Head Chef - Hotels

Head Chef

Department: Accommodation, Catering and Events; Business Development, Hotels

Line Manager: Group General Manager

Grade: UOE07 - £36,333 – £43,155

Posts: 1

Working hours and shift pattern: 35 hours, spilt over 5 days per week.

Are you an experienced Head Chef looking for a fresh challenge? This is a fantastic opportunity to join our hotel team in a newly created role, where you will have responsibility to lead the Kitchen team(s) across three hotels and deliver exceptional services to our guests.

The University of Edinburgh, through its Accommodation, Catering and Events (ACE) department, manages a large portfolio of hotels, venues, student and seasonal accommodation. This includes four hotels with circa 200 beds, The Scott, The Scholar, KM Hotel and KM Apartments: https://www.uoecollection.com/hotels/

It also includes over 10,000 student bedrooms, many of which are used during the summer for large group bookings and individual leisure guests, and over 70 meeting and event spaces.

The Opportunity:

This exciting new post offers significant opportunities to make a difference, joining us at an exciting time following a period of significant investment in our hotels. The post holder will be integral to the future success of our hotels and will play a key part in driving growth and delivering and excellent guest experiences in collaboration with the hotel’s senior management team.

You will be responsible for:

• The role holder will lead the kitchen team to ensure that agreed service levels and standard operating procedures are consistently delivered and guests receive an exceptional level of service when dining with us. They will observe and coach the kitchen team to ensure standards are met and they will lead on resourcing activities including recruitment, induction, training and performance reviews.
  

• The role holder will play a leading role, in partnership with the Group General Manager, in the development of the hotel food menus (including restaurant, bar, banqueting & group menus), introducing new products and service and the design of new restaurant concepts. They will ensure that the offering is competitive in the marketplace, leading on the training and coaching of all F&B staff on new menus and products, and regularly reviewing customer feedback.
  

• The role holder will be responsible for, in collaboration with the wider F&B management team, driving profit growth in our restaurant and bars.
  

• The role holder will lead in the development of standard operating procedures and will proactively look for innovative ideas to improve guest satisfaction scores and increase food profit.
• The role holder will work with the hotel store manager to ensure food wastage is minimized, the proper & hygienic storage of all food items and ensuring the appropriate food stock levels are maintained at all times.
  

• The role holder will be responsible for conducting all statutory and mandatory training (e.g. HACPP, Health and Hygiene, Fire Safety), maintaining full records for the kitchen team.
• Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability and confidence to relate to staff at all levels within the organisation and have the confidence to challenge existing practices.
• Has experience of working within a 4*/5*hotel
  

Your skills and attributes for success.

We are looking for a Head Chef who can / has:

• Demonstrable experience of leading and motivating a team.
• Ability to communicate effectively with guests, ensuring their needs are met beyond expectation
• High level of experience of Hotel Kitchen functions
• Ability to make decisions with conviction and confidence

Click here for a copy of the full job description

As a valued member of our team you can expect:

An exciting, positive, creative, challenging and rewarding place to work. We give you support, nurture your talent and reward success. You will benefit from a competitive reward package and a wide range of staff benefits, which includes a generous holiday entitlement, a defined benefits pension scheme , staff discounts, family friendly initiatives , flexible working and much more. Access our staff benefits page for further information and use our reward calculator to find out the total value of pay and benefits.

The University of Edinburgh holds a Silver Athena SWAN award in recognition of our commitment to advance gender equality in higher education. We are members of the Race Equality Charter and we are also Stonewall Scotland Diversity Champions, actively promoting LGBT equality.

Interviews will be held within 2 weeks of the closing date.

If invited for interview you will be required to evidence your right to work in the UK. Further information is available on our right to work webpages.

The University is unable to sponsor the employment of international workers in this role. International applicants will therefore be unable to apply for and secure a Skilled Worker visa. They will only be able to take up this role if they can demonstrate an alternative right to work in the UK.