Cafe Head Chef

Next door espresso; Gold Coast City; On-site; AUD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

KPI bonus structure

Job summary

Next Door Espresso on the Gold Coast is seeking a seasoned Head Chef to lead our busy breakfast kitchen. You will drive a tight, high-output operation and own the kitchen, ensuring consistency and efficiency.

You’ll manage prep, production, ordering, costs, rostering and people development. If you thrive in a fast-paced café with room to grow, we'd love to hear from you.

Qualifications

• Experience leading a busy kitchen during peak breakfast periods.
• Ability to manage prep, production, ordering and rostering.
• Strong leadership, team-building and consistency focus.

Responsibilities

• Lead from the pans to run a tight, efficient kitchen.
• Oversee prep, production, ordering and food costs.
• Build and guide a motivated team with clear standards.
• Identify bottlenecks and improve systems while preserving what works.
• Develop new menu offerings when appropriate.

Skills

High-volume breakfast service

Leadership

Food costs

Roster planning

Team building

Calm under pressure

Process improvement

Menu development

Job description

WE'RE LOOKING FOR A VERY PARTICULAR KIND OF CHEF

Tweed Heads / Gold Coast
Head Chef / Kitchen Leader | Full-Time | Salary + KPI Bonus Structure

Not a chef who wants to reinvent the wheel. A chef who knows how to make the wheel turn faster, smoother and more consistently.

We're Next Door, a busy, established neighbourhood café with a strong following, a proven menu and a serious amount of breakfast trade.

We're looking for an experienced chef who genuinely thrives in high-volume breakfast service and understands the difference between running a kitchen and just cooking in one.

Here's who we're hoping to find:

You've worked in genuinely busy breakfast kitchens. High-volume service doesn't overwhelm you, it's where you're at your best.

You're a strong, hands-on chef who can lead from the pans, not just from behind a computer.

You understand prep, production, ordering, food costs, rostering and how to build an efficient kitchen.

You know how to lead people, set standards and build a team that enjoys coming to work.

You're organised, calm under pressure and obsessed with consistency.

You can identify what's slowing a kitchen down and improve the systems without unnecessarily changing what's already working.

You've got the experience and creativity to help us develop new offerings when the time is right.

Here's what makes this opportunity different.

We've already built a successful business. We're not looking for someone to come in and change everything.

We want someone who can take ownership of our kitchen, strengthen the foundations, develop our people and help us build on what we've created.

There's real opportunity to grow with us as we expand our food/lunch offering and the business.

We're ambitious and genuinely invested in building a great workplace. We value chefs who are talented, practical, humble and take pride in what they do.

If you're an experienced chef who loves the buzz of a busy breakfast service, knows how to run a tight kitchen and wants to be part of something with a future, we'd love to hear from you.