Chef Manager

Surrey County Council; Ashtead; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A local council authority in Ashtead seeks a passionate Chef Manager to lead a kitchen team at The Greville School. You will be responsible for creating nutritious menus, ensuring safe food practices, and managing kitchen operations during school hours. With a starting salary of £19,991, this role offers various rewards and benefits to promote a healthy work-life balance.

Benefits

Final salary pension

Discounts on various services

Health and wellbeing support

Employee Assistance Programme

Full induction

Training and development opportunities

Qualifications

• Passion and skill for cooking in a food production environment.
• Proven understanding of health and safety in a kitchen.
• Ability to train others in using catering equipment.

Responsibilities

• Inspire the team to produce an outstanding menu.
• Record meal transactions and manage kitchen operations.
• Provide nutritious meals for school children.

Skills

Cooking skills

Health and Safety Certificate Level 1

Level 2 Food Safety Certificate

NVQ Level 2 in food preparation

IT and administrative skills

Excellent communication skills

Supervising staff experience

Catering equipment usage

Time keeping

Job description

• Working hours: 35 hours per week across 38.4 weeks per year
• Posted on: 29 July 2025
• Directorate: Resources

Description

This role is based at The Greville School. Though you will only work during term time, you will be paid a salary every month including school holidays.

This role has a starting salary of £19,991.00 per annum for working 35.00 hours per week, 38.4 weeks per year (equivalent to £12.93 per hour, plus annual leave allowance).

Rewards and Benefits

• Final salary pension
• Discounts on various services including food shopping
• Health and wellbeing support
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Full induction
• Term time only hours that allow for good work/life balance
• Training and development opportunities, including a Level 3 Food Hygiene Qualification.

About the Role

Using your passion, creativity and enthusiasm, you will inspire a team to produce an outstanding menu using fresh ingredients. In addition to using your flair and passion to create great dishes, you will record meal transactions, control andadminister stock, order food andsundry supplies, and take responsibility for the day to day running of a smooth kitchen. Your main goal will be to provide school children with tasty, nutritious meals that help them develop healthy bodies and minds.

Customer service is at the front and centre of the Twelve15 Vision and Mission. You will be a fantastic communicator with an ability to work with our school clients and our customers to promote the benefits of the service we offer.

The key skills we are looking for in our new chef manager are as follows:

• A passion and skill for cooking with an ability to deliver high levels of meals in a food production environment
• Health and Safety Certificate Level 1, and proven understanding of health and safety in a kitchen environment
• Level 2 Food Safety Certificate
• NVQ Level 2 in food preparation and cooking or equivalent
• IT and administrative skills
• Excellent communication skills (including teamwork, leadership, and customer service)
• Experience supervising staff and managing a kitchen
• Experience using catering equipment and the ability to train others
• Excellent time keeping and flexibility around locations.

We'd also love to hear about any other relevant skills, interests, or knowledge that you could bring to the table. Perhaps you have detailed knowledge about allergies, or a particular interest in nutrition. Additionally, if you don't hold these qualifications but have a significant amount of experience catering for large groups of people in a management role, please don't hesitate in applying!

Shortlisting

In order for you to be considered for shortlisting, your CV and answers to the following questions will clearly evidence the knowledge, skills and qualifications listed above. The questions are:

• Why do you think eating healthily is soimportant for children and what is the impact of a healthy school meal for children?
• Please tell us about your experience of working in a kitchen, including the part you played in the production of food.
• What experience do you have supervising / managing staff responsible for producing large quantities of food?
• Please list any skills and qualifications you have that are relevant to this role.

Contact Us

Please contact us for any questions relating to the role. This could be to discuss flexible working requests, transferable skills or any barriers to employment.

The job advert closes at 23:59 on 01/09/2025 with interviews to follow.

We look forward to receiving your application, please click on the apply online button below to submit.

Local Government Reorganisation

Surrey County Council is preparing for Local Government Reorganisation which will allow us to implement the Government led policy of devolution, which is all about giving more powers to local areas.

Currently, Surrey has a two-tier council system, with 11 district and borough councils and a county council, all responsible for different services. All these councils will be reorganised into a smaller number of new unitary councils which will come into effect in April 2027. At this point, this role will be transferred, with all existing terms and conditions intact into one of the new unitary councils.

The Surrey Way behaviours are a guide that supports our council to work together effectively and deliver our best for our customers and communities, and for each other. Discover more about our behaviours.

Before submitting your application, we recommend you read the job description. Our Life at Surrey handbook also provides insights of the culture at Surrey and how as a valued employee, you can help shape our Council.

Our Commitment

Surrey County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. A guaranteed interview will be offered to all disabled applicants where:

• The candidate has evidenced the minimum criteria for the role through their application
• The candidate has chosen to share that they have a disability on the application form

Our application form and onboarding process will provide an opportunity to request any reasonable adjustments for the interview and/or the role.

We want to be an inclusive and diverse employer reflecting the community we serve and particularly welcome applications from all underrepresented groups.