Tŷ Newydd House Chef in Criccieth

Full-time (37 hours per week), permanent contract

To start as soon as possible

Language: The ability to speak Welsh is desirable for this role.

As Tŷ Newydd House Chef you will be responsible for hosting and keeping our guests well-fed throughout their stay, creating a welcoming, comfortable, and enjoyable experience for writers, artists, tutors, and guests. The postholder will be responsible for family-style catering provision, co‑ordinating hospitality services, and ensuring communal spaces are well maintained and inviting.

This will involve catering for all kinds of dietary requirements, maintenance and cleaning, co‑ordinating relevant budgets and sourcing produce, locally where possible.

This role plays a key part in fostering a welcoming atmosphere that enables creativity, collaboration, and well‑being among all who visit and stay at the centre.

The position involves working unsociable hours and weekends, but we are open to discussing flexibilities with candidates. Currently the role holder lives next door to the centre and serves lunch and dinner over split shifts but we’re aware this wouldn’t work for everyone.

This role follows the rhythm of the Centre's programme and visitor activity. Spring and summer are our busiest periods and require greater availability, while the quieter winter months provide opportunities for reduced working hours, balancing the role across the year. Courses are planned months ahead, allowing for easy scheduling.

Key areas of delivery:

• Responsibility forfamily-stylecatering to groups of up to 20 and supervising course participants in the kitchen.
• Delivering for all dietary requirements and allergens.
• Meal planning and shopping on a weekly basis for planned courses and visits.
• Responsibility for maintaining a clean and hygienic work environment in the dining room and kitchenand ordering supplies.
• Responsibility for operationslogs and schedules including co‑ordination of the relevant budgets, overseen by
  Venue Manager.
• Overseeing health and safety including Food Hygiene, EHO Standards, COSHH and Fire Safety regulations,supported by
  the Venue Manager.
• Operational administration as required.
• Assisting inensuring the overall smooth running of residential writing courses, including availability on site when courses
  are running and driving the hospitality experience.
• Welcoming guests to Tŷ Newydd, representing the centre and Literature Wales.

Reports to: Tŷ Newydd Venue Manager

Suitability for the role

We’re looking for someone who has:

• Experience in catering
• Organisational and administration skills.
• Experience of working in a hospitality setting.
• An efficient and proactive working style and a positive working attitude.
• Warm, sensitive and positive interpersonal and communication skills. The ability to speak Welsh is desirable for this post .
• The ability to multi-task, to work well under pressure, and to prioritise duties and responsibilities.
• Experience of co‑ordinating budgets.
• The ability to think creatively, solve problems, be organised and plan ahead.
• A full and clean driving license and car ownership.

Any job offers will be made subject toan appropriate DBScheck andwill need a qualification in Food Hygiene Level 2, Allergen Training and First Aid in the Workplace. If you don’t currently hold these certificates, Literature Wales could provide training. DBS check will be carried out for successful applicant.

If you are interested in this role but are unsure whether you have sufficient experience, contact us on post@literaturewales.org / 01766 522 811) for an informal chat.

A Day in the life of the Tŷ Newydd Head Chef

There isn’t a typical ‘day in the life’ of the Tŷ Newydd House Chef – every group and every day brings a different feel to the house. Typical ly, guests help themselves to a continental breakfast before the chef arrives and clean up after themselves. Guests currently each take part in ‘kitchen crew’ duties for one day during their stay, to help clean up after meals.

The morning is when structured writing sessions take place, and guests usually have a break mid-morning for some coffee and homemade sweet treats (essential for the writing process) before lunch at 1pm. This is usually served buffet-style with a mix of simple hot and cold dishes like salads and soup.

Usually, the afternoons are more relaxed with free time for guests to write or take part in 1-2-1 tutorials whilst the House Chef is busy baking and ordering for the next week. The writers will often pop into the kitchen to fuel their creative spirits with a chat and a Welsh cake. The two-course evening meal is served family style at 6.30 pm and our guests love the treat of being cooked for so they can concentrate on their writing for the week.

When courses aren’t running, there’s menu planning and maintenance to be done, as well as important opportunity for some R&R.

Our current chef, leaving after 10 years in the role, said this;

What is the application process?

We will assess the applications and invite successful candidates to an interview on Thursday 15 October. There will be three people on the interview panel representing the Llenyddiaeth Cymru | Literature Wales team. During the interview we’ll give you a tour of the house, ask some questions and give you a short practical task to complete.

If the interview process causes you any concern, please let us know in advance and we can arrange an informal meeting or chat over telephone or video call with one of our team members before the interview.

Please feel free to contact us to discuss the role in advance, or to ask for more information. To speak with us directly or to arrange a call back, please e‑mail post @literaturewales.org . We will contact all the candidates with the outcome of the interviews by Monday 19 October.

Llenyddiaeth Cymru | Literature Wales is a registered charity that works with the support of the Arts Council of Wales and the Welsh Government.