Chef de Partie

JOHN LEWIS; Cookham; On-site; GBP 26,000 - 34,000; Full time

Job summary

John Lewis Partnership in the United Kingdom is seeking a Chef De Partie to join our hotel kitchen brigade, ensuring efficient daily operations and consistently high guest experience for Partners and their guests.

Working 45 hours per week with early starts (06:00) and late finishes (21:30) across 5 days, including weekends, you’ll help maintain exceptional presentation standards and contribute to a supportive kitchen team culture.

Qualifications

• Relevant professional chef qualifications (e.g., City & Guilds, BTEC HNC)
• Ability to train and develop junior chefs and kitchen porters
• Deliver high-quality results in a fast-paced environment while upholding hygiene standards
• Foster teamwork and mutual respect within the kitchen
• Strong decision-making to resolve issues quickly

Responsibilities

• Assisting Head and Sous Chef to plan and deliver food offering
• Train and develop junior chefs and kitchen porters
• Ensure allergen management and food safety compliance
• Perform daily compliance checks (fridge temps, cleaning schedules, PPE)
• Assist in kitchen operations when senior chefs are absent
• Help achieve sales targets by managing food availability and upselling knowledge
• Manage food orders to minimise waste and maximise margins
• Represent the Partnership and provide outstanding guest experiences

Skills

Instruct kitchen team

Hygiene & safety standards

Allergen management

Decision-making

Education

City & Guilds diploma in professional cookery

BTEC HNC in professional cookery

Level 3 Food Safety qualification

Job description

About the role

As a Chef De Partie, you'll be working as part of our friendly hotel kitchen brigade to ensure the efficient day to day running of the kitchen and to assist in providing a consistently high quality guest experience for Partners and their guests.

Hours of work - 45 hrs per week, Earliest start time 06:00 and latest finish time 21:30. Working 5 out of 7 days including weekends 11:00 - 21:00.

Key Responsibilities

• Assisting the Head and Sous Chef to plan and deliver a food offer that aligns with current trends and customer demand, maintaining exceptional presentation standards.
• Using your expertise to train and develop junior chefs and kitchen porters, including specialised skills like fishmongery and butchery.
• Ensuring all legislative requirements are met, including allergen management, food safety policies, and health & safety standards.
• Conducting daily compliance checks (fridge temperatures, cleaning schedules, and PPE) and taking charge of the kitchen operation in the absence of senior chefs.
• Helping to achieve sales targets by managing food availability and equipping the front-of-house team with the knowledge to upsell effectively.
• Managing food orders with accuracy to minimise wastage and maximise profit margins.
• Acting as a representative of the Partnership, providing a consistently outstanding experience for our guests and fellow Partners.

Essential skills/experience you'll need

• Relevant professional chef qualifications, such as City & Guilds diplomas in professional cookery, BTEC HNC in professional cookery, or equivalent.
• Excellent skills to instruct the kitchen team and deliver clear feedback to front-of-house staff.
• The ability to deliver high-quality results in a fast-paced environment while upholding strict hygiene and safety standards.
• Ability to foster mutual trust and respect within a team, ensuring every Partner feels valued.
• Quick and confident decision-making skills to resolve kitchen issues efficiently.

Desirable skills/experience you may have

• Level 3 Food Safety qualification.
• Experience in coaching or developing junior kitchen Partners.
• Experience working in a hotel or high-volume quality dining environment

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.