Chef Manager (Maternity Cover) - Hook Infant & Junior School

Compass Group UK; Hook; On-site; GBP 32,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading catering company is seeking a Chef Manager (Maternity Cover) to deliver exceptional food experiences at Hook Infant & Junior Schools. You will manage a well‑established kitchen, ensure health and safety standards, and build strong relationships with clients and customers. The ideal candidate will have excellent supervisory and communication skills, along with a craft background in food preparation. This role offers a term-time only contract with a focus on work/life balance.

Benefits

Holiday pay

NEST pension scheme

Comprehensive Employee Assist Programme

Consistent training and development

Discount membership through Perks at Work

Qualifications

• Must provide two employment/character references.
• Enhanced DBS / Criminal Record Check required.

Responsibilities

• Prepare delicious food.
• Manage kitchen aspects including Health & Safety.
• Receive and manage food deliveries.
• Develop relationships with clients and customers.

Skills

Passionate about food and great customer service

Excellent communication skills

Excellent supervisory skills

Financially astute

Education

Craft background with qualifications/experience

Job description

Pabulum Catering are now recruiting for a Chef Manager (Maternity Cover) to help us deliver exceptional food experiences to our children at Hook Infant & Junior Schools.

The school has a lovely team in a real well‑cared for environment. You will have a close relationship with the school, be responsible for a well‑established kitchen, and be dedicated to providing the best for all children.

As a Chef Manager, you will be working within an enthusiastic and hard‑working team to create an outstanding experience for the school.

In return we offer an excellent work/life balance, support and a fantastic company culture for a business committed to providing healthy food to children.

Your key responsibilities will include:

• Preparing our delicious food
• Managing the main aspects of the kitchen, including Health & Safety and Training & Development. You will also keep the unit bookwork up to date.
• Receiving and managing food deliveries and storage.
• Developing great relationships with clients, team and customers, ensuring the catering contract continually grows in the right direction.

Our ideal Chef Manager will be:

• Passionate about food and great customer service
• A fantastic communicator who works well as part of a team
• Excellent communication skills throughout the customer and client journey are necessary.
• Excellent supervisory skills – the real key to managing, developing, and motivating a large team.
• Financially astute, with the assurance of full training in all our processes and software systems.
• A craft background with qualifications/experience to match.

Role details and benefits include:

• £32,000 per annum
• Monday to Friday – 40 hours a week
• Excellent work/life balance due to term‑time only contract
• Holiday pay
• NEST pension scheme
• Comprehensive Employee Assist Programme
• Consistent training and development
• Perks at Work – discount membership

At Pabulum there are three basic ingredients for your role:

• The food – Here at Pabulum, we take our values so seriously that we put Education, Passion, Sensation, and Innovation forefront of everything we do. 94% of our food is freshly prepared on site every day, using 75% British produce and little or no frozen or processed foods.
• The people – Happy customers always come back for more, so we expect you to ensure they have an excellent customer experience.

As you will be working in Education, you must provide two employment/character references, and we’ll also carry out an Enhanced DBS / Criminal Record Check as well (which we’ll pay for).

Interested in becoming part of the Pabulum family?

Please apply online.

Job Reference: com/1811/42335001/52776135/BU #Pabulum

CH&CO, a part of Compass Group UK&I, is committed to fostering an environment where every individual can truly be themselves at work and has equal opportunities to advance in their careers. We strive to build a culture that respects and celebrates the unique talents, beliefs, backgrounds, and abilities of all our team members. We want our colleagues to feel valued, empowered to reach their full potential, and to thrive – because diversity is our strength!