Executive Head Chef

Old Swan & Minster Mill; Minster Lovell; On-site; GBP 42,000 - 54,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive pay with service charge

Perkbox access

Staff discounts 25% on food & beverage

Staff £25 B&B rate

Employee Assistance Programme

Free meals on duty

Career development & internal promos

Job summary

Old Swan & Minster Mill is seeking a hands-on Head Chef or Senior Sous Chef to lead a busy kitchen at our Minster Lovell property, just 15 miles from Oxford. You will oversee all kitchen operations, develop menus and coach a motivated team to deliver high standards across outlets and events.

The role requires strong leadership, food safety knowledge, and a passion for seasonal, guest-focused cuisine. Excellent staff perks, competitive pay, and service charge-top-up are in place.

Qualifications

• Hands-on Chef with leadership experience
• Experience as Head Chef or Senior Sous Chef
• Knowledge of food safety practices and team motivation

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage all kitchen operations, ensuring high standards of food quality, presentation, and consistency.
• Develop, plan, and update menus that align with the hotel's brand and seasonal trends.
• Oversee food preparation and production across restaurants, bar, banqueting and events.
• Recruit, train, mentor kitchen staff to build a high-performing culinary team.
• Control food costs, labour costs, and kitchen budgets while maintaining profitability targets.
• Ensure compliance with all food safety, hygiene, health, and safety regulations and standards.
• Manage purchasing, supplier relationships, stock control, and inventory management.
• Collaborate with hotel management on strategic planning and guest experience initiatives.
• Monitor guest feedback and implement continuous improvements to food quality and service standards.
• Design innovative, commercially viable menus balancing guest preferences and profitability

Skills

Kitchen leadership

Food safety

Menu planning

Job description

Location: Located just 15 miles from Oxford, Old Swan & Minster Mill is in the picturesque village of Minster Lovell. Consisting of both a quintessentially country English Inn, and a modern riverside hotel. SERVICE CHARGE-We pay our team service charge each month! This service charge all goes into one pot, and 100% of that service charge is then shared amongst all the team at the hotel-every penny received is paid out to the team. Service charge can be in the region of £150 a month (close to £2000 per year) over and above base pay for a full time employee. The Old Swan & Minster Mill offers a relaxed, fun yet professional environment to work in. Free parking is available on site, and we do offer discounted staff taxis for those that don't drive.

Hours: Full time

Role: As part or our team, we welcome your passion, natural warmth and humour to ensure our guests have an amazing experience every time. We’re seeking friendly, warm and cheerful individuals who are happy to work together as a team and, importantly, want to have fun. We welcome candidates who are new to the industry as well as experienced ones - what matters most to us is that you have a positive and engaging personality, you are self-motivated and enjoy the buzz and excitement of a busy hotel atmosphere.

For this role you will need to be a hands‑on Chef who leads from the front, be knowledgeable about food together with food safety practices and be a strong leader who can motivate the team. You should also have previous experience within a similar style property as a Head Chef or an experienced Senior Sous Chef ready for the next role.

What you'll be up to:

• Lead and manage all kitchen operations, ensuring high standards of food quality, presentation, and consistency.
• Develop, plan, and update menus that align with the hotel's brand, guest expectations, and seasonal trends.
• Oversee food preparation and production across restaurants, bar, banqueting and special events.
• Recruit, train, mentor kitchen staff to build a high‑performing culinary team.
• Control food costs, labour costs, and kitchen budgets while maintaining profitability targets.
• Ensure compliance with all food safety, hygiene, health, and safety regulations and standards.
• Manage purchasing, supplier relationships, stock control, and inventory management.
• Collaborate with hotel management on strategic planning, guest experience initiatives, and revenue growth opportunities.
• Monitor guest feedback and implement continuous improvements to food quality and service standards.
• Design innovative, commercially viable menus that balance guest preferences, food trends, operational efficiency, and profitability.

To say thank you, we have many perks:

• Competitive pay – We are proud that everyone who joins our group gets a competitive a rate of pay, irrespective of age, plus you get service charge and tips on top.
• Treat yourself once in a while with lots of retail and hospitality perks through our Perkbox platform.
• Excellent discounts across our family of hotels – you will be entitled to 25% off food & beverage in our hotels plus we offer an amazing staff rate of £25 B&B per person across the group & your friends and family get special rates too.
• We understand it’s OK not to be OK, so we offer an externally run confidential helpline for any support you require about anything you might need as part of our Employee Assistance Programme.
• We sustain you physically too, meals when you are on duty are free.
• Everyone can learn and develop – our development pathways are unique to us and are the best in the business.
• We provide lots of opportunity to progress and move up – we have made hundreds of internal promotions, including to General Manager level.
• We like to say a special thank you for every year you are with us – our milestone awards include Champagne, afternoon tea, or dinner for you and someone special. When you reach the big milestones, you receive extra special gifts on top like longer hotel stays, extra days off and a unique gift especially chosen for you.

About our family of hotels

We bring a family of hotels together under one roof, ready to welcome guests with open arms, warm hearts and experiences that are simply memorable.

Each of our hotels are unique, individual, and quirky in personality. Quality is fundamental to everything we do, and it is the simple things that matter. We believe everyone should feel included, special and welcome, and that applies to our team and our guests.

We have very unique hotels in very special locations, from the award winning Gidleigh Park in Devon, the 900-year-old Amberley Castle to our beautiful London town house, Sydney House Chelsea – to see the whole group, take a look here www.brownswordhotels.co.uk