At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead a dynamic kitchen team, creating exceptional dishes with fresh, seasonal ingredients.
- Company: Join a prestigious 2 AA Rosette restaurant known for its farm-to-fork philosophy.
- Benefits: Enjoy generous discounts, staff meals, accommodation, and career progression opportunities.
- Why this job: Make a real impact in a culinary destination while mentoring and inspiring your team.
- Qualifications: Proven experience in culinary excellence, leadership, and financial management.
- Other info: Be part of a family-run business with a commitment to quality and sustainability.
The predicted salary is between 36000 - 60000 £ per year.
Overview
Who are you? You are the leader and face of your kitchen from the day to day running to creating special memories for our guests. It’s all about leading and inspiring your team every day, running a tight ship and keeping everyone safe whilst delivering our fresh, seasonal menus. Our kitchens are busy places so a level head, great organisation, delivered every time, with a smile, is the key to success.
About Us
The Farmhouse at Redcoats restaurant: We are a culinary destination. We pride ourselves on a genuine, fresh food-led philosophy, rooted deeply in the farm-to-fork ethos. Our commitment to quality is underscored by our prestigious 2 AA Rosette accreditation. What truly sets us apart is our produce: we utilize ingredients harvested directly from our own kitchen garden and work closely with local suppliers to ensure traceability, provenance, and unparalleled freshness. We are looking for a Head Chef who shares this passion for exceptional ingredients and sustainable practices, leading our team to deliver dishes with precision, efficiency, and flair.
The Role: A Leader in the Kitchen
We are seeking an experienced Head Chef who can seamlessly blend culinary expertise with strong leadership and financial acumen. This role demands a professional who is passionate about quality control, mentoring a team, and maintaining impeccable standards in a busy, high-pressure environment. You will champion our site menu concept, utilizing your extensive culinary techniques to create dishes that delight our guests and exceed their expectations daily.
Responsibilities & Skills
We are looking for a leader who demonstrates expertise across the following areas:
- Culinary Excellence & Quality Control
- Mastery of Ingredients: You know how to recognize quality ingredients, maintain their condition, and use them to ensure every dish is delivered to a high standard consistently.
- Menu Development: Ability to create recipes, understand all dish specifications, and utilize knowledge of the local competitor market to enhance our offering.
- Farm-to-Fork Champion: A genuine commitment to minimizing wastage and actively using sustainable working practices, leveraging our kitchen garden produce effectively.
- Rosette Standards: Ability to ensure all food produced is of high quality, to specification, and worthy of our 2 AA Rosette status.
- Inclusion & Empathy: You will foster a positive environment, communicate efficiently, practice empathy and equality, and lead the team by example.
- Mentorship: Taking pride in coaching and mentoring junior members of the team, identifying and implementing skills development needs.
- Calm Under Pressure: Remaining calm under pressure and resolving team collaboration issues with an active and positive approach.
- Guest Focus: Demonstrating leadership in delivering exceptional standards for our guests, with an aptitude for anticipating and meeting guest expectations.
- Financial Acumen: Confidence in managing costs, conducting stock counts, running stock reports, and working to meet food GP budgets.
- Food Safety: Taking full responsibility for protecting everyone's health and safety, performing risk assessments, following all daily and weekly kitchen Food Safety checklists, and adhering to all EHO guidelines.
- Supply Chain Management: Experience in sending accurate purchase orders, managing delivery procedures, knowing order cut-off times, and understanding the importance of supplier traceability.
Are You the Right Fit?
We want a Head Chef who seeks out feedback, uses it to improve performance, and shows commitment to our mission, values, and behaviours. You will play an active role in ensuring a positive and professional image of the restaurant is upheld at all times.
What’s in it for you?
- Generous discount across all ACI sites on both food and drink
- Regular trips out to suppliers locally and internationally
- Great share of tips and tronc
- Bonus Scheme
- Staff Accommodation available
- Staff meals on shift
- Rising Stars program for career progression within the company
- Free gym membership
- Cycle to work scheme
- ‘Live your life’, charity day off each year
- Wine at cost
Anglian Country Inns is a family run business that first opened its doors over twenty seven years ago and now we have nine award winning establishments across East Anglia, a coffee shop and brewery to boot!
If you think you have the relevant experience and want to join our friendly family please don’t delay and apply today.
Head Chef 2* AA Rosette Restaurant employer: The White Horse
Contact Detail:
The White Horse Recruiting Team
StudySmarter Expert Advice 🤫
We think this is how you could land Head Chef 2* AA Rosette Restaurant
✨Tip Number 1
Get to know the restaurant's ethos! Before your interview, dive into their farm-to-fork philosophy and seasonal menus. This shows you’re genuinely interested and ready to lead with their values in mind.
✨Tip Number 2
Show off your leadership skills! Prepare examples of how you've mentored teams or handled high-pressure situations. We want to see that you can keep a cool head while inspiring your crew to deliver top-notch dishes.
✨Tip Number 3
Bring your culinary creativity! Think about unique dish ideas or menu concepts you could introduce. This is your chance to impress us with your vision and passion for quality ingredients.
✨Tip Number 4
Don’t forget to apply through our website! It’s the best way to ensure your application gets noticed. Plus, we love seeing candidates who take the initiative to connect directly with us.
We think you need these skills to ace Head Chef 2* AA Rosette Restaurant
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show Your Passion for Fresh Ingredients: When writing your application, let us know how much you love working with fresh, seasonal produce. Share any experiences you've had with farm-to-fork practices or using local suppliers, as this aligns perfectly with our ethos.
Highlight Your Leadership Skills: We want to see how you lead a kitchen team! Talk about your mentoring style and how you foster a positive environment. Give examples of how you've handled pressure and kept your team motivated during busy shifts.
Demonstrate Your Culinary Expertise: Make sure to showcase your culinary skills in your application. Discuss your experience with menu development and quality control, and don’t forget to mention any creative dishes you've crafted that could impress our guests.
Apply Through Our Website: We encourage you to apply directly through our website. It’s the best way for us to receive your application and ensures you’re considered for this exciting opportunity at The Farmhouse at Redcoats!
How to prepare for a job interview at The White Horse
✨Know Your Ingredients
Before the interview, brush up on your knowledge of seasonal ingredients and local suppliers. Be ready to discuss how you would incorporate these into the menu while maintaining the farm-to-fork ethos that the restaurant prides itself on.
✨Showcase Your Leadership Style
Prepare examples of how you've successfully led a kitchen team in the past. Highlight your approach to mentorship and how you foster a positive environment, especially under pressure. This will demonstrate your fit for the leadership role they’re looking to fill.
✨Demonstrate Financial Savvy
Be prepared to talk about your experience with managing costs and food GP budgets. Bring specific examples of how you've successfully conducted stock counts or improved financial performance in previous roles to show you can handle the operational side of the job.
✨Emphasise Quality Control
Discuss your commitment to maintaining high standards in food quality and safety. Share your strategies for ensuring every dish meets the 2 AA Rosette standards, as this is crucial for the role. Showing your passion for culinary excellence will resonate well with them.