HEAD CHEF AT VILLIERS HOTEL - 3 Castle Street, Buckingham, MK18 1BS Salary: Up to £42,000 per annum plus tips Hours: 45 hours per week - to include shift work, weekends & bank holidays Villiers Hotel is a spectacular 18th Century 49-bedroom hotel situated in the heart of the historic market town of Buckingham. Villiers has undergone a major refurbishment to all front of house areas and The Old Town Hall which provides all the meeting, serviced offices and function space. The Head Chef will deliver high quality food to restaurant customers and the conference and banqueting customers. Ensure the overall business achieves its ultimate potential in that of sales and profitability through creating an environment for customers which is stylish, contemporary, offering high quality ‘modern’ food. Responsibilities As a Head of Department, review the monthly sales performance and profit and loss of the business with the hotel General Manager, Finance Manager and F&B Manager. Contribute to business strategy discussions to ensure the maximum results for the business are achieved. Take total responsibility for the quality and profitability of food production in all outlets. Work alongside the General Manager ensuring that standards of both food production and service are consistently high and that the agreed standards are maintained and regularly tested and reviewed. Review on a regular basis the guest feedback obtained from clients, both internally and externally, and to ensure quality levels are consistently maintained to the agreed levels. Minimise waste of man hours through effective rostering. Ensuring no unnecessary Casuals/Overtime/Temporary Agency Staff and to work to budgeted payroll targets set against revenue. Ensure the Kitchen is always organised to meet business demands, with particular attention being given to Food costing and restaurant payroll. Understand and to participate in all target setting activities with Senior Managers within the restaurant team and to ensure that these are communicated effectively to all other team members and achievements are reviewed and also communicated. Create and execute any weekly/monthly changing menus as required for the Restaurant and Bar, within the agreed margins and ensure effective communication with Front of House personnel. Encourage ethos of driving for results ensuring quality is not compromised. Take responsibility for all food related stock items and to order all food items in accordance with business levels and to ensure that only agreed suppliers are utilised. Produce, in good time, all dishes to the agreed specifications and profitability. Motivate the kitchen team by being confident through your personality, being dynamic and positive at all times, and leading from the front. Promote a positive attitude and display the ability to ‘make things happen’ to achieve or exceed anticipated results and encourage the same in the team. Create and subsequently develop the recipe manuals/SOPs as new dishes and menus are introduced. These are to be databased and fully specified with photographs. In conjunction with General Manager, organise and execute daily taste panels with Kitchen and Restaurant Team to underpin their existing Food and Beverage knowledge. Carry out training with own team to continually improve the skill base of the kitchen brigade. To also become involved with the ongoing training of the other areas i.e. bar and restaurant, to assist in their product knowledge and thus improve upselling opportunities. Promote Kitchen exchanges with company properties and independent restaurants to further develop the skills and knowledge of your team members. Ensure all Training provided is documented and signed off by relevant staff, and that a personal development plan is in place for every member of the team. Ensure that Mystery Guest results are communicated to all staff and any action required is carried out immediately together with the Training that is necessary to address points of concern. Be actively involved in the recruitment and selection of the Kitchen team members. Take responsibility for implementing and continually reviewing the effectiveness of all Food Hygiene Practices and procedures to ensure that you fully comply with all food Hygiene legislation and the Company’s Food Hygiene Policy. Responsible for inspecting the physical aspects of all kitchen areas, cold rooms and equipment and report any defects immediately to the Hotel’s Maintenance. Ensure compliance within the Kitchen with Legal, Government and Company Policies relating to, Fire, Health and Safety procedures and ensure team are fully conversant with their responsibilities also. Ensure that Risk Assessments and COSHH Assessments are carried out, reviewed yearly, training staff in all aspects. Take responsibility for ensuring all administrative work is completed in a timely manner i.e. completion of employee timesheets, rotas. The Ideal Candidate You will need previous 4 star (at least) experience working in a large food and beverage operation. Passion, creativity, imagination and inspiration are essential. The ideal candidate will have strong leadership skills combined with a team player attitude. We are looking for a highly structured and organised individual.