Lead Chef – Café and Catering
Groundwork · Direct employer
Working pattern: 35 hours per week, with flexibility to work additional hours as required
Salary: £25,480 per annum
About the role
We're looking for an experienced Lead Chef to oversee all aspects of our café kitchen and catering operations at Greenhouse Business Centre. This is a hands-on role where you'll lead by example, preparing fresh, high-quality food for daily café trade and conference or meeting catering. You'll manage kitchen operations, ensure full compliance with food safety regulations, and lead a small team to deliver excellent food and service standards.
What you'll be doing
- Lead all kitchen operations for the café and catering services
- Prepare and cook a variety of dishes including sandwiches, soups, bakes, and hot lunches
- Design, plan, and cost seasonal menus for the café and catering events
- Ensure all food is prepared to high quality, taste, and presentation standards
- Maintain consistency, efficiency, and attention to detail during service
- Plan and deliver catering for on-site conferences, meetings, and special events
- Liaise with business centre staff to meet client requirements and event timelines
- Ensure catering deliveries are accurate, on time, and professionally presented
- Take full responsibility for kitchen hygiene, cleanliness, and safety
- Implement and maintain HACCP procedures and food hygiene records
- Conduct and document all required daily, weekly, and monthly checks
- Ensure all staff follow food safety, allergen, and cleaning protocols
- Manage ordering, delivery, and storage of food and supplies
- Monitor stock levels, control wastage, and operate within agreed budgets
- Supervise and support Catering Assistant(s) and any temporary staff
- Provide on-the-job training, guidance, coaching and feedback
- Foster a positive, efficient and customer-focused kitchen culture
- Conduct regular one-to-one meetings and performance reviews for team members
- Take ownership of operational issues, complaints and service challenges
- Communicate issues, risks and proposed solutions to management
What you'll bring
- Proven experience as a Lead Chef or Senior Chef in a café, hospitality or catering environment
- Strong culinary skills with the ability to design, cost and deliver varied menus
- Excellent understanding of food hygiene, allergen control and HACCP systems
- Strong leadership, communication and interpersonal skills
- Excellent planning, organisation and time management skills
- Ability to balance café service, catering orders, administration, stock management and staff supervision
- Strong administrative and record-keeping skills with attention to detail
- Competence in Microsoft Office applications, particularly Outlook, Word and Excel
- Food Hygiene Level 3 (minimum)
- A proactive, solution-focused approach with the ability to work independently and take ownership
What's on offer
- 35 hours per week with flexibility to work additional hours as required
- A hands-on role leading a small catering team
- Opportunity to design and deliver varied menus for café and catering clients
- Work within a community-focused organisation
Additional information
You'll comply with all organisational policies and procedures, including safeguarding responsibilities for children, young people and vulnerable adults. You may be required to work outside normal office hours.
You may have experience of the following: Head Chef, Senior Chef, Kitchen Manager, Catering Manager, Executive Chef, Sous Chef, Chef de Partie, Food Service Manager, Culinary Lead, Catering Supervisor
REF-229 881
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