About this role
Job summary
We're looking for someone who can motivate, engage, and lead a team in the catering department. This fantastic opportunity has arisen for a motivated and experienced Head Chef to join our team at our renovated restaurant to a lead and develop the food offer.
We are looking for a chef who is passionate about food, enthusiastic, personable, creative, organised, and flexible. As you will be responsible for managing a brigade of chefs and kitchen assistants, you will need strong leadership skills with the ability to engage, instruct, motivate whilst remaining calm under pressure. Working a varied rota, five days from seven.
You will be a real foodie with a passion and flair for innovation and different styles of food including street food trends as well as hospitality.
This is an excellent opportunity to develop your career in a growing business within the NHS.
Main duties of the job
To produce all catering services at the required service times to the company standards, within the agreed specification, to the agreed performance and financial targets.
To take full responsibility and accountability for the catering in our restaurant and caf outlets.
To lead by example by providing guidance and direction to staff in the team. Conducting yourself in a respectful and professional manner and to encourage others to act in the same manner.
To manage and undertake regular team meetings with the teams and provide feedback to the senior management team.
Manage the department in line with the Food Safety Management System.
To ensure that all food production areas, ancillary rooms' fridges, and general catering equipment are kept in a clean and hygienic state through-out the duration of production, cooking, and service.
Carry out weekly & monthly audits against daily/monthly due diligence and cleaning schedules.
Actively enforce the relevant Food Safety compliance, that your knowledge of Health and Safety, Risk Management and COSHH requirements are kept up to date and that this knowledge is cascaded to your team.
To have a thorough knowledge of the Food Safety Procedures, cleaning techniques and standards and to ensure that staff use and maintain these.
About us
Please submit your application as soon as possible, as we reserve the right to close adverts once sufficient applications have been received.
We recognise that AI tools can support application writing; however, candidates are asked to keep their use to a minimum. Responses should reflect your own experience, skills and knowledge, as over-reliance on AI-generated content may result in generic answers that do not accurately represent your abilities.
University Hospitals of Northamptonshire (UHN) brings together Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust. As a group, we are committed to improving services for our communities through collaboration, modernising care delivery and striving for excellence. Working together enables us to share expertise, strengthen services and create greater opportunities, and there may be a requirement to work across sites depending on service needs.
Our Excellence Values are Compassion, Accountability, Respect, Integrity and Courage. UHN welcomes applications from all backgrounds and is committed to an inclusive working environment. We are proud signatories of the Armed Forces Covenant and hold the Gold Award under the Employer Recognition Scheme. Candidates who identify as members of the Armed Forces community and meet the essential criteria will be guaranteed an interview.
Job description Job responsibilities
To produce all catering services at the required service times to the company standards, within the agreed specification, to the agreed performance and financial targets.
To take full responsibility and accountability for the catering in our restaurant and caf outlets.
To lead by example by providing guidance and direction to staff in the team. Conducting yourself in a respectful and professional manner and to encourage others to act in the same manner.
To manage and undertake regular team meetings with the teams and provide feedback to the senior management team.
Manage the department in line with the Food Safety Management System.
To ensure that all food production areas, ancillary rooms fridges, and general catering equipment are kept in a clean and hygienic state through-out the duration of production, cooking, and service.
Carry out weekly & monthly audits against daily/monthly due diligence and cleaning schedules.
Actively enforce the relevant Food Safety compliance, that your knowledge of Health and Safety, Risk Management and COSHH requirements are kept up to date and that this knowledge is cascaded to your team.
To have a thorough knowledge of the Food Safety Procedures, cleaning techniques and standards and to ensure that staff use and maintain these.
Encourage, engage, and lead the catering team to perform their roles to a high standard, in alignment to the NHS policies and procedures.
Actively seek and identify opportunities for sales growth.
Create proposals for improvements in the department areas when the need occurs to the Catering Services Management Team and to contribute to the improvement of the services.
Manage tariff prices, that all catering services are costed and charged accordingly.
Maintain stock levels, consumption & wastage.
Management of the ordering of food and supplies.
Successfully completing weekly stock takes to manage the department consumption spend.
Trust wide, Directorate and Departmental procedures are implemented and complied with by all catering staff.
Manage departmental attendance and sickness, in line with the absence and sickness policies.
Manage all Short Term and Long-Term sickness.
Manage Recruitment, Onboarding & Training, ensure that staffing levels meet budgets.
To co-ordinate the mandatory training needs for all catering team members and report on completion statistics
Report any work difficulties and potential hazards such as equipment defects promptly to the responsible line manager or external service provider.
To maintain a pleasant customer focussed manner always. Be the face of the food service front and back of house.
To undertake, manage and supervise annual appraisals with all catering team members and to report back any figures a necessary.
Monitor and Adhere to the Trust and Departmental uniform policies and codes.
To complete weekly timesheets on the e-rostering system for bank and substantive staff.
Work with other department managers to organise hospitality events.
Any other reasonable request related to tasks identified by the Catering Services Manager.
Person Specification
Education, Training & Qualifications Essential
Food Safety Level 3 NVQ3 Vocational Chef Qualification, or equivalent knowledge acquired through training & experience Knowledge acquired through training & experience to diploma level on special diets & health & safety management Willingness to undergo additional training
Knowledge & Experience Essential
Recognized Catering Craft Skill Strong People Management Skills including general HR skills in recruitment, training and managing employee performance including disciplinary & grievance procedures Delivered a service in a smililar role Financial Acumen, managing budget Catering experience & a great passion for food & team engagement
Skills Essential
Preparation of food to deadlines and general food production such as butchery Kitchen task planning and organising, adjusting work schedule as required
Key Competencies/Personal Qualities & Attributes Essential
Passionate & committed to bringing our Dedicated to Excellence Values to life, improving the way we work with each other, particularly focusing on empowerment, equality, diversity & inclusion of staff, patients & service users. Management of day to day kitchen operations & delegation of work to colleagues Ensures safe use of equipment & associated training Strong level of literacy & numeracy Excellent communication skills with the ability to communicate with staff & customers Good time management & organisational skills with the ability to think ahead Computer Literacy Completing Staff surveys & local audits Ability to achieve & set standards Self motivated, have own initiative & the ability to meet deadlines Mental effort & concentration required when cooking and using equipment Processing of time sheets & work records for staff & colleagues Ability to develop employees through training
Disclosure and Barring Service Check This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Certificate of Sponsorship Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
Employer details Employer name Northampton General Hospital
Address Eat Street Restaurant, Northampton General Hospital
Cliftonville
Northampton
NN1 5BD
United Kingdom
Employer's website https://www.northamptongeneral.nhs.uk/Home.aspx (Opens in a new tab)