Head Chef

Lion; Blenheim; On-site; NZD 30,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading wine and restaurant company in Blenheim is seeking an experienced Head Chef to lead a passionate team. Responsibilities include creating appealing menus, ensuring food safety, and driving continuous improvement in the kitchen. Qualifications in food safety and commercial cookery are essential. This is a full-time position with a focus on quality and leadership.

Benefits

Commitment to diversity and inclusion

Support for accessibility during recruitment

Qualifications

• Strong leadership and organizational skills.
• Qualifications in food safety management and commercial cookery qualifications.
• Broad understanding of hospitality and industry trends.
• Ability to motivate and inspire a team.

Responsibilities

• Deliver a balanced, costed menu that appeals to customers.
• Organize preparation for a la carte and function menus.
• Conduct quality control inspections for kitchen standards.
• Drive continuous improvement in the kitchen department.

Skills

Leadership skills

Organizational skills

Mentoring and training ability

Knowledge of food safety

Education

Commercial cookery qualifications (cert 3 & 4)

Qualifications in food safety management

Job description

Overview

Wither Hills is an icon of the New Zealand wine industry – with our Cellar Door venue one of the most visited in the Marlborough region. Wither Hills adjoining Restaurant is now on the lookout for an experienced, passionate, talented Head Chef who wants to be part of a fun, committed, and experienced team.

This is a Permanent Full-Time position working 40 hours per week between Monday to Sunday; the restaurant's regular trading hours are Monday to Sunday lunch only with dinner service on Friday & Saturday evenings and occasional night events. Based out of Blenheim and reporting to the Hospitality Operations Manager, this is an excellent leadership opportunity to lead a small team with a focus on safety, quality, process excellence, culture and brand experience.

Your key responsibilities are:

• Deliver a balanced, costed and consistently excellent accessible menu that is site appropriate and will appeal to our customer base.
• Organise the preparation and workflow for a la carte, event and function menus concurrently within the resource parameters available.
• Maintain knowledge of current and emerging trends to produce products that impact business opportunities through research, development, and technical excellence.
• Drive a continuous improvement ethos within the kitchen department and support the development of staff professionally and technically.
• Establish, train, and maintain food safety procedures in accordance with legislative regulations for the production, storage and service of food.
• Conduct quality control inspections to ensure the department adheres to organizational standards, kitchen cleanliness, hygiene standards, food handling and storage standards.

Your experience and qualifications

• Strong leadership and organisational skills coupled with a passion for mentoring and training.
• Qualifications in food safety management and commercial cookery qualifications (preferably cert 3 & 4).
• A broad and in-depth understanding of hospitality including local and industry trends, commercial management, key suppliers and customers.
• Cross-functional agility and ability to work with other key stakeholders and departments to influence outcomes.
• Strong technical and learning agility to apply new concepts and continuously improve.
• Proven ability to motivate and inspire people at all levels to build a high-achieving team.

If you have a true passion for food & wine and being involved in something truly special excites you and you aren’t afraid to roll your sleeves up, please send us your application – we can’t wait to hear from you!

We’re a certified B Corp, which means we care about people, planet and purpose—not just profit. We’re committed to diversity, equity and inclusion, and we celebrate the unique perspectives that help us grow and innovate. We intentionally embrace difference and cultivate belonging every day, whether through our investment in our Reconciliation journey through our Innovate RAP, our commitment to gender pay equity or providing progressive people policies.

If you need specific support or accessibility adjustments at any stage of the recruitment process, please let us know at [e-mail] so we can make sure that your recruitment process is fair and we enable you to shine. This includes tailored support for First Nations people, individuals with disabilities, those who are neurodivergent, and people who identify as transgender or gender diverse as we understand the unique challenges and concerns you may face.