Head Chef

Wellington College; Buckler's Park; On-site; GBP 50,000 - 61,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Meals on duty

Free on-site parking

On-site training & development

Employee assistance programme

Pension scheme

Bike to work

Job summary

Wellington College seeks an exceptional Head Chef to shape the culinary direction of a premium education catering operation. You will lead a four-strong kitchen brigade plus 15+ culinary colleagues, delivering high-quality, restaurant-caliber food at scale while maintaining rigorous standards.

You'll manage menu costing, budgets, labour, suppliers and safety, ensuring excellence for thousands of diners daily in a prestigious independent school setting.

Qualifications

• Proven track record as Head Chef or senior culinary leader.
• Experience in high-volume kitchen, large-scale catering or multi-outlet operation.
• Evidence of delivering excellent food quality and consistency at scale.
• Strong culinary technique, menu development and creative approach to food.
• Experience leading and developing kitchen teams.
• Commercial understanding of food costs, budgets, stock, waste and labour.
• Strong organisational, communication and stakeholder management skills.
• NVQ Level 2 or 3, City & Guilds Professional Cookery or equivalent qualification.
• Level 3 Food Safety and related qualifications, or ability to meet requirements.

Responsibilities

• Developing exciting, contemporary menus balancing creativity, nutrition, seasonality and value.
• Bringing restaurant-quality thinking to large-scale production with practicality and consistency.
• Exploring new ingredients, techniques, cuisines and presentation styles.
• Creating memorable dining experiences reflecting College community diversity.
• Championing fresh food, sustainability, responsible sourcing and waste reduction.

Skills

Leadership

Menu development

High-volume kitchen

Food quality

Commercial awareness

Team development

Stakeholder management

Organizational skills

Culinary technique

Education

NVQ Level 2/3

City & Guilds Professional Cookery

Level 3 Food Safety

Job description

• Thinks beyond the conventional. You bring ideas, challenge the norm and constantly look for ways to make food more exciting.
• Loves the craft. Flavour, ingredients, seasonality, texture and presentation matter to you. You care about the details.
• Understands scale. You know how to translate ambitious culinary ideas into menus and production methods that work consistently for hundreds or thousands of diners.
• Leads with conviction. You set high standards, make confident decisions, challenge poor practice and bring your team with you.
• Has commercial intelligence. You understand food costs, labour, procurement, waste and budgets - and know that creativity and commercial discipline must work together.
• Thrives on complexity. Multiple services, competing demands and high expectations bring out your best.
• Never stops improving. You are curious, open to new ideas and passionate about developing both people and food.

You don't need to have followed a conventional career path. What matters is that you can demonstrate outstanding culinary ability, experience operating at scale and the leadership to make a real difference. Your kitchen. Your standards. Your impact. Working closely with the Executive Head Chef, you'll play a pivotal role in shaping the culinary direction of the operation. You'll lead a structured kitchen brigade with four Shift Leaders overseeing pastry, breakfast, lunch and evening dining, supported by more than 15 additional culinary colleagues, including Chef de Parties and kitchen assistants. Your role will be to inspire this team to deliver food that is consistently excellent, service after service.

You’ll Be Responsible For Culinary direction and innovation

• Developing exciting, contemporary menus that balance creativity, nutrition, seasonality and value.
• Bringing restaurant-quality thinking to large-scale production without losing sight of practicality or consistency.
• Exploring new ingredients, techniques, cuisines and presentation styles.
• Creating memorable dining experiences that reflect the expectations and diversity of the College community.
• Championing fresh food, sustainability, responsible sourcing and the reduction of food waste.

Leadership and team development

• Leading, challenging and inspiring a talented kitchen brigade.
• Empowering Shift Leaders to take ownership and deliver exceptional results.
• Developing culinary talent through coaching, training and clear expectations.
• Building a kitchen culture where standards are high, ideas are encouraged and people take pride in their work.
• Leading recruitment, performance management, succession planning and workforce development.

Operational and commercial excellence

• Delivering approximately 3,300 meals a day across multiple services.
• Managing menu costing, food budgets, labour, purchasing, stock control and supplier relationships.
• Developing production plans and rotas that deliver quality, efficiency and consistency.
• Ensuring kitchens, equipment and production areas are ready to perform.
• Maintaining exemplary food safety, allergen management, health and safety and due diligence standards.

