Chef

John Lewis Partnership; Milton Keynes; Hybrid; GBP 28,000 - 39,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Chef whites provided

Free meals on duty

Free onsite parking

Job summary

John Lewis Partnership is seeking a Chef at the Magna Park Distribution Centre to lead a kitchen brigade across three campuses, ensuring efficient daily operations and consistently high-quality dining for customers and Partners.

You will develop creative, cost-conscious menus for large-scale service, supervise a shift-based schedule, and ensure strict health and safety compliance while delivering excellent culinary experiences.

Qualifications

• Advanced high-volume culinary skills with ability to produce diverse dishes.
• Ability to create diverse, cost-effective menus and adapt to trends.
• Experience in PDRs, canteens or hospitality environments.
• Solid knowledge of food safety and hygiene practices (Level 2+)

Responsibilities

• Lead and inspire kitchen team to deliver high-quality dining.
• Develop and execute diverse food offers while controlling costs.
• Standardise recipes for consistency and portion control.
• Cater to common dietary requirements (vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free).
• Uphold health and safety standards across all kitchens.

Skills

High-volume cooking

Menu development

Dietary accommodation

Catering experience

Education

Intermediate Food Hygiene Level 2

City & Guilds 7061/7062 or equivalent

Job description

About the role

As a Chef, you'll be working as part of our friendly kitchen brigade to ensure the efficient day-to-day running of our kitchens and assist in providing a consistently high quality dining experience for either our customers or Partners, depending on where you are based. You'll lead and inspire the kitchen team to create exceptional culinary experiences that leave a lasting impression, using your creativity and flair to develop and execute a food offer while also ensuring that it meets the highest standards of quality, innovation, cost control, health and safety.

Salary: £28,400 - £38,600 per annum (dependent on experience). Shift Premium will be included from 6pm.

Contract Type: This role is a permanent contract.

Location: This role is based at Magna Park Distribution Centre and the role covers 3 different kitchens across the campus.

Working pattern: This role will be on a shift basis of either 7am - 3pm (early) or 11:30am - 7:30pm (lates), 37.5 hours a week. You will be required to work 2 weekends in 4.

Key responsibilities

We are looking for a Chef with:-

Advanced High-Volume Culinary Skills: Proven ability in producing a wide range of dishes to a high standard for large numbers. This includes proficiency in various cooking methods and cuisines suitable for diverse palates.

Menu Development & Innovation: Creating diverse, appealing, and cost-effective menus. Ability to be creative and adapt to current food trends.

Recipe Standardisation & Consistency: Developing and implementing standardized recipes to ensure consistent quality, taste, and portion control across large batches.

Special Dietary Accommodation (General): Ability to cater to common dietary requirements such as vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and common allergies. While perhaps not as in-depth as clinical therapeutic diets, a solid understanding is crucial.

Benefits for working with the Partnership

• Chefs whites are provided by the Partnership and laundered by an external supplier
• Free meals whist on duty
• Free onsite Parking

Essential skills/experience you’ll need

• Intermediate Food Hygiene Certificate. - Level 2
• Recognised Food Production Certificate. City & Guilds 706 1 & 2 or equivalent
• Operational experience in PDRs, canteens or hospitality
• Experience of working within a catering environment.

Desirable skills/experience you may have

• Experience of working within a customer service based environment.
• Working towards Advanced Food Hygiene Certificate - Level 3

Hours fall between 7-19:00 with a mix of early and lates and 2 weekend in 4

The partnership

We’re the largest employee owned business in the UK and home of our cherished brands, John Lewis and Waitrose. We’re not just employees, we’re Partners, driven by our purpose to build a happier world. As we look to our future, there’s never been a more exciting time to join us.

We’re ruthlessly focused on being brilliant at retail. We continue to innovate, adapt and diversify. Never Knowingly Undersold on price, quality and service in John Lewis and passionately serving food-lovers in Waitrose.

As Partners we all share the responsibility of ownership and in its rewards. We use our voices to contribute to our success, working together through the good and challenging times, holding true to our behaviours and treating everyone with kindness and respect.

We all own making the Partnership somewhere we belong. Embracing our differences and creating an environment where we’re free to be ourselves and can THRIVE. Growing ourselves individually, and as a collective.

As Partners, we make all the difference. And, we all own it.

Important points to note:

It’s important to note that some of our roles are subject to pre‑employment vetting (which may include DBS checks for successful candidates). If required, you’ll be informed and provided with information about vetting during the recruitment process and we encourage you to complete any vetting documents quickly to avoid delays. Any DBS checks required will be carried out by a third‑party registered body and financial probity checks may also be required for some of our roles.

We occasionally close vacancies early in the event we receive a high volume of applications, and therefore, we recommend you apply early. If you require a reasonable adjustment due to a disability which means you may need longer to complete your application please contact us as soon as possible.

We want all of our Partners to have a good work‑life balance and we support flexible working. This might mean flexible or compressed hours, job sharing or shorter hour contracts, where possible. Please discuss this further with the hiring manager during your interview.