Vacancies - Sous Chef / Junior Sous Chef

Location: Orchard Room, Highgrove Estate
Department: Catering
Reports to: Head Chef
Salary: Up to £36,000 PA
Contract: Permanent, full-time

Working at Highgrove

When the Gardens at Highgrove open to the public each year, nearly 40,000 people come to visit. As part of our welcoming and highly professional Estate team, you'll make their experience special. This is a real chance to make a lasting impression and inspire our visitors to Highgrove.

Visitors can enjoy the hospitality offered in the Orchard Room. When the estate is open to the public, visitors with tour tickets can dine in the Orchard Room Restaurant, an elegant, table-serviced dining room with views of the Orchard Terrace. The restaurant offers a selection of meals and refreshments. Additionally, visitors can dine in the Orchard Room's private dining room, where private lunches are available for small groups.

What you'll be doing

The Sous/Junior Sous Chef will have the responsibility of assisting the Head Chef for managing the day-to-day kitchen activity in the Orchard Room Restaurant. They will ensure the kitchen operates efficiently and profitably while maintaining Highgrove's reputation and ethos.

Your passion will be for fresh, seasonal, and local produce, and you will assist in preparing menus that align with Highgrove principles. Working closely with the Head Chef, you will have a hands-on approach and a proactive and personable attitude. You will need experience working in a position within a high-profile, busy environment and managing a team. A high degree of confidentiality and discretion is essential.

Main areas of responsibility

• Deputise for the Head Chef
• Responsibility of the day-to-day operation of the Orchard Room Kitchen in the Head Chef’s absence
• Motivate and positively influence staff, both front and back of house, to ensure consistent teamwork
• Assist the Head Chef in creating, costing, and producing menus using locally sourced and sustainable ingredients
• Maintain a high standard of food, presentation, and behavior as expected at Highgrove
• Maintain awareness of health & safety issues and responsibilities, reporting and correcting any discrepancies with the hospitality manager
• Provide first aid to staff and visitors—training will be provided
• Conduct and record monthly stocktake
• Control stock, minimise waste, and operating to budgets
• Check cleaning supplies and any equipment used by the Orchard Room Kitchen teams and order when necessary via the Assistant Hospitality Manager
• Create and maintain relationships with suppliers
  
• Check delivery notes/invoice against order
• Assign invoices based on menu type
• Open and close the Orchard Room Kitchen, following the relevant procedures
• Attend regular catch-up meetings with the hospitality manager
• Respond professionally to customer complaints through the Restaurant and Event Supervisor
• Help in any area of the kitchen when circumstances dictate
• Ensuring that all employees adhere to the company’s uniform, customer service, health, food safety, and hygiene standard
• Assist the Head Chef to plan and implement rotas to ensure staff are used efficiently and where their strengths are highlighted, whilst managing wage costs, to include the kitchen porter
• Provide strong communication between the customer service team and the kitchen and FOH team to include stock levels, special requests, and dietary information
• Have a comprehensive understanding of the menu and offerings of Highgrove
• Train staff on intolerance and dietary requirements, working with the Assistant Hospitality Manager on new offerings
• Train and develop the Orchard Room Kitchen Team to ensure a compliant, engaged, and motivated team and fast, efficient service
• Produce S.O.P’s and training manuals where required
• Additional administration duties
• Carry out any other appropriate duties as request by the head chef
• Understanding the history of Highgrove and relaying this to guests of the gardens, being an ambassador for the King's Foundation.

Other

• The post will be based at The Orchard Room, Doughton, Tetbury
• The position is 40hrs per week, worked 5 days over 7, to include some weekends, bank holidays and occasional evenings
• TOIL is accrued during peak season and spent in off-peak season as the business requires
• Any TOIL spent prior to departing from the company, must be repaid within your last pay period
• You must have the legal right to work in the UK

View and download job description

Applications

If you would like to apply, select 'Apply Now' above and send your CV (stating 'Sous Chef/Junior Sous Chef Vacancy' as the subject line) together with information on the skills and experience you will bring as soon as possible.

Highgrove Gardens

Highgrove Gardens is a highly renowned garden, described as one of the most inspiring and innovative gardens in the UK. Since 1980, the gardens have been managed organically and include a variety of garden features and areas, including a walled kitchen garden, a thyme walk, topiary and hedging, a terrace garden, a cottage garden, wildflower meadows, island beds, an arboretum, a woodland garden, and various water features.

The King's Foundation

The King’s Foundation is a charity founded by King Charles III and was first formed in 1990. Inspired by the vision and values of His Majesty, the Foundation focuses on creating better communities where people, places and the planet can coexist in harmony.

The charity offers education courses for over 15,000 students annually, health and wellbeing programmes for nearly 2,000 people every year, and spearheads placemaking and regeneration projects in the UK and overseas to revitalise communities and historic buildings.

The King’s Foundation is headquartered at its flagship regeneration project, Dumfries House in Ayrshire, Scotland, and acts as custodian of other historic Royal sites including the Castle of Mey in Caithness, Scotland, and Highgrove Gardens in Gloucestershire, which are open to visitors. The Foundation also carries out its work at educational and cultural hubs in London, based at The King’s Foundation School for Traditional Arts in Shoreditch, Trinity Buoy Wharf on the River Thames and the Garrison Chapel in Chelsea.

The work of The King’s Foundation is underpinned by our Founder His Majesty The King’s philosophy of harmony: that by understanding the balance, the order and the relationships between ourselves and the natural world we can create a more sustainable future. We have a diverse and inclusive workplace, creating a welcoming, safe space for everyone. This means that every member of our team can bring their whole self to work. We encourage qualified applicants from a wide range of backgrounds to apply to and join The King’s Foundation and bring their valuable skills and experiences.

The Foundation is committed to the equal treatment of all current and prospective employees, including the provision of workplace adjustments. We do not tolerate discrimination based on protected characteristics (age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, gender identity, or marriage and civil partnership) or other differences such as socio-economic background or social origin.

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