Relationships and the dining experience

• Working closely with the Executive Head Chef and wider management team.
• Building trusted relationships with students, teaching staff, Housemasters and senior College stakeholders.
• Being visible in the dining environment, listening to feedback and acting on it.
• Taking pride in the finished product, the service experience and the reputation of the operation.

We're looking for a chef with personality, presence and a serious passion for food.

You might have developed your craft in a luxury hotel, a premium restaurant, a fine-dining kitchen, a Michelin-recognised establishment, a high-end contract catering operation or a major banqueting and hospitality environment. Your background matters, but so does your ambition. We want someone who can bring the standards and creativity of premium hospitality into a large-scale operation - and who understands that delivering excellence for thousands of diners requires exceptional organisation, technical skill and leadership.

• A proven track record as a Head Chef, Senior Sous Chef or equivalent senior culinary leader.
• Experience in a high-volume kitchen, large-scale catering, premium hospitality, banqueting or multi-outlet operation.
• Evidence of delivering excellent food quality and consistency at scale.
• Strong culinary technique, menu development skills and a creative approach to food.
• Experience leading and developing kitchen teams.
• Commercial understanding of food costs, budgets, stock, waste and labour.
• Strong organisational, communication and stakeholder management skills.
• NVQ Level 2 or 3, City & Guilds Professional Cookery or an equivalent professional qualification.
• Level 3 Food Safety and the relevant food hygiene and health and safety qualifications, or the ability to meet the role's requirements.

Experience in independent schools or premium education catering would be advantageous, but we also welcome exceptional candidates from other relevant sectors who can demonstrate the skills to succeed in this environment.

What happens when you combine the ambition of premium hospitality, the creativity of a great restaurant kitchen and the scale of one of the UK's most prestigious independent schools? You get Wellington College. We're looking for an exceptional Head Chef to help shape the future of our culinary operation. Someone with flair, conviction, imagination and the technical ability to produce outstanding food at scale. A chef who gets excited by a challenge, thrives under pressure and refuses to believe that cooking for thousands of people means compromising on quality, flavour or creativity. If you believe high-volume food should be every bit as exciting as fine dining, we want to hear from you.

The Opportunity: Extraordinary food, Extraordinary scale

Set within 400 acres of beautiful Berkshire countryside, Wellington College is a world-renowned independent school with exceptionally high expectations - academically, culturally, in sport and in the dining experience we deliver every day.

Our catering operation serves approximately:

• 600 breakfasts every day
• 1,900 lunches every day
• 800 evening meals every day

That's around 3,300 meals daily, each representing an opportunity to deliver something exceptional. Our students include aspiring elite athletes, talented musicians, performers and young people with diverse interests, ambitions and nutritional needs. The food we serve plays a genuine part in their daily lives, wellbeing and performance.

Your challenge? To make every service count. To create food that people look forward to eating. To bring fresh thinking, bold flavours, exceptional presentation and a genuine passion for hospitality into a high-volume environment.

This is an opportunity to take on a genuinely distinctive culinary leadership role within an outstanding setting. You'll have the scale to make a significant impact, the responsibility to influence food standards and the opportunity to bring your own ideas and professional experience into an ambitious operation. You'll also benefit from:

• A salary of £55,000 per annum.
• An excellent benefits package.
• Meals on duty and free on-site parking.
• Access to Crowthorne train station.
• Career development within Sodexo's premium education portfolio.
• Industry-leading training and development opportunities.
• 24/7 virtual GP access and mental health and wellbeing support.
• An Employee Assistance Programme.
• Sodexo Discounts Scheme for you and your family.
• Mercer Aspire Pension Plan.
• Bike to Work Scheme and volunteering opportunities.

Ready To Raise The Bar We want the chef who sees 3,300 meals a day and thinks about the possibilities. The chef who brings the precision of fine dining, the imagination to create something memorable and the operational expertise to deliver it consistently. The chef who inspires a team, challenges convention and understands that exceptional food should never be defined by the number of people you're serving. If you have the talent, the ambition and the appetite for a challenge of this scale, we'd love to meet you. Bring your ideas. Bring your experience. Bring your passion.