Sous Chef

Down The Rabbit Hole; McLaren Vale; On-site; AUD 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Down The Rabbit Hole Wines in McLaren Vale is seeking a Sous Chef to join our family-owned kitchen team. You’ll work alongside Head Chef Chris Bone, taking on leadership, helping develop the team, and ensuring every plate reflects our produce-led, soulful Italian-inspired approach.

You should be an experienced Sous Chef or a strong Senior Chef de Partie ready to take the next step, comfortable with high standards, and happy to work during our lunch service with one regular Friday night shift.

Qualifications

• Experience as Sous Chef or strong Senior Chef de Partie ready to take the next step.

Responsibilities

• Lead service alongside Head Chef Chris Bone and help develop the team.
• Maintain high kitchen standards, contribute to menus and ideas, manage prep, ordering, stock and food safety.
• Step up to lead the kitchen when needed and keep calm under pressure.
• You will cook and lead by example in a busy lunch-focused operation.

Job description

Down The Rabbit Hole Wines is a family-owned winery and cellar door in McLaren Vale, and home to Fiore, our Italian restaurant, and our relaxed Casual Dining offering. We're one of the Fleurieu's most talked-about restaurants and cellar doors, and we're building something special here.

We cook with love, care and passion, and we want people to feel all the energy that has gone into the final plate. Our food is Italian with soul: produce-led, generous and grounded in tradition. Beautifully simple rather than showy, rustic at its heart and refined enough to be memorable.

We're a family business and we care a lot about what we're building. We want someone who feels the same way about their craft.

The Role

We're looking for a Sous Chef who loves cooking.

Someone who thinks about food outside of work. Who gets excited by beautiful produce, loves creating something delicious and still gets a kick out of watching people enjoy something they've cooked.

You'll work alongside our Head Chef Chris Bone as their right hand in the kitchen. You'll help lead service, support and develop the team, keep standards high, contribute to menus and ideas, look after prep, ordering, stock and food safety, and step up to lead the kitchen when needed.

Most importantly, you'll cook.

We want someone who leads by example, stays calm when things get busy, holds high standards without the ego and wants to contribute. You'll have experience as a Sous Chef, or be a strong Senior Chef de Partie ready to take the next step.

A Pretty Good Chef Lifestyle

We're predominantly a lunch venue, with just one regular night service on Friday. Weekends are an important part of hospitality in McLaren Vale, so you'll need to be committed to working them. Our core team benefits from working 4 days a week throughout parts of the year too!

You’ll Love This Role If You

• love food and cooking
• take pride in everything that leaves your kitchen
• are organised, reliable and calm under pressure
• enjoy teaching and supporting other chefs
• care about ingredients, seasonality and reducing waste
• love Italian food and simple food done exceptionally well
• want to contribute ideas rather than simply follow a menu
• want to be part of a close team and a family-owned business for the long term

Two Important Things

Please only apply if you already live in, or reasonably close to, McLaren Vale. We're looking for someone local who wants to build something with us for the long term.