Head Pastry Chef

DEAL Holdings; Dubai; On-site; AED 480,000 - 720,000; Full time

Job summary

DEAL Holdings in Dubai seeks a Head Pastry Chef - Multi Site to lead pastry development and operations across several brands. You will shape dessert ranges, standardize recipes, and drive culinary excellence during pre-opening and ongoing operations.

You will recruit and train pastry teams, manage costs and GP, and collaborate with Operations, Brand, Procurement, PMO, and Training to ensure brand alignment and high quality across sites.

Qualifications

• Minimum 7–10 years of pastry experience in premium hospitality.
• Strong leadership across multiple outlets, brands, or properties.
• Proven capability in pastry development, recipe structuring, costing, and rollout.
• Experience in pre-opening environments and pastry team training.

Responsibilities

• Lead pastry development across multiple brands, ensuring commercial viability.
• Develop recipe packs, costing sheets, plating guides, prep guides, and pastry SOPs for sites.
• Oversee pre-opening mobilisation and site readiness for new openings.
• Monitor wastage, portion control, production efficiency, and GP alignment across sites.
• Lead pastry teams, hire, train, and ensure standards are embedded during launch.
• Collaborate with Operations, Brand, Procurement, PMO, and Training to ensure pastry launch readiness.
• Maintain HACCP, food safety, and kitchen cleanliness across all sites.

Skills

Pastry craftsmanship

Multi-site leadership

Menu development

Cost control

Training & development

Project planning

Education

Diploma in Pastry Arts

Job description

Role Purpose

The Head Pastry Chef - Multi Site is responsible for leading pastry development, pastry operations, and pastry team capability across multiple brands, venues, and future central production functions within the group. The role combines the creative and technical leadership of a senior pastry chef with the structured execution, commercial discipline, and cross-site operational control required in a fast-growing hospitality platform.

Job Summary

The Head Pastry Chef - Multi Site leads the development, execution, and continuous improvement of pastry and dessert offerings across multiple concepts. The role is responsible for creating commercially viable dessert ranges, standardizing recipes and pastry systems, supporting BOH and pastry section planning during fit-out, recruiting and training pastry teams, and ensuring strong pastry execution during pre-opening, launch, and ongoing operations. This role works closely with Culinary, Operations, Procurement, PMO, Brand, and training stakeholders to ensure pastry products are aligned with brand identity, site capability, food cost expectations, labor practicality, and group quality standards.

Key Responsibilities

Multi-Brand Pastry Development

• Lead pastry and dessert menu development across multiple brands, ensuring each offer reflects the positioning, guest experience, and commercial needs of the concept.
• Develop structured recipe packs, costing sheets, plating guides, prep guides, and pastry SOPs for operational use across sites.
• Identify and develop signature items, hero products, seasonal pastries, and scalable core recipes that strengthen brand identity while remaining operationally viable.
• Ensure cross-brand consistency in standards, documentation, and execution while respecting the individual DNA of each concept.

Brand Build-Up and Project Development Support

• Participate in early-stage concept development and support brand build-up from a pastry and dessert perspective.
• Review BOH layouts, pastry section workflows, and site plans to ensure practicality, safety, efficiency, and alignment with service needs.
• Advise on pastry equipment specification, procurement requirements, and pastry production planning in line with site capacity and concept needs.
• Attend fit-out reviews and site visits to support operational readiness and pastry section functionality before opening.

Pre-Opening and Mobilization

• Lead pastry execution for pre-opening phases across new sites, ensuring dessert and bakery ranges are launch-ready on time.
• Recruit, train, and support pastry teams for new openings, ensuring technical standards, presentation, and production discipline are embedded before launch.
• Deliver structured product training, demonstrations, recipe rollouts, and pastry service guidance during mobilization.
• Provide hands-on support during soft openings and early trading periods, adjusting products, prep systems, and team capability where needed.

Commercial and Cost Oversight

• Ensure all pastry items are accurately costed and aligned with target GP, pricing strategy, and ingredient availability.
• Monitor wastage, portion control, production efficiency, and product mix to improve margin performance across sites.
• Work with Procurement and suppliers to ensure appropriate sourcing, quality consistency, and cost-effective supply of pastry ingredients and materials.
• Design pastry ranges with a balance of creativity, operational practicality, labor efficiency, and commercial return.

Quality, Compliance, and Governance

• Maintain the highest standards of pastry quality, finish, taste, consistency, and presentation across all sites.
• Ensure compliance with food safety, hygiene, HACCP, and kitchen cleanliness standards across all pastry operations.
• Support audit readiness, kitchen compliance checks, and internal governance requirements relevant to pastry production and documentation.
• Maintain version control of recipes, development trackers, testing records, and product updates in a structured and disciplined way.

Team Leadership and Capability Building

• Lead, coach, and develop pastry teams across multiple sites, creating strong standards of discipline, consistency, and accountability.
• Support hiring decisions, team assessments, and pastry capability planning for current operations and future openings.
• Build training structures that allow pastry standards to be replicated across brands and maintained after handover into operations.
• Identify future talent and support succession capability within multi-site pastry operations and Central Production Unit structures.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with Operations, Brand, Procurement, PMO, Marketing, and training teams to ensure pastry products are launch-ready and commercially integrated.
• Support menu integration into POS systems, training manuals, launch materials, and internal product communication where required.
• Contribute to product presentations, photography support, and launch activity related to pastry and dessert offerings where relevant.
• Support seasonal menu development, product refreshes, and multi-brand pastry innovation across the group.

Working Environment and Expectations

This role operates within a startup growth environment with multiple live projects and openings running simultaneously. The Head Pastry Chef - Multi Site must be comfortable working across several brands, concepts, kitchens, and operational priorities at the same time. The role requires flexible working hours during build-up, pre-opening, and mobilization phases, including evening and weekend support where business needs require it. It is not a fixed-hours, single-location pastry role; it requires ownership, adaptability, and strong field presence during launch and stabilization periods.

Requirements

• Minimum 7-10 years of pastry experience within premium hospitality, luxury dining, lifestyle café, or high-quality restaurant environments.
• Strong leadership experience in a senior pastry role, ideally across multiple outlets, brands, or properties.
• Proven capability in pastry development, recipe structuring, costing, standardization, and operational rollout.
• Experience in pre-opening environments, menu mobilization, and pastry training for new sites.
• Commercially literate with strong awareness of GP, cost control, portion management, and labor productivity.
• Experience working alongside design, fit-out, procurement, or project teams during kitchen development is a strong advantage.
• UAE or GCC experience is preferred.
• Diploma or certification in Pastry Arts, Culinary Arts, Baking, or a related discipline is preferred.

Skills And Competencies

• Strong pastry craftsmanship combined with commercial discipline.
• Ability to lead multi-site pastry operations with consistency and structure.
• Strong planning, documentation, and organizational capability.
• Hands‑on approach with high accountability during launch and early trading periods.
• Confident cross‑functional collaborator able to work effectively with culinary, operational, and project stakeholders.
• Flexible, resilient, and comfortable building systems and teams from scratch in a growth‑stage environment.