Head Chef – New Daytime - Only Brunch Café Opening in Cambridge
£40,000–£42,000 + tips + performance bonusDaytime only | No late nights | Brand-new opening | Central Cambridge
Love being a chef, but not the lifestyle that usually comes with it?
We’re opening a brand-new daytime-only brunch café in central Cambridge and we’re looking for a brilliant Head Chef to take the lead.
This isn't a sleepy little café kitchen. We’re a busy, ambitious, fresh-food operation with a strong focus on creative brunch dishes, big flavours, great ingredients and generous plates. You'll get the pace, creativity and buzz of a seriously busy kitchen — without the late-night finishes.
We’re an established independent hospitality business with two successful venues already behind us, and Cambridge will be our third.
You’ll have experienced people, proven systems and plenty of support around you, but we don't want someone to simply follow a manual.
We want you to make this kitchen your own.
You'll have genuine input into dishes and menu development, recruit and develop your own kitchen team and take ownership of the food, standards and performance of the kitchen from day one.
Ready to become a Head Chef?
You don't necessarily need to have been a Head Chef before.
If you're a talented Sous Chef who's ready to step up and run your own kitchen, we absolutely want to hear from you.
We're much more interested in finding someone with the right food knowledge, leadership ability, energy and ambition than somebody who simply has "Head Chef" on their CV.
Equally, if you're an experienced Head Chef who's had enough of evenings, split shifts and getting home at midnight, this could offer something quite different.
What you'll be doing
- Leading the day-to-day running of a busy, high-volume, fresh-food brunch kitchen.
- Taking real ownership of the food and maintaining excellent standards of flavour, presentation and consistency.
- Having genuine input into new dishes, seasonal specials and ongoing menu development.
- Recruiting, training, motivating and developing your kitchen team.
- Creating a positive, organised kitchen culture where people enjoy coming to work and standards remain high.
- Making sure prep, ordering, stock and kitchen organisation keep even the busiest services running smoothly.
- Taking ownership of food costs, GP, wastage and portion control without compromising quality or generosity.
- Maintaining excellent food safety, allergen, cleanliness and compliance standards.
- Working closely with the General Manager and FOH team — we believe the best cafés operate as one team, rather than kitchen versus front of house.
- Helping shape the food and culture of a completely new café from the very beginning.
What we're looking for
You'll probably be an experienced Head Chef or a strong Sous Chef ready for your first Head Chef position.
More importantly, you'll be someone who:
- Really loves food and gets excited about creating and improving dishes.
- Has strong experience in a busy, fresh-food kitchen.
- Can stay organised and maintain standards when service gets seriously busy.
- Enjoys leading people and getting the best out of a team.
- Leads from the front and isn't afraid to get stuck in.
- Takes responsibility rather than waiting to be told what needs doing.
- Understands food costs, stock, ordering, wastage and kitchen controls.
- Has excellent knowledge of food safety and allergens.
- Wants genuine ownership of a kitchen and a voice in what goes on the menu.
- Is ambitious, positive and excited by the challenge of a new opening.
What we're offering
£40,000–£42,000 per year, depending on experiencePlus tipsPlus performance-related bonus
And perhaps most importantly:
Daytime-only working. No late-night finishes.
You'll still work hard. You'll still have incredibly busy services. And you'll have real responsibility for your kitchen.
But you'll also get your evenings back.
You'll have the opportunity to join us before the doors open, helping recruit your team, set up your kitchen and influence how we do things from the very beginning.
We're independent, ambitious and growing, so for the right person there's plenty of opportunity to develop with us too.
If you're already a great Head Chef — or you're a Sous Chef reading this thinking “I'm ready for that” — we'd really like to hear from you.
Apply now and let's have a conversation.
Pay: £40,000.00-£49,499.10 per year
Benefits:
Experience:
- Chef: 2 years (preferred)
Work Location: In person
