Kitchen Manager/Head Chef at The Station Grocer

The Station Grocer; Stokers Siding; On-site; AUD 62,000 - 76,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Employee discount

Job summary

The Station Grocer is a family-owned Northern Rivers food and convenience business seeking an experienced Kitchen Manager/Head Chef to take ownership of daily kitchen operations. This on-site role runs 4:30am–12:30pm, five days per week, in a fast-moving retail setting. You’ll lead production, ensure quality and safety, and guide a hands-on team.

Pay is $45.00 – $55.00 per hour with 40 hours per week, with a pathway to a permanent salaried position based on performance and experience.

Qualifications

• Commercial kitchen experience with ownership mindset.
• Ability to lead and train kitchen staff.
• Strong focus on food safety, ordering and inventory management.

Responsibilities

• Lead the kitchen and coordinate daily production.
• Oversee fresh hot and cold food range.
• Ensure consistent high-quality food and presentation.
• Manage food safety, hygiene and compliance.
• Order stock and manage inventory.
• Monitor waste and stock levels.
• Plan production around sales and demand.
• Train and support kitchen team members.
• Keep the kitchen organised and efficient.
• Identify opportunities to improve the kitchen operation.

Skills

Commercial kitchen experience

Team leadership

Food safety

Production planning

Stock control

Education

Food Safety Certificate

Job description

This Full time on site position offers great opportunities for career growth.

Kitchen Manager / Head Chef 5 days per week | 4:30am–12:30pm | Casual to start | $45 weekday / $55 weekend Opportunity to move to a permanent salaried position | Salary based on experience

This isn't your typical kitchen. We're a family-owned Northern Rivers food and convenience business, with a growing fresh food offer that is an important part of what we do. Our kitchen produces a fresh hot and cold food range every day, with a set menu designed around quality, consistency, speed and volume. This is a food retail operation rather than a traditional restaurant kitchen — there is no made-to-order service. We're looking for an experienced Kitchen Manager / Head Chef to take ownership of the day-to-day kitchen operation, lead the team and ensure our food offer is consistently produced to a high standard.

What you'll be responsible for

• Leading the kitchen and coordinating the daily production
• Preparing and overseeing our fresh hot and cold food range
• Ensuring food is consistently produced to a high standard
• Managing food safety, hygiene and compliance
• Ordering stock and managing inventory
• Monitoring food usage, waste and stock levels
• Ensuring recipes, portion sizes and presentation are consistent
• Planning daily production around expected sales and demand
• Training, supporting and guiding kitchen team members
• Keeping the kitchen organised, clean and running efficiently
• Identifying opportunities to improve the food offer and kitchen operation
• Working hands-on with the team — this is a role for someone who likes to be on the floor, not sitting in an office

What we're looking for

We're interested in chefs who have real commercial kitchen experience and are ready to take ownership. You might currently be a:

• Head Chef
• Sous Chef
• Kitchen Manager
• Chef with experience running a small kitchen or food operation
• Experienced chef who enjoys the operational side of food production

You will need to be confident with food safety, ordering, stock control, production planning and leading a team.

What matters is that you're organised, efficient, understand food quality and safety, and can take responsibility for making sure the kitchen gets the job done properly every day.

The food is prepared fresh for our customers to grab and go throughout the day. It's a fast-moving retail environment, so consistency, efficiency and production planning are just as important as cooking ability.

About The Station Grocer

We're a family-owned Northern Rivers business with multiple stores across the region. Our stores combine fuel, convenience, fresh food, coffee and grab-and-go — and our food offer is an important part of the customer experience. If you're a chef who enjoys leading people, producing good food, keeping things organised and having genuine ownership of a kitchen, we'd love to hear from you.

Pay

Pay: $45.00 – $55.00 per hour

Expected hours

Expected hours: 40.0 per week

Benefits

• Employee discount

Application Question(s)

This role starts at 4:30am and works 5 days per week across Monday–Sunday.

Are you able to consistently work these hours and days?

Why does this role appeal to you?

Requirements

• Experience: commercial kitchen: 1 year (Preferred)
• ordering stock, managing inventory: 1 year (Preferred)
• Licence/Certification: Food Safety Certificate (Preferred)
• Work Authorisation: Australia (Preferred)
• Location: Northern Rivers NSW (Preferred)
• Work Location: In person