Chef - Part Time - Monday to Friday (8:30am-1:30pm) - 25 hours per week in Sunderland

At tombola, great food plays an important part in creating a positive and welcoming workplace. As a Chef, you’ll be part of our Culinary Team, preparing fresh, high-quality meals that bring colleagues together throughout the day. From breakfast through to lunch service, this role helps ensure the café provides a consistent, enjoyable experience for everyone who visits.

Working as part of a small and supportive kitchen team, the role contributes to menu development, maintains high food and hygiene standards, and helps deliver a smooth and efficient food service.

What you’ll be doing

• Preparing and delivering fresh food: High-quality dishes are prepared and delivered across breakfast and lunch service, ensuring food is ready on time and presented to a consistently high standard.
• Maintaining kitchen standards: Food preparation, kitchen cleanliness and health and safety practices are maintained to ensure a safe, organised and efficient working environment.
• Supporting menu development: Ideas and input are shared when developing new menus, helping introduce variety while ensuring dishes can be delivered in a timely and cost-effective way.
• Working collaboratively in the kitchen: Close collaboration with colleagues across the kitchen team ensures service runs smoothly, even during busy periods.
• Managing food safety and compliance: Records are maintained for food storage and refrigeration temperatures (HACCP), and current food hygiene regulations are followed at all times.
• Supporting kitchen operations: Flexibility is key in a small team environment, with support provided across different kitchen responsibilities when needed, including covering for colleagues when required.
• Working with suppliers: In the absence of the Head Chef, communication with suppliers helps ensure ingredients are delivered to the expected quality and within agreed budgets.

What we’re looking for

• A genuine passion for cooking and preparing fresh food.
• Experience working across multiple kitchen stations within a food service environment.
• Strong food preparation skills, including knowledge of cooking techniques, ingredients and kitchen equipment.
• Ability to manage time effectively and deliver food to service schedules.
• Confidence working in a fast-paced kitchen environment while maintaining high standards.
• Good communication and interpersonal skills when working with colleagues, suppliers and café guests.
• Awareness of budget considerations when preparing meals and ordering ingredients.
• Understanding of health, safety and food hygiene standards.
• An organised and adaptable approach to changing workloads.

Experience that would be helpful

• Previous experience working as a Chef within a fresh food operation.
• Experience working in a small, collaborative kitchen team.
• Knowledge of dietary requirements and allergen management.
• Up-to-date knowledge of food hygiene regulations.
• Awareness of wider food industry trends and traditions.

The impact you’ll have

The café plays an important role in daily life at tombola. It’s a place where colleagues come together, take a break from their day, and connect with people from across the business. The Culinary Team helps support a healthy, balanced workplace — providing meals that keep people energised and engaged throughout the day, alongside the occasional treat. The café is also a highlight for visitors, often becoming something people look forward to when returning to tombola.