Chef Manager

National Trust; Petworth; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 60,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health cash plan

Pension contribution match up to 10%

Discounted gym membership

Free entry to NT properties

20% off in Retail and Food & Beverage outlets

Job summary

A leading heritage organization in Petworth is seeking a passionate Head Chef to lead their kitchen team. This role is vital for creating a high-quality food experience that delights visitors. The ideal candidate will have strong leadership skills, an ability to develop innovative menus, and a commitment to exceptional customer service. If you have experience in a fast-paced environment and a passion for food, this position offers a unique chance to work in a historic setting while contributing to our food strategy.

Qualifications

• Experience of successfully developing a fast paced, catering outlet to achieve performance targets.
• A track record of delivering exceptional customer service.
• A good working knowledge of Health & Safety compliance requirements.
• Experience managing budgets and resources.

Responsibilities

• Develop delicious menus using local produce and adapt to the seasons.
• Motivate staff and volunteers to deliver exceptional service.
• Ensure compliance with food hygiene and COSHH procedures.
• Ensure compliance with health, safety and COSHH.

Skills

Customer focused with great verbal and written communication skills

An inspirational leader

Self-motivated

Creative and proactive

IT literate

Education

Qualified in food preparation and cooking to City & Guilds or NVQ L3 or equivalent

Job description

We're looking for a motivated and enthusiastic Head Chef with a great passion for food quality, presentation and customer service. We have a great kitchen team here at Petworth House and Park which you'll helping to develop and inspire through your strong leadership skills. Being such a large historic building surrounded by beautiful landscape, we're popular with visitors so being used to a fast-paced Food & Beverage environment is essential. If this sounds like you then we'd love to hear from you.

What it's like to work here

Change is taking place at Petworth House and Park and the team are looking for innovative people to join them. The team is currently working to update the property’s visitor offering and highlight its internationally-renowned collection of pictures and sculpture as well as its Capability Brown designed historic park and pleasure grounds. If you have lots of ideas, energy and ambition, then Petworth House could be the place for you.

What you'll be doing

We have exciting times ahead at Petworth with potential expansion of our Food & Beverage operations. Currently, we have one main kitchen that provides cold, baked and cooked delights to one small café and our main restaurant. We're aiming to open up more outlets and kitchens onsite to give our visitors more dining varieties to choose between.

The National Trust Cookbook provides our properties with core menus working towards our food strategy of linking food to our relationships with special places. Working with the Food & Beverage Management team you'll use your creativity to develop delicious menus, using local produce where available, that adapt to the seasons, to delight visitors with our spirit of place and provide great value for money. You’ll be constantly seeking and developing new income opportunities, working to achieve financial targets and increase margins by minimising waste and controlling costs and resources.

Through effective people management and leadership, and with the National Trust ethos at the forefront of your mind, you’ll motivate the team of staff and volunteers to strive for a culture of exceptional service and make it a great place to work. You’ll ensure everyone has the necessary training and is compliant with relevant legislation and internal processes including food hygiene and COSHH procedures.

Who we're looking for

With your passion for food and excellent people management skills, you’ll work with and lead your team to deliver exceptional customer service.

Required skills and experience

You need to be:

• Customer focused with great verbal and written communication skills
• An inspirational leader
• Self-motivated
• An experienced people manager including setting personal objectives and providing feedback
• Creative and proactive and love seeking out new opportunities
• Qualified in food preparation and cooking to City & Guilds or NVQ L3 or equivalent
• IT literate

And it will be helpful if you can demonstrate the following experience on your CV/application;

• Experience of successfully developing a fast paced, catering outlet to achieve performance targets
• A track record of delivering exceptional customer service
• A good working knowledge of Health & Safety compliance requirements including any qualifications
• A proven track record of managing budgets

The package

• Health cash plan – from as little as £3.09 per month for you and your dependents
• Pension contribution match up to 10%
• EAP and proactive Health and Wellbeing
• Discounted gym membership at over 100 leisure facilities across the country

Looking after your career

• Grow your career through professional training courses across the Trust
• Develop your skills with an internal secondment
• Pay review linked to values and behaviours, commitment to progression
• Work in some of the most beautiful, iconic and unique locations in the UK
• Free entry to NT properties for you, a guest and your children (under 18)
• 20% off in our Retail and Food & Beverage outlets
• Discount up to 35% off a National Trust holiday cottage booking

If you have not heard from us within 3 weeks of your application, please assume you have not been selected for an interview on this occasion. Thank you and good luck.