Head Production Chef - Major Events & Scale Kitchen Lead

Food & Desire; Melbourne; On-site; AUD 100,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Food & Desire in South Melbourne seeks a Head Production Chef to lead a high-volume kitchen serving major events and bespoke catering. You will own production, drive menu development with the Executive Chef, and mentor a capable team of chefs, ensuring quality, consistency and cost control at scale.

You will manage rostering, production planning and systems, upholding food safety and high standards while coordinating with events and sales teams for successful functions.

Qualifications

• Proven experience as a Head Chef or senior role ready to step up.
• Strong hands-on cooking and deep culinary knowledge.
• Experience in events, catering, production kitchens or similar environments.
• A genuine passion for contemporary food, produce and where dining is heading.
• A leader people want to work for - calm under pressure, clear, fair and invested in developing others.
• Commercial sense: you understand food cost, margins, labour, yield and portion control, and you can balance quality with the realities of large-scale production.
• Highly organised, with strong planning and systems thinking.
• Flexibility to lead around events and major event periods.
• Full working rights in Australia.

Responsibilities

• Running the South Melbourne production kitchen day to day, reporting to the Executive Chef, and owning its output, standards and culture.
• Working with the Executive Chef on menu development, tastings and new dishes across events, catering, venues and major events.
• Leading, training and mentoring a team of chefs, sous chefs and apprentices.
• Setting and holding clear standards for cooking, presentation, organisation and kitchen discipline.
• Planning production, rostering and workflow so the kitchen delivers consistently at volume, including leading kitchen delivery for major events.
• Owning recipe standardisation and production systems so quality holds from prep to dispatch.
• Managing food cost, margins, yield, ordering, supplier relationships and wastage.
• Working closely with the events, sales and operations teams to deliver every function successfully.
• Making sure food safety, hygiene and compliance are run to a high standard.

Skills

Head Chef experience

Culinary expertise

Events catering

People leadership

Food cost control

Job description

Food & Desire in South Melbourne seeks a Head Production Chef to lead a high-volume kitchen serving major events and bespoke catering. You will own production, drive menu development with the Executive Chef, and mentor a capable team of chefs, ensuring quality, consistency and cost control at scale.

You will manage rostering, production planning and systems, upholding food safety and high standards while coordinating with events and sales teams for successful functions.