Sous Chef

Our Sous Chefs play a crucial role in supporting the Head Chef across all facets of the kitchen and business operations. As a Sous Chef, you must remain composed while leading your team in our bustling, high-performance kitchen. Ensuring the smooth and efficient running of the Botanical Rooms kitchen is essential. You'll need to be confident, self-motivated, and passionate about food and hospitality, leading by example.

Your primary focus will be on crafting dishes using produce grown, reared, and foraged on the estate. You'll oversee a team of 15 chefs and kitchen porters, fostering a strong working relationship with our Restaurant Manager to ensure seamless collaboration between departments, which is vital to our business.

What we can offer

• A positive workplace environment with opportunities to develop both personally and professionally.
• Stay in shape with our complimentary use of our gym and wellbeing classes
• Look after your wellbeing with complimentary access to our Spa and swimming pools and our exclusive benefit of 50% of Spa Treatments.
• Enjoy shopping in both our shops on estate and online with 30% discount for all our colleagues and free delivery for any online purchases.
• Discover exclusive perks with our Discounted hotel stays for staff, accompanied by a fantastic 30% discount at our restaurants.
• The opportunity to ensure your views are heard and shape the future of the business via our Employee Engine Room.
• Complimentary garden membership for the Newt and our partner gardens including the Eden Project, Kew Gardens and The Lost Gardens of Heligan
• Complimentary meal whilst on shift, created using fresh produce from our estate by our dedicated staff food chefs
• We value your hard work and recognise your achievements through our colleague recognition programme "Newt Awards" with the opportunity to achieve a variety of amazing rewards including a complimentary Hotel Stay.
• Support from our Employee Assistance Programme for both yourself and your family
• A team that knows how to have fun with regular team engagement activities including monthly Gather and Grow Motivational Speakers and our regular fun squad events, which include activities such as Go-Karting and Wine Tasting, to name but a few.
• Up to 30 days annual leave each year for our full-time team

Offered on a 3-month basis, to allow our team to settle into the area, our staff accommodation is located a brief drive from our main site and features individual bedrooms built in 2020 with modern en-suite facilities. The shared dining and living areas offer panoramic views of the Somerset countryside. Amenities include a BBQ pit and bike rack.

Key Responsibilities:

• Support the head chef to Ensure the Kitchen runs in the most productive and efficient way through management of costs, staffing controls, sales analysis and forecasting.
• Ensure food is delivered to the highest standard. Monitoring and managing guest experiences and make improvements and assist the head chef where necessary.
• Together with the head chef - responsible for staff recruitment, training, development, and retention. Team productivity, performance and presentation are key. (motivation)
• Ensure our high company standards are met from cooking to cleaning
• Maintain company representation, ensuring you and your team always look impeccable.

Skills and Experience

• Previous experience in a luxury restaurant or hotel at Sous chef level for two years is required
• Confident yet approachable with outstanding leadership skills
• Great time management, self-motivating and driven
• Great business acumen
• Outstanding attention to detail
• Microsoft Office and good tech skills
• Willingness to develop, grown and keep up with the demands of our developing business
• Passion for food, beverage and luxury hospitality
• Knowledge and experience in food preservation
• Speciality in Asian preservation techniques
• Creativity to research and development food products utilising the estates offerings
• Assisting with growing plans for upcoming seasons
• Great knowledge and understanding in foraged products

Where you'll be working - The Botanical Rooms

A contemporary take on British fine-dining, we offer a true farm to fork experience in a beautifully designed, atmospheric 60 cover restaurant. All food is prepared in our kitchen with ingredients fresh from our gardens or locally sourced, ensuring quality and seasonality. Our talented chefs ensure each ingredient is elevated to its highest potential - creating an unforgettable experience. Open for breakfast through to dinner, we offer cream tea in the library and early evening cocktails on the terrace.

Who are we? - The Newt in Somerset

Nestled within an expanse of rolling fields and steeped in ancient history, our luxury country estate stands as a haven of refined elegance, inviting guests to explore acres of captivating gardens, meandering pathways, and enriching exhibitions - accessible 364 days a year for our members. Our hotel extends a warm welcome, offering a home-away-from-home experience where impeccable service flourishes in an ambiance of unassuming sophistication. Beyond the estate, the Newt's essence remains tangible, with our Ecommerce teams delivering our finest products to homes, while media and membership endeavours keep them informed of our latest developments. Behind the scenes, a tapestry of talented teams - from Housekeeping to HR, Finance to Farming - collaborates harmoniously, crafting an unforgettable journey of growth, development, and innovation, where every contribution creates unparalleled experiences.