At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead and develop a passionate kitchen team while ensuring top-notch food quality and safety.
- Company: Join the vibrant Manzano Lounge, where teamwork and creativity thrive.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, bonuses, free meals, and 50% discount on food and drinks.
- Other info: Enjoy genuine career development opportunities and fun staff events like Loungefest!
- Why this job: Make a real impact in a dynamic kitchen and grow your culinary career.
- Qualifications: Experience as Head Chef or similar, with strong leadership and kitchen management skills.
The predicted salary is between 35000 - 45000 £ per year.
Recruit, develop and coach your kitchen team at all levels — from KP and Chefs to Sous Chefs — with honest feedback and clear development plans so people can grow with you.
Know our menu specs and kitchen processes inside out, spotting issues and opportunities before they happen and ensuring every dish leaves the pass as it should.
Own a site‑level action plan with your General Manager covering food wait times, NSF standards, ordering, stock counts and cleaning.
Deliver on your kitchen KPIs — food quality, wait times, wastage, food safety and GP — and report on performance behind every shift.
Schedule fair rotas in line with the sales and bookings forecast, making sure every shift has the right skill and capability to run smoothly.
Work closely with the front‑of‑house team to build a genuine one‑team culture, with shared understanding and cross‑training in place.
- What You’ll Bring
- A natural people leader who builds loyal, motivated kitchen teams by understanding what makes people tick.
- A cook who loves working with fresh, high‑quality ingredients and knows our menu specs inside out, spotting issues before they happen and never settling for second best.
- A kitchen leader who leads from the line or the pass, coaching in the moment and obsessing over the details that make a difference.
- Commercially minded, confident with GP, labour, stock, wastage and food safety KPIs, using them to make smart decisions without losing sight of the food.
- Experienced and adaptable, with a background as Head Chef, Kitchen Manager or Sous Chef, comfortable recruiting, training and developing kitchen teams, and happy running a busy service or reviewing performance with your Operations Chef.
- Location & Responsibilities
As Head Chef you will lead your own kitchen at Manzano Lounge.
You will take full ownership of the kitchen, leading every shift from open to close, ensuring the right people are in the right place and food standards never slip.
Benefits
- Competitive base salary + bonus + overtime
- Permanentfull‑time role with48‑hour contract (40‑hour contract option available)
- Overtime pay for every hour worked
- Achievable bonus scheme, paid twice a year
- Tips shared equally across the team, based on hours worked
- Free meal on every shift, no matter its length
- Christmas and Boxing Day off
- Genuine career development with our in‑house training courses and ‘Future Ops’ development programmes
- 50% discount on food and drinks from day one (including alcohol across all our brands)
- Staff party (Loungefest!)
- Long‑service awards – vouchers or extra money
- Early access to pay with Stream, and emotional and practical support via the Licensed Trade Charity
- #J-18808-Ljbffr
Head Chef - Rayleigh employer: Lounge Underwear Ltd.
Lounge Underwear Ltd. is an exceptional employer that values its kitchen team at Cappello Lounge in Newcastle upon Tyne, offering a vibrant work culture where creativity and quality cooking thrive. With flexible hours, competitive pay, and a host of employee benefits including paid breaks and training opportunities, this role not only promises financial rewards but also fosters personal and professional growth in a supportive environment.
