Head Chef In Training in Birmingham

We are looking for a hardworking and talented Head Chef to lead our Kitchen team at Midlands Arts Centre (MAC). Located in the leafy Cannon Hill Park in Birmingham, MAC offers a range of catering and hospitality across the business, including our restaurant, bar and event catering. Our Head Chef role offers a great work-life balance with a 37.5 hour week spread across 5 days and with 33 days of holiday per year.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the day-to-day planning and delivery of an excellent catering and hospitality offer across all areas of the business.
• Coach and train the team to deliver consistently excellent standards of service whilst remaining compliant with all legal requirements.
• Deputise for the Head of Catering Operations when required.
• Lead daily kitchen operations from the pass, ensuring consistent delivery of food to a high standard whilst maintaining excellent cleanliness and organisation across the kitchen and all back-of-house areas.
• Develop fully costed menus aligned with MAC's vision, values, and food strategy.
• Oversee timely and efficient ordering and management of all required stock, including non-kitchen items, ensuring full menu availability while minimising wastage.
• Manage staff scheduling to ensure the kitchen is always adequately staffed and costs remain in line with budget.
• Support the training and development of the back-of-house team by implementing structured onboarding processes, effective training materials and ongoing development opportunities.
• Manage back-of-house HR, covering recruitment, timesheets, leave, appraisals and performance, ensuring fair, consistent and policy-compliant processes.

Financial & Administration:

• Manage catering budgets and performance to meet financial targets, using management accounts and systems to monitor results, address variances and optimise margins.
• Analyse sales and negotiate supplier pricing to ensure a profitable food offer.
• Maintain and manage all operational kitchen systems e.g. Navitas Food Safety, Opus Compliance Cloud.
• Implement and manage all responsibilities outlined in MAC's Food Safety Management System, ensuring full compliance in the kitchen and back-of-house areas enabling MAC to maintain a 5* EHO food rating.
• Manage responsibility for Health & Safety in the kitchen and back-of-house areas, ensuring training and records are up to date, risk assessments and daily checklists are maintained and all maintenance issues, accidents and near misses are promptly logged and followed up.

Requirements:

• Proven experience managing a complex and high-volume kitchen operation over several years.
• Experience managing budgets and profit & loss (P&L), with the ability to monitor financial performance and implement cost controls.
• Strong leadership and people management skills, including team development, performance management and staff scheduling.
• Experience in stocktaking and inventory control.
• Well-informed on current food trends and innovations.
• Strong knowledge of food safety principles.
• Proficient verbal and written English.
• Strong leadership and training capabilities.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced kitchen environment.
• Excellent organisation and planning skills.
• Genuine passion for high-quality food and exceptional service.
• Excellent personal hygiene standards.
• Dedicated to promoting equality, diversity, and inclusion across the team and food offering.
• Availability to work flexibly to the needs of the business including evening and weekend work.
• Level 3 Managing Food Safety.
• Level 3 Managing H&S and/or IOSSH.
• Professional Cookery qualifications such as City & Guilds diplomas, BTEC, HND or a Foundation degree in Culinary Arts.
• Experience managing kitchens across a variety of settings, including cafés, coffee shops, bars and commercial event catering.
• Experienced in implementing and managing a Food Safety Management System (FSMS).
• Experience with fresh pizza preparation.
• IT literate, with experience using sales data to evaluate and improve financial performance.
• A creative mindset with an interest in a variety of art forms.