Performance Commis Chef

Sunderland AFC; Sunderland; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A professional football club is seeking a Performance Chef to provide high-quality meals tailored to athletes' nutritional needs. This role demands creativity and the ability to work under pressure while maintaining high food safety and hygiene standards. The ideal candidate will assist in optimizing players' performance through carefully designed meal strategies.

Qualifications

• Experience in maintaining food safety standards.
• Ability to tailor meals for dietary requirements and performance needs.
• Willingness to continuously improve skills and techniques.

Responsibilities

• Support the Academy of Light Performance Kitchen team.
• Provide high-quality food for players during training and matches.
• Maintain kitchen standards of cleanliness and hygiene.
• Prepare meals for away games and pre-season as required.

Skills

Food safety standards (Level 2 essential)

Cleanliness and hygiene

Basic sauces and butchery

Effective communication and listening skills

Education

Catering industry qualification or documented experience

Job description

About The Performance And MedicineTeam

Our mission is to support every athlete in reaching peak performance while reducing injury risk.

Through a multi-disciplinary approach that blends sports science, nutrition, medicine, and psychology, we deliver personalised programs tailored to each player's needs.

We work closely with coaches to balance training loads, guide recovery, and provide insights into player readiness. Mental wellness is also a key focus, with sports psychologists helping athletes build resilience under pressure.

The Opportunity

The Performance Chef role is to support the Academy of Light Performance Kitchen team in providing an elite catering service to the football club. The position is ideal for a highly driven and enthusiastic Chef who has an abundance of passion. In this role you will be part of a team that supports all ages of the football club, including the first team.

The role requires focus on the nutritional needs of the players, providing high quality food and a five-star service, requiring innovation, creativity, and the ability to work under pressure.

Working with the Performance Kitchen Team, you will help ensure that food provision is carefully tailored to meet the demands of training and matches. Through the design and implementation of such a strategy, the Performance Chef will play a key role in helping players to fuel for competition, aiding recovery and reducing the risk of injury and illness. The demands placed on elite players are evolving and it is important that the Performance Chef has the ability to continually develop and seek improvement.

What We Ask For

• Maintain food safety standards (Food Safety Level 2 essential), a willingness to work towards Level 3.
• Always maintain the highest standards of cleanliness and hygiene in the kitchen and refectory areas and report all defects of equipment, damage to materials and any incidents involving Health & Safety.
• All kitchen fundamentals (basic sauces, butchery, fish preparation and willingness to learn).
• Successful candidates must hold the relevant catering industry qualification or documented evidence of experience.
• Actively seek feedback from Players and Lead Nutritionist, using effective communication and listening skills, to evaluate food services and menus, including the ability to tailor individual meals for certain players to meet their dietary requirements, allergies or performance needs.
• In conjunction with the Stadium of Light Kitchen Team, help ensure quality meals in preparation for and recovery after home matches.

Accompanying Teams On Away Games And Pre-season As Required

An Enhanced DBS from Sunderland AFC is required.