Head Chef & Kitchen Manager
The Role
Hula Grassmarket is looking for an experienced Head Chef & Kitchen Manager to take full ownership of our kitchen operation.
This role is ideal for someone who is not only a strong chef, but also a genuine kitchen leader: organised, commercially aware, confident managing a team and able to create systems that make a busy kitchen run smoothly.
We already have a good team of chefs who know the kitchen and can cook well. What we are looking for now is someone who can lead them, develop them and turn the kitchen into a consistently well-managed operation.
You will have responsibility for the day-to-day running of the kitchen, food quality, team management, recipe development, food costs, ordering, stock, food safety and operational improvement.
Hula is a busy daytime brunch and healthy-eating café in the heart of Edinburgh's Grassmarket. Our menu includes brunch dishes, bowls, wraps, smoothies and healthy café food, with a strong focus on fresh ingredients, consistency and efficient service.
This is not a late-night restaurant role. We are primarily a daytime business, although weekends are an important part of the working week.
What You Will Own - Kitchen Leadership
You will be responsible for leading and managing the kitchen team, including:
- Running the kitchen day-to-day
- Setting clear standards and expectations
- Organising chefs and kitchen sections
- Managing preparation and service
- Coaching and developing the existing kitchen team
- Training new chefs
- Addressing performance issues when required
- Helping to build a reliable and positive kitchen culture
- Developing a strong second-in-command within the team
- Working with management on rotas, holidays and staffing requirements
We are looking for someone who is calm, organised and firm on standards, rather than an aggressive or old-fashioned kitchen manager.
Kitchen Operations
A major part of the role is making the kitchen more operationally efficient.
You should naturally look at a kitchen and think:
How can we make this simpler, faster, more consistent and easier for the team to operate?
You will be expected to develop and maintain systems including:
- Daily prep lists
- Prep par levels
- Opening and closing procedures
- Kitchen checklists
- Section organisation
- Batch preparation
- Portion controls
- Plating standards
- Stock management
- Waste controls
- Cleaning standards
- Kitchen handovers
- Service procedures
Hula Grassmarket can become extremely busy, particularly at weekends and during Edinburgh's peak tourist periods, so experience managing a high-volume kitchen is important.
Recipe & Menu Development
We want a Head Chef who can contribute ideas rather than simply execute recipes created by somebody else.
You will work with the owners and management team to develop