Chef

National Trust; Metropolitan Borough of Solihull; On-site; GBP 24,000 - 32,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Substantial pension scheme

Free entry to National Trust places

Season ticket loan

EV car lease scheme

Perks at work discounts

Holiday allowance up to 32 days

Flexible working

Employee assistance programme

Free parking at most Trust places

Job summary

The National Trust is seeking a chef to join our team at Baddesley Clinton, Solihull. You will work in a busy kitchen, preparing dishes from scratch using seasonal ingredients, serving visitors.

You will follow recipes, maintain high hygiene standards, comply with COSHH, and participate in training on allergens and food safety. Indirect mentoring and development opportunities available.

Qualifications

• Experience as a professional chef or cook.
• Confident following recipes and batch-cooking.
• Good communication and teamwork.

Responsibilities

• Work in a busy kitchen, following the National Trust Cookbook to prepare dishes from scratch.
• Serve food to visitors and maintain high standards of food hygiene.
• Participate in training on allergens and food safety, and support mentoring within the team.

Skills

Professional chef

Batch cooking

Teamwork

Food hygiene

Communication

Job description

Summary

• INTERNAL APPLICANTS ONLY***

Are you looking to step up your career in food and beverage? The National Trust is renowned for its food and hospitality. We run 185 cafes, tea-rooms, and restaurants all over England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and we'd love you to join us.

We’re looking for a Chef to join us. Because we are in a rural area, please think about how you’d be able to get here for work, before applying for the job.

Benefits:

We want to help you look after the things that matter to you, such as saving for your future, getting a discount on your weekly shop, or encouraging you to find a work-life balance. Please read our package, below, to see what benefits we offer you.

What It's Like To Work Here

To find out more about what it’s like to work in a food and beverage team for the National Trust, watch our video.

What You'll Be Doing

Your main focus is the kitchen, a busy and creative hub. You’ll be working within the framework of our ‘National Trust Cookbook’ to prepare delicious food from scratch using fresh, seasonal ingredients. Your food will be served directly to visitors.

You’ll help to build a great place to work, which includes showing empathy and giving support to team members when needed. The aim is to foster a positive spirit where everyone is focussed on giving the best possible service to visitors.

By maintaining high standards of food hygiene and COSHH procedures, you’ll minimise risks to visitors, staff and contractors.

We’ll give you an induction that fits the job, and training in allergens and food safety, plus any mentoring needed to help you in your role. You can sign up for further professional training and development if you wish.

You can view the full role profile for this role in the document attached. You don't need to have all the knowledge, skills and experience listed in the role profile; this is just to provide a full picture of what's possible in this role.

Who We're Looking For

We’d love to hear from you if you’re:

• experienced as a professional chef or cook, with a passion for food and a friendly and positive attitude
• confident about following recipes and batch-cooking, and willing to learnaware of health and safety compliance
• happy working within a team, and good at communicating with people

The package

The National Trust has the motto ‘For everyone, for ever’ at its heart. We’re working hard to create an inclusive culture, where everyone feels they belong. It’s important that our people reflect and represent the diversity of the communities and audiences we serve. We welcome and value difference, so when we say we’re for everyone, we want everyone to be welcome in our teams too.

• Substantial pension scheme of up to 10% basic salary
• Free entry to National Trust places for you, a guest and your children (under 18)
• Rental deposit loan scheme
• Season ticket loan
• EV car lease scheme (for roles that meet the salary criteria)
• Perks at work discounts such as gym memberships, shopping discount codes, cinema discounts
• Holiday allowance up to 32 days relating to length of service, plus holiday purchase scheme, subject to meeting minimum criteria.
• Flexible working whenever possible
• Employee assistance programme
• Free parking at most Trust places

National Trust place

Baddesley Clinton, Rising Lane, Solihull, B93 0DQ

Documents

Chef - Career Level B.pdf

Requirements

Compliance.Eligibility to Work in the UK

Additional information

• Internal Applicants only*

Our colleagues work for the National Trust in many locations and sometimes don't have easy access to internal vacancy listings. Using the internet ensures we can reach as many of our colleagues as possible. We appreciate that this can be frustrating for external talent. Do note that some roles are released externally after an initial period of time.

Closing Date: 20th September 2026

Equal Opportunities Statement

The National Trust celebrates diversity and is committed to creating a fair and equal society, free from discrimination. You can read more about our commitment to inclusion and diversity here.

Safeguarding Statement

The National Trust is committed to a safe recruitment processes to help the organisation attract and appoint the right staff/volunteer for the role and responsibilities as set out in the vacancy advert. We will not accept applicants who are not suitable to work with children, young people or adults at risk. If you have any questions around your suitability for this vacancy, please contact the people service centre.