Chef De Partie (Breakfast Chef)

Waitrose; Cookham Rise; Remote; GBP 34,000 - 46,000; Full time

Job summary

John Lewis Partnership is hiring a Breakfast Chef for our Partnership Hotels. You will lead the breakfast kitchen, running the day-to-day in the Head/Sous Chef's absence and ensuring a high-quality dining experience for guests and Partners.

You'll manage food offers, maintain presentation standards, train junior chefs and porters, and oversee allergen management, food safety, and hygiene. The role requires flexibility for events and weekend shifts.

Qualifications

• Relevant professional chef qualifications including City & Guilds diplomas or equivalent.
• Excellent ability to train kitchen staff and provide clear feedback to front-of-house.
• High-quality results in a fast-paced, hygienic environment with safety standards.
• Ability to foster trust and respect within a team of Partners.

Responsibilities

• Assist Head/Sous Chef to plan and deliver a food offer aligned with trends and demand.
• Train and develop junior chefs and kitchen porters.
• Ensure allergen management, food safety policies, and health & safety compliance.
• Conduct daily fridge checks, cleaning schedules, PPE; lead kitchen in absence of senior chefs.
• Help achieve sales targets by managing food availability and upselling with front-of-house.
• Manage food orders accurately to minimise wastage and maximise margins.
• Represent the Partnership by delivering outstanding guest and Partner experiences.

Education

City & Guilds diplomas in professional cookery

BTEC HNC in professional cookery

Level 3 Food Safety qualification

Job description

About the role

Forget everything you know about corporate kitchen life. At our Partnership Hotels, you aren't just an employee on a payroll. You are a Partner and co-owner of the business.The Breakfast Chef is responsible for preparing and delivering the hotel's breakfast offerings and managing the kitchen in the absence of the Head and Sous Chefs. You'll be working as part of our friendly team to ensure the efficient day to day running of the kitchen and to assist in providing a consistently high quality dining experience while maintaining sales, reputation and profit of the kitchen as agreed by the Head Chef.Behind the scenes, you’ll help keep the business running smoothly by tracking food wastage, managing inventory orders, and ensuring flawless daily safety checks. Above all, you’ll build fantastic relationships with the Front of House team to deliver pitch-perfect service and keep our guests coming back for more.

Salary - £34,080 - £46,300 paid based on skills and experience

Hours of work - 45 hours per week, 06:00 - 16:00 including weekends. Flexibility is needed on occasion to work a later shift for events or holiday cover

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.
• 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

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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 short hour contracts, where possible. Please discuss this further with the hiring manager during your interview.