Head Chef

Woburn; Fenny Stratford; On-site; GBP 47,000 - 58,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Tronc bonus up to £50k

Flexible shifts

Meal discounts 33% off

Accommodation discount 20%

Development programme

Lifestyle card discounts

Refer a friend incentive £1000

Job summary

The Woburn Hotel in England seeks an exceptional Head Chef to lead and redefine the kitchen, shaping a remarkable food journey for our pub, restaurant and hotel setting.

You will inspire a team, set uncompromising standards, and bring personality, creativity and commercial instinct to the kitchen. This is a high-impact role with strategic influence on menus, wastage, and guest experience.

Qualifications

• Excellent culinary and presentation skills.
• Minimum 1 year experience as Head Chef.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Energetic with passion to do a great job.
• Able to manage staff calmly and inspirationally.
• Forward-thinking with stock management to minimise waste.
• Demonstrates a passion for food and team collaboration.
• Strong teamwork and adaptability.
• Excellent organisational skills and attention to detail.
• Understanding of profit margins and stock controls.

Responsibilities

• Plan, organise and direct the preparation and cooking of food to enhance the company's reputation for quality.
• Prepare high quality food for guests quickly and efficiently.
• Maintain food hygiene and safety standards.
• Oversee ordering and stock controls, reduce waste.
• Lead day-to-day kitchen operations in a proactive, hands-on way.
• Lead, train and mentor a team of chefs and KP's.
• Maintain a clean and organised kitchen.
• Adhere to allergen laws and dietary requirements.
• Produce rotas and cleaning schedules for kitchen staff.

Skills

Culinary skills

Head Chef experience

Communication skills

Energetic leadership

Staff management

Stock control

Passion for food

Team player

Organisation

Profit margins

Job description

This is a rare opportunity to take the helm of the kitchen at The Woburn Hotel, the flagship site within Upham Inns, as we begin an exciting new chapter in its already remarkable journey. Set in the heart of Woburn, this beautiful pub, restaurant and hotel deserves a food offer every bit as special as the setting – and we’re looking for an exceptional Head Chef to help us shape what comes next.

This is not a role for someone looking to simply maintain the status quo. We want a driven, energetic and charismatic kitchen leader with real ambition; someone who can inspire a team, set uncompromising standards and bring personality, creativity and commercial instinct to the kitchen. As we realign The Woburn and take it on the next stage of its food journey, you’ll have the opportunity to make your mark on one of the most important sites in our business and create a food reputation that makes The Woburn a destination in its own right.

What’s in it for you?

• Up to £50,000of Tronc (this can be up to £8000 per year)
• Flexible shift patterns
• Up to 33% off meals taken off duty for you and up to 6 guests
• 33% off our hotel accommodation & 20% for Friends and Family
• Development program with a clear pathway
• Access to the lifestyle card – which will provide you with instant access to over5,000 discountsacross all aspects of their lifestyle. With thousands of discounts covering local independents, national and online businesses, there are plenty of opportunities to save money. The lifestyle card is a100% free benefitfor our Upham Inn team members.
• Service Awards
• Refer a friend and Chef recruitment incentives of up to £1000

Head Chef Requirements:

• Excellent Culinary and presentation skills
• Minimum 1 years experience as a Head Chef
• Excellent Communication and Interpersonal skills
• Energetic with passion to do a great job
• Able to manage staff in a calm, inspirational manner
• A forward-thinker that can manage stock with minimal wastage
• Demonstrates a passion for food
• Team Player
• Excellent organisation skills
• An understanding of profit margins and food stock controls.
• The Right to Work in the UK

Head Chef Responsibilities:

• Plan, organise and direct the preparation and cooking of food ensuring that the company's reputation for quality is enhanced
• Preparing high quality food for our guests quickly and efficiently
• Maintaining food hygiene and safety standards
• Responsibility for ordering and stock controls, reduction of waste
• Overseeing day to day kitchen operations in a proactive and hands-on way
• Leading a team of chefs and KP's, Train, Coach and mentoring is a must
• Maintaining a clean and organised kitchen
• Adhere to allergen laws and respect for dietary requirements
• producing rotas and cleaning schedules for kitchen staff

A job you can enjoy

We are looking to recruit a passionate and dedicated Head Chef who is a natural born leader to join us on our very exciting Journey.

We are very passionate about what we do and the quality of the ingredients we cook with, so we need a Head Chef who loves to cook with raw ingredients as well as having the ability to coach and educate their team.

If you have previous Head Chef experience, a strong team approach, a real passion for delivering service excellence, and the strong desire to work within a progressive and expanding company – then we want to hear from you!

This is not for the faint hearted as we are busy and going to get busier, so we need an experienced high class operator to lead and manage our Kitchen whilst executing great food quality.

It goes without saying that 5 star food hygiene standards come before everything.

What do we do?

We own a collection of beautiful and individual premium pubs across Southern England. Our pubs are in idyllic settings in country villages and towns, where we are proud to be the quality local of the area, serving high quality fresh pub food in a cozy pub ambience. Most of our pubs have some Charming Bedrooms as well. New to our growing family is Harper’s Steakhouse, a new premium American Steakhouse brand that we started rolling out last year.

It’s an exciting time to join us!

Upham Inns is growing, and we want you to grow with us and be part of our success. We’ve been busy investing in our business and we are seeing some great results. So, we want to continue to grow our pub family and we are looking to recruit passionate people into our team

We are looking for great people to join us

Our company is big enough to support you but small enough to care about your individual needs. We are a friendly, hands-on team who have a passion for running great pubs. We are always on the lookout for like-minded people who have the desire to work and grow with us.