Senior Night Chef

Mountain; City of Westminster; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 40,000; Full time

Job summary

A popular Soho restaurant is seeking a Senior Night Chef to lead their night kitchen team. The role involves ensuring high-quality food production, compliance with food safety standards, and effective team leadership during the night shift. Successful candidates will have proven experience in fast-paced kitchens, excellent knife skills, and a strong understanding of food safety protocols. The position offers competitive benefits including training opportunities and discounts at restaurants.

Benefits

28 days of annual leave

50% discount at restaurants

Access to training resources

Enhanced maternity leave

Pension scheme

Subsidised mental health support

Cycle-to-work scheme

Refer-a-friend scheme

£300 contribution towards work laptop

Qualifications

• Proven experience at strong CDP or Junior Sous level in a high-standard, fast-paced kitchen.
• Excellent knife skills; confident with core prep, batch cooking, butchery/filleting, doughs/pastry basics, pickling/ferments.
• Solid understanding of HACCP, CCPs, allergen control, traceability and EHO expectations.

Responsibilities

• Lead a two-chef night shift for consistent, high-quality overnight production.
• Taste, check and sign off on all night production.
• Own HACCP/CCPs compliance including cooling logs and allergen controls.
• Deliver concise written handover for day team.
• Propose improvements for yields and storage.

Skills

Knife skills

Understanding of HACCP

Communication

Organisational skills

Leadership

Job description

About Us:

Mountain is a buzzy, expansive Soho restaurant centred around the regional cookery of Catalonia and the produce of the Welsh terroir. With an atmospheric wood grill and wine bar, we value strong relationships with our farmers and growers. We take pride in ensuring our team is well informed about the exceptional ingredients we use. Our 600+ bottle wine list is industry acclaimed, alongside our Michelin star and other accolades. With initiatives like our grain and cheese programme, we’re passionate about staff development and career satisfaction.

We’re seeking a Senior Night Chef to join our Kitchen Team!

Role Overview:

As Senior Night Chef, you lead Mountain’s two-chef night shift to deliver consistent, high-quality overnight production that sets the kitchen up for exceptional day service. You’ll own the nightly prep plan, uphold standards of flavour and food safety, run compliance and logs, and ensure a crisp handover to the day team.

5 Core Responsibilities:

• Shift Leadership & Planning — Allocate tasks, set pace, sequence work, and keep the team on time.
• Standards & Quality Sign-off — Taste, check and sign off all night production to Mountain specs and SOPs.
• Food Safety Oversight — Own HACCP/CCPs, cooling logs, allergen controls, delivery checks and cleaning schedules.
• Handover Ownership — Deliver a clear, actionable 08:00 handover (pars, 86s, outstanding items, notes for service).
• Training & Development — Onboard, coach and performance-manage Night Chefs; maintain cross‑training and cover.

Leadership & Team Management:

• Lead a calm, focused two-person night team; model Mountain’s values and professional standards.
• Allocate tasks by skill and timeline; run brief at start of shift and debrief before handover.
• Coach in real time on knife skills, organisation, cooling methods and recipe accuracy; give clear feedback.

Operational Oversight:

• Own the nightly production plan: stocks, sauces, braises, marinades, pickles/ferments, doughs/pastry where relevant, butchery/portioning, vegetable prep, grill/wood‑fire mise as applicable.
• Monitor long cooks and plan cooling windows; maintain accurate par levels; flag shortages or yield issues early.
• Ensure precise labelling, dating and storage (FIFO) and tidy, efficient walk‑ins and dry stores.

Quality Assurance:

• Taste and season against recipes; check texture, temperature and presentation standards; rectify deviations quickly.
• Keep sections immaculate and audit‑ready; run spot checks on specs and yields; prevent cross‑contamination.

Compliance & Safety:

• Enforce HACCP and CCPs: cooking, cooling, reheating, hot/cold holding, blast chilling and probe calibration.
• Maintain complete, accurate logs (temperatures, deliveries, cleaning schedules, traceability).
• Ensure COSHH compliance for overnight cleaning; report equipment faults and incidents promptly.

Handover & Communication:

• Produce a concise written handover (pars hit/missed, 86s, outstanding prep, shelf life notes, maintenance issues).
• Align with day leadership on priorities and par adjustments; keep SOPs and prep lists up to date.

Continuous Improvement:

• Propose sensible tweaks to yields, batch sizes, cooling methods and storage to improve flavour, consistency and shelf life.
• Support menu changes with updated specs and training notes for night production.

What You’ll Bring:

• Proven experience at strong CDP or Junior Sous level in a high‑standard, fast‑paced kitchen.
• Excellent knife skills; confident with core prep, batch cooking, butchery/filleting, doughs/pastry basics, pickling/ferments.
• Solid understanding of HACCP, CCPs, allergen control, traceability and EHO expectations.
• Leadership that’s calm, organised and hands‑on; great communicator across shifts.
• Reliability, pace and pride in clean, efficient workspaces.
• Comfortable working nights 12am‑8am; flexibility to work varied shifts across 5 out of 7 days.
• Full UK right to work documents.

Collaboration:

• Partner with day prep and section leads to refine pars, shelf lives and spec details.
• Share supplier and ingredient knowledge to keep quality high and waste low.
• Help coordinate cross‑training so the night team can provide full cover.

What’s in it for you:

• 28 days of annual leave, including bank holidays.
• Access to courses, resources and training to enhance your career.
• 50% discount at all our restaurants, along with complimentary staff meals during your shifts.
• Discounted dining at various local establishments near Super 8 Restaurants.
• Enhanced maternity leave, pension scheme, subsidised mental health support, and a cycle‑to‑work scheme.
• Refer a Friend scheme—recommend someone to join Super 8 and receive a bonus!
• Opportunities for both international and national travel to visit our suppliers and learn about sourcing ingredients and beverages.
• £300 contribution towards the purchase of a work laptop for all salaried staff members.

If this role sounds like a great fit for you, we’d love to see your application! Please keep in mind that it may take us 1 to 2 weeks to get back to you due to the high volume of applications. Thanks for your patience!