Head Chef

**Job role**: Head Chef

**Location**: Slough

**Salary**: £43,000

**Shift Pattern**: Monday-Friday, 7am-3:30pm

Houston & Hawkes are looking for a talented, enthusiastic and experienced Head Chef to lead our fantastic catering team, who produce outstanding food using the finest and freshest ingredients at our contract in Slough.

This is a great opportunity for a Head Chef to make a name for themselves within the contract catering industry. We’ll give you a place to grow and a career to be proud of.

**What You Really Want To Know**:

- The salary for this role is £43,000
- The basic hours for this role are 40 hours per week
- The working week is Monday to Friday
- Short journey from London, and from a large number of surrounding towns
- Monthly wages
- Free meals at work

**Head Chef Duties**:

- Overseeing the kitchen team, managing and working closely with other chefs of all levels to ensure all processes in the kitchen run smoothly
- Lead the team to use bestfood production techniques using the Houston & Hawkes systems and brand standards
- Setting up the kitchen, preparing the team for service, and ensuring all ingredients are fresh and in date
- Preparing ingredients, designing seasonal menu items, controlling and directing the food preparation process
- Approving and polishing dishes before they reach the customer
- Constantly innovating with pop ups and street food concepts
- Focusing on all customers including guests, staff and visitors & meeting dietary and allergen requirements whilst ensuring quality of food and service
- Accountable for stock flow and rotation of product within the unit
- Responsible for all aspects of food safety, Health & Safety and COSHH
- Ensuring that team members are available for their required shifts and that there are enough staff to cover busy periods

**Head Chef Requirements**:

- Proven experience in managing and leading a kitchen team
- A genuine passion for food
- Industry acumen and knowledge of external catering developments & innovations
- Honesty, transparency and consistency, someone who can gain and hold the respect of other
- Personal innovation and passion
- Demonstrative customer focus and service skills
- Experience of managing an overall budget
- Ownership and accountability of the role and that of their team
- Computer literate
- Ability to work efficiently and competently under pressure
- Excellent time management and organisational skills
- High level of self-motivation and not constrained by conventional time keeping
- 706/2 or NVQ chef qualifications, or equivalent
- Strong ability to increase individual effectiveness through leadership, motivation, communication, coaching and training

**Head Chef Additional Benefits**:

- Free meals at work
- Contributary pension scheme
- Free access to the company Employee Assistant Programme
- Life assurance at two times salary
- Company events including all company Christmas party
- Uniform provided
- 25 days holiday plus statutory bank holidays
- Recognition schemes and people awards
- Family friendly support

**Who we are**:
Houston & Hawkes - a young and dynamic independent caterer based in the South East. We believe in creating memorable experiences for our customers through our upbeat, creative and sustainable food offer. We operate coffee bars, staff restaurants and delisin conjunction with client’s hospitality and events requirements. We are socially responsible, mad about Great British produce, and dedicated to our talented teams. We offer dedicated training for all our team members with clear career plans to assist in yourfuture development.