menu. Attention to detail is incredibly important, and each plate must be treated with the utmost care and precision.
Must be able to lift 50lbs and be comfortable with the physical demands of kitchen labor
Reliable transportation to and from work- if the job is a good fit and you wish to stay on the team, employee housing may be offered to full time employees for the second season and beyond
Sharp knives, a respect for your craft, and the desire to continually grow and push yourself on an individual and professional level
Experience with global cuisine and styles is a plus
Fine dining/tasting menu experience is also a plus
We are willing to train anyone who has the right work ethic and attitude. If you are driven, hungry, have some knife skills, and want to learn, please apply. We’d love to work something out.