Operations Chef - West Wales

Loungers plc; Cardiff; On-site; GBP 55,000 - 75,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Company car allowance

50% discount on food

Job summary

Loungers plc seeks an Operations Chef to oversee 8–10 lounges, partnering with the Operations Manager to lead kitchen teams across multiple sites. You will prioritise people, visiting sites weekly, coaching Head Chefs, and developing strong kitchen leaders who deliver exceptional food and customer experience.

You will drive recruitment, implement development plans, and ensure consistent standards, menus, and safety. A hands-on leader who thrives in busy kitchens will excel here.

Qualifications

• Experience as HC, Kitchen Manager or senior kitchen leader across multiple sites.
• Proven ability to recruit and develop kitchen teams.
• Strong coaching, feedback and mentoring skills.

Responsibilities

• Recruit and hire kitchen talent across Loungers sites with a focus on Heads Chef and Sous Chef roles.
• Develop the Head Chef team through clear development plans and coaching.
• Visit sites weekly to train, coach and ensure consistency in service and standards.
• Lead menu changes, kitchen processes, and stock/rota management to support operations.
• Ensure kitchens deliver Lounge Commitments and maintain high food quality and safety.

Skills

People leadership

Talent recruitment

Coaching and mentoring

Hands-on site visits

KPI focus

Tools

Kitchen operations

Job description

Our Lounge Operations Chefs play a pivotal role in the success of our business. Working alongside an Operations Manager you will manage an area of c.8-10 sites maximum (a nod to our unique determination to drive amazing attention to detail) remaining close to our teams and our customers every day. What makes a Lounge is the people that work there and therefore your team will be your absolute number 1 priority, spotting amazing talent; having aces in the right places, celebrating success; creating a real buzz and a sense of belonging for our team, plus developing great managers and leaders through training, coaching and mentoring. We're about unrelenting standards, we absolutely love people who never settle and our ultimate goal is that every customer leaves happy

What you will be responsible for:

• Relentlessly on the hunt to find and hire great kitchen talent to join Lounge at all levels, with a specific focus on building a high performing and loyal team of Heads Chefs and Sous Chefs (your number 1's and 2's in site)
• Getting the best out of your team by understanding what makes them tick as individuals, ensuring there are clear priorities in place for each site and that that there is a strong culture of honest two-way feedback in the kitchens and between yourself and your Head Chefs
• Making the most of your time in a week by frequently visiting your sites to get stuck into service, poke your head in every nook and cranny, help to train and coach your kitchen teams. We expect most sites to be visited at least once a week by their Ops Chefs and we know this is where you have the biggest impact
• Developing the capability and confidence of your Head Chef team through having clear development plans in place and providing opportunities for them to develop their skills and improve. Ensuring your Head Chefs are prioritising the development of their own kitchen teams, training and coaching Chefs and Sous Chefs to progress within the Company
• Knowing the details of our menu specs and kitchen processes inside‑out, so you can immediately spot issues or opportunities during visits and can throw yourself in the deep end in a hands‑on capacity where needed; anything from prepping food to cover a sickness and/or managing the pass on a busy Saturday lunchtime (or others)
• Ensuring that all kitchens are delivering the unique Lounge Commitments, including fair rotas; 121 conversations every 6 months plus the things that make Lounges a unique place to work
• Leading the training and engagement of kitchen teams to deliver seamless menu changes for our customers and ever better food quality
• Helping to plan and execute the deliver of 14 Great Kitchen Shifts across your sites. This means having the right people on the right shifts, back up plans in place, as well as quality forecasting, ordering and rotas.
• Care about the community your Lounges operates in - partnering with your Ops Manager to make sure that your lounge and your team connect with the local environment. Whether through food banks, loungeaid or other ways you feel passionately about
• Alongside your Ops Manager, developing, planning and executing all operational aspects for your Lounges through being exceptionally close to the detail of your lounges, your team, customers, your standards and processes in your kitchen
• Finding ways to make the role yours, by adding your own unique footprint to how you lead your people and deliver our Ops expectations back of house
• Conducting high impact visits and being visibly hands‑on with kitchen teams leading from the front to demonstrate what good looks like
• Working in partnership daily with your Operational Manager ensure you're both on the same page on everything from P&Ls, rota management, shift reporting, team/talent risks and rolling out Company initiatives
• Deliver daily and weekly the Ops Chef expectations - making sure rota's are submitted on time, orders are accepted, stock takes completed and everything in between
• Daily reporting on all aspects of kitchen performance, including the detail behind every shift, your stocks, PARS, safety concerns and anything else. We take complete pride in our obsessive attention to detail on the small things as we know this is where we can win or lose so expect our Ops Chefs to be out in their businesses at least once a week every week
• Owning the kitchen H&S standards and practices of your sites, ensuring your site leaders deliver the expectations and practices to keep our teams and customers safe at all times, from allegens processes to deep cleans and labelling
• Delivering on key performance indicators, from customer wait times, to Net Promoter Scores gross profit, and food safety expectations (EHO, NSF)

In our roles at Loungers, there is a lot to wrap your head around. So we care more about who you are and what you're capable of, than what you've done. We've described who we're looking for through our Coat Hangers. The behaviours and values we think will make you successful. Being totally frank, if these don't sound like you, then Lounges probably isn't for you either!

Who Do We Look For?

• You Believe. In yourself and your leadership, in your team, in bringing people together and in our cause. You believe that delivering a great experience, making sure our customers leave happy and our teams loving what they do 14 shifts a week is achievable day in-day out.
• You're honest: And have the strength of character to own up to what's not going right and tell it like it really is.
• Care for your team: You genuinely care and are interested about the people that work for you and make it show. You know how to keep your team motivated and engaged and how to get the best out of them flexing your leadership style accordingly. For those wanting to progress you can help and support them grow and reach their aspirations.
• Command the detail: You're all over the stocks, rotas, labour, H&S, lightbulbs, the nooks and crannies of the sites - delivering uncompromising standards both front and back of house, and knowing what part everyone plays. Ultimately you get it done.
• Never settle: For second best that is. You obsess about learning from yesterday and getting better, in each site, every single day from every opportunity and helping your team to do the same. We're not a 24/7 business, but we do expect hard work and commitment.
• Do it your way: You lead your team and your businesses through your own unique style and personality, making it your own. You don't look for robots but recruit and develop people that bring their true selves to work.

Where are you now?

• You are probably a HC, Kitchen Manager, Operations Chef or Area/Regional Chef in bars or restaurants or cafes/Coffee shops already with fresh food experience;
• You will have had multi-site hospitality experience across bars; restaurants; café's, or something in between;
• Even though you're in a management role, you balance your time between managing and getting stuck in and are always comfortable in your whites. We want people who still want to be part of the buzz of delivering awesome old school hospitality. Not management through emails.
• You will have been in senior leadership positions in a large turnover single site or multi-site capacity and have demonstrated inspiring and motivating large teams
• You will be familiar with managing through clear KPIs and making commercial decisions to deliver the overall EBITDA and revenue requirements
• Your ambition will keep you driven and focused on getting better, every single day, and wanting to make a big impact
• You may have come from either a front of house (General Management) or back of house (Food Development/Head Chef) role in the past. Either works for us
• You will know what it's like to be all over the detail and manage across a number of competing priorities

The Good Stuff

• Competitive salary + annual achievable bonus paid 2x a year.
• Company car allowance
• Full expenses and mileage provided
• Great opportunity for personal development and career progression in a fast growing business
• Annual Ops trip to somewhere sunny. Honest!
• 50% discount on food from day 1
• The best staff party - Loungefest (see our video).