Culinary Director - UK

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Job Introduction

Culinary Director - UK for Levy UK

• 5 out of 7 days per week
• Medicash - Healthcare benefits, including dental, optical and therapy treatments (includes up to 4 dependent children)
• Aviva Digicare - Free annual healthcare check
• Exclusive Benefits & Wellbeing site (Perks at Work)
• Entertainment discounts - up to 55% off cinema tickets
• Health & Wellbeing discounts - Discounts for Nuffield Health (20%) and Pure Gym (10%)
• Travel discounts - Discounts with holiday companies such as TUI and Expedia
• Shopping discounts - Save up to 15% at high street and online stores by purchasing Shopping Cards

• Meals on duty
• Vodaphone discounts
• Pension scheme and Life Assurance
• Employee Assistance Programme
• 27 days + BH's and an additional day off for your birthday
• 2 days additional leave, following return from Maternity leave during the first year back
• Competitive and supportive family benefits
• Day off for baby's 1st birthday
• Holiday purchase scheme
• On-going training & development and career pathways
• Professional subscriptions paid
• Financial wellbeing programme and preferred rates on salary finance products

Who We Are:

Levy UK is the official catering partner to Chelsea Football Club responsible for the catering across the Chelsea Football Club estate, including Stamford Bridge stadium, Chelsea FC's training facility in Cobham and Kingsmeadow Women's stadium in Kingston.

Levy UK at Chelsea Football Club cater for an estimated 1.15 million fans annually; delivering catering across 43 public outlets, 58 boxes and 20 suites on match-days. There are over 1,000 corporate and private events are held at Stamford Bridge each year along with a growing, forward-thinking collection of catering solutions across the rest of the busin

Overview:

Levy is the vibrant and exciting sector of Compass Group, the world's largest catering company. We work at some of the greatest venues in the world, delivering legendary experiences in food, drink, and hospitality.

We are proud to have a wealth of long-standing partnerships with venues across sport, entertainment, and events. Our partnerships include venues such as Wimbledon, Twickenham, Edgbaston, Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea, Johan Cruifjj ArenA, Principality Stadium, Scottish Event Campus (SEC) and ExCel London.

We are culinary champions - it's what we do and it's what we are passionate about. At the core of our work is the belief that sustainably sourced great food and drink, coupled with exceptional service is key to creating legendary experiences.

Focussed on 'doing the right thing' for our people and the planet. sustainability, wellbeing, diversity, and inclusion are at the heart of what we do.

We have a commitment to being Net Zero by 2027, are official partners of the British Paralympic Association, and are proud to pay all our team members at least the Real Living Wage or London Living Wage in the UK.

Role Purpose:

The Culinary Director is an active member of the Senior Leadership Team in each of their respective countries and is responsible for overseeing the culinary teams in venues to develop innovative menus and ensure legendary food experiences that support client and consumer requirements, whilst achieving Levy's strategic culinary vision and goals and have a clear understanding of the levers that drive profitability and growth.

They inspire the next generation of culinary talent both internal and external by fostering a culture of collaboration and excellence and advocating the highest standards of food safety within the culinary teams

Key Responsibilities:

Menu Development and Innovation

• Design and develop creative and seasonal menus that align with Levy food strategy and concepts.
• Oversee menu engineering and recipe standardisation to ensure consistency, quality and cost management (The Source)
• Research and implement culinary trends and client and customer preferences to continually refresh and innovate menus

Operational Oversight

• Leading our Regional Chef to oversee daily culinary operations across multiple venue in UK, ensuring consistency in food quality and service.
• Supporting our chefs a large high profile events, such as Wimbledon, Goodwood etc.
• Develop and implement standard operating procedures (Levy Core Signatures) for food preparation, kitchen safety and hygiene.
• Conduct regular kitchen audits to ensure compliance with Health & Safety regulations.

Leadership and People

• Lead, coach, inspire and develop direct and indirect reports to maximise performance.
• Ensure that technical knowledge and core skills capability of the venue culinary team are appropriate.
• Set and monitor performance targets and personal development plans (PDPs) for direct reports.
• Foster a positive and inclusive .
• Review talent within region and wider operations to establish succession planning strategy.

Stakeholder Management

• Establish and maintain relationships with key client stakeholders at all venues.
• Lead quarterly business discussions with clients and venue teams to review current performance and have a forward focus on strategic approach to food and drink delivery.
• Attend a cross section of key events, to maintain client partnership, review operational performance and establish opportunities for improvement both commercially and from a guest experience perspective.
• Identify client interests and where appropriate and within reason, host clients at other Levy UK&I venues to showcase operational delivery and grow client relationship.

New Business and Retention

• Ensure that there are focussed and meaningful contract retention plans in the venues and review these with venue teams
• Involvement in new business and retender proposals and presentations as required.
• Seek new business and growth opportunities across geographical region.

Health, Safety and Sustainability

• Ensure Compass HSE policy /process is communicated and consistently applied across venues.
• Monitor LTI's, training compliance, hygiene audits, health and safety reviews. Conduct regular safety walks at venues, and in all cases review findings and ensure improvements are made as required.
• Own the delivery of the sustainability strategy at regional and venue level, ensuring that venues have a focussed and planned approach to achieving Net Zero by 2027.

Partner Businesses

• Support venue discussions with Partner Businesses to ensure that we actively engage with the strategic solutions that they can provide (Benchmark, KERB and Peppermint)
• Actively enable opportunities with our Partner Businesses to establish the best solution commercially and operationally for our clients and our venues.

About you:

At Levy UK & Ireland, we take pride in fostering a workplace culture that celebrates diversity and promotes inclusion. We believe that our differences are our greatest strengths, and we are committed to creating an environment where every individual is valued, respected, and empowered.

Our team is a vibrant tapestry of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives, which enriches our creativity, innovation, and overall success. We are dedicated to providing equal opportunities, promoting fairness, and ensuring that all voices are heard.

We firmly believe that a diverse team leads to innovation and creativity. We welcome candidates from all walks of life and backgrounds to join us in our mission to create a supportive and equitable work environment where everyone has the chance to excel and collaborate.

Join us in our journey towards a more diverse and inclusive world, where every person has the chance to thrive and contribute their unique talents. Together, we can achieve greatness.