Head Chef – Team Manager

About the roleWe have an exciting opportunity to join the Hospitality & Food Service team as a Head Chef (internally known as Team Manager - Food Production) at our John Lewis Head Office in Pimlico.
As a Head Chef, you will be responsible for our popular Partner Dining Room (serving up to 700 covers for Breakfast and Lunch), shaping and influencing all aspects of the menu development and food production, including compliance and risk management.
You will also be responsible for leading and inspiring the kitchen team (of 7) in cooking meals for busy services.

• Salary - £28,000 - £42,000 dependent on experience plus benefits

• Contract type - This position is a Permanent contract. This role offers a great work-life balance working weekdays only -  Monday - Friday 7:00 am - 3:00 pm - No Overtime

• Location - This role is based at our London Head Office in Pimlico. 

As a Partner you will enjoy our unique benefits package including:-

• Discount at John Lewis and Waitrose

• Meals including On-Duty included 

• Subsidised Learning (max £250 per year)

• Access to exclusive Partnership hotels and Hospitality.

• Stable work/life balance - your weekends are yours. 

Please be aware that due to the nature and activities of this role, all successful candidates will have a DBS check carried out on them through a 3rd party registered body. For more details on DBS checks and what these entail, please visit the Government website.

Key responsibilities

• Managing, leading and motivating a team as you deliver excellence in food service for our Partner Dining Room (London - SW1V 2QQ)- serving approx. (700) customers over the Breakfast and Lunch menus. 

• Leading/Assisting the Kitchen team (of 7) as they offer food inspiration; creating and preparing a menu that meets all Partners needs while maintaining the highest standards of Food Safety/Hygiene and Quality Control.

• Developing yourself and the team's capabilities and capacity to create exciting career development opportunities. Recognising, celebrating, and rewarding individual and team success and leading democratic vitality.

• Playing a vital role in the recovery of the business in case of Service Failure.  

• Leading the full compliance with JLP Catering policies (ie. building Recipe Cards, Costing, etc.), Health and Safety Standards and legislation - ensuring due diligence checks and appropriate recording are carried out and maintained. 

• Please note that you will be part of a central Hospitality team which delivers and works as part of the National Distribution Centre network, so this may involve travel to other locations and out of hours availability on occasions

Essential skills/experience you’ll need 

• Recognised Food Production Certificate, City & Guilds Level 1 & 2/ or equivalent.

• Intermediate Food Hygiene Certificate - or - Advanced Food Hygiene Certificate Level 3

• Operational experience in Dining Room environments and/or the Hospitality industry acting as a leader on the Food Service team. 

• Line management experience is desirable.

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About The Partnership

We’re the largest employee owned business in the UK and home of our cherished brands, John Lewis and Waitrose. We’re not just employees, we’re Partners, driven by our purpose to build a happier world. As we look to our future, there’s never been a more exciting time to join us.

We’re ruthlessly focused on being brilliant at retail. We continue to innovate, adapt and diversify. Never Knowingly Undersold on price, quality and service in John Lewis and passionately serving food-lovers in Waitrose.

As Partners we all share the responsibility of ownership and in its rewards. We use our voices to contribute to our success, working together through the good and challenging times, holding true to our behaviours and treating everyone with kindness and respect.

We all own making the Partnership somewhere we belong. Embracing our differences and creating an environment where we’re free to be ourselves and can THRIVE. Growing ourselves individually, and as a collective.

As Partners, we make all the difference. And, we all own it.

Important points to note:

It’s important to note that some of our roles are subject to pre-employment vetting. If required, you’ll find out more about vetting throughout the recruitment process and we encourage you to complete any vetting documents quickly to avoid delays.

We also recommend that you apply as soon as possible as vacancies can close early if we see a high number of applicants.

We want all of our Partners to have a good work-life balance and we support flexible working. This might mean flexible or compressed hours, job sharing or shorter hour contracts, where possible. Please discuss this further with the hiring manager during your interview.