Head Chef – Pollen
A rare opportunity to lead with creativity, precision and passion.
At Pollen, we're obsessed with produce, detail and craft. From our world-class bakers and pastry chefs to our warm, knowledgeable front of house teams, everything we do is about uncompromising quality and genuine hospitality.
Now, we're looking for a Head Chef to bring that same level of excellence to our kitchens. This is an opportunity for an ambitious, produce-led chef to take the reins across our two busy cafés – building, inspiring and leading talented teams while creating dishes that truly showcase the best of the seasons.
What You'll Be Doing
* Leading with vision and precision – setting the tone daily in the kitchen, inspiring your team to deliver dishes with finesse and consistency.
* Developing people – from recruiting and mentoring new talent to driving growth and progression across the team, you'll be the heartbeat of the kitchen culture.
* Crafting seasonal menus – working closely with our senior production team to design evolving menus that balance creativity with accessibility, all grounded in produce and flavour.
* Championing suppliers – strengthening our existing network of growers and producers while forging new relationships that elevate our offering.
* Driving performance – managing everything from menu costing to forecasting, ensuring the kitchen delivers both creatively and commercially.
* Maintaining excellence in standards – embedding food safety, compliance and Pollen processes as second nature for your teams.
About You
* Experience in leading kitchens at high-end café/restaurant level.
* A strong creative instinct – obsessive about produce, flavour and presentation.
* Proven ability to manage high-volume service while upholding exacting standards.
* A natural leader who thrives on developing people and building strong teams.
* Calm, approachable and organised – able to balance creativity with operational control.
* Early mornings don't faze you, and you share our love for bread, pastry and coffee.
Why Join Pollen?
You'll be joining a business where quality comes before compromise, where produce and people matter most, and where your creativity will shape how thousands of guests experience our cafés every week. This is your chance to take the precision of Michelin-level cooking and bring it into a progressive, produce-driven café environment – one that values imagination, collaboration and growth.