Development Chef - Education & Commercial Catering

ESPO Trading Limited; East Midlands; Hybrid; GBP 41,000 - 46,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working

Pension scheme

Generous leave entitlement

Job summary

Nottingham City Council is seeking an experienced Development Chef to lead the evolution of education and commercial catering across multiple sites in Nottingham.

You will drive nutritious menus, ensure compliance with standards, collaborate with schools and families, and mentor catering teams while supporting sustainability and income growth.

Qualifications

• Experience in education or large-scale catering environments.
• Knowledge of food hygiene regulations and School Food Standards.
• Ability to lead audits and drive service improvements.
• Ability to deliver training to catering teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead development, implementation and improvements of education and commercial catering.
• Drive menu innovation and nutritional standards.
• Collaborate with schools, parents and catering teams.
• Ensure compliance, sustainability and commercial success.
• Provide leadership on food safety and training.

Skills

Culinary skills

Menu development

Multi-site catering

Food hygiene

Audit & compliance

Training & development

Communication

Budget management

Data analysis

Problem solving

Job description

Contract Type: Permanent

Working Hours: 37 hours per week. (Between the times of 6am and 6pm.)

Worker Type: Hybrid worker

Salary: Starting Salary is £42,123 (Level one) rising to £45,529 (Level four) per annum (pro rata for part time)

Location: Loxley House, Station Street, Nottingham NG2 3NG

We’ve got an exciting opportunity available for talented individuals to join our workforce - perhaps this is the opportunity you’ve been looking for? Read on to find out more…

Working for Nottingham City Council has great benefits. As well as competitive pay, great leave entitlement and access to a generous pension scheme, we strive to create an innovative, inclusive and progressive work culture where everyone is supported to do and be their very best.

In return, we are looking for people like you - people who are innovative, driven and committed to serving and improving Nottingham. So, if you are passionate about making a difference to the lives of those who live and work in our city, we want to hear from you.

* You can read more about the different benefits offered to colleagues working for Nottingham City Council here.

About the Role

We are looking for an experienced and passionate Development Chef to join our Catering Services team. This is an exciting opportunity to lead the development, implementation and continuous improvement of our education and commercial catering offer, helping to shape the future of food provision across Nottingham.

Working across both school meals and commercial catering operations, you will drive menu innovation, enhance customer satisfaction, support income generation and ensure our services remain compliant, sustainable and commercially successful. You will lead the development of nutritious, seasonal and appealing menus, ensuring they meet statutory requirements, nutritional standards and customer expectations.

The role will involve working closely with schools, parents, catering teams and a wide range of stakeholders to improve service delivery, increase meal uptake and support those with special dietary requirements. You will also provide professional leadership on food safety, compliance, training and quality assurance, undertaking audits and identifying opportunities for continuous improvement across multiple catering sites.

Supporting business growth and sustainability objectives, you will use performance data and industry insight to develop innovative food concepts, improve operational performance and contribute to Nottingham City Council's wider priorities around health, wellbeing and climate commitments.

About You

The ideal candidate will have:

• Strong culinary and menu development skills, with the ability to create innovative, nutritious and commercially viable food offers.


• Experience of working within multi-site catering operations, ideally within education, school meals or large-scale catering environments.


• Sound knowledge of food hygiene regulations, food safety legislation, allergen management and School Food Standards.


• Experience of undertaking audits, identifying compliance issues and implementing service improvements.


• The ability to develop and deliver training, coaching and professional development to catering teams.


• Strong communication and influencing skills, with the ability to build effective relationships with colleagues, schools, parents and external stakeholders.


• Commercial awareness, with experience of menu costing, budget management and supporting income generation.


• The ability to analyse data, review processes and drive continuous improvement across catering operations.


• A proactive approach to problem solving, innovation and service development.


• A commitment to sustainability, equality, diversity and inclusion, and delivering excellent customer service.

This post is covered by the statutory duty under Part 7 of the Immigration Act (2016) (English Language Requirement for public sector workers) and therefore the ability to speak fluent English, is an essential requirement for the role.

A DBS enhanced check for a regulated activity is required for this post.

You can find the job description for this post here.

At Nottingham City Council we believe that work is what you do, not where you do it. We offer different working arrangements, depending on the role, including hybrid working. Further information on Worker Types and what these mean in terms of how and where you work can be found on the additional informationfor applicants page.

For informal enquiriesplease contact us by telephone on 0115 8765432 or by email at [e-mail]

Closing Date: 25th September 2026

Please note there may be occasions where we close the advert before the closing date and we encourage you to apply as soon as possible.

Interviews will be held:TBC

If you have any technical issues when completing your application, please contact our Employee Service Centre https://emss.org.uk/support

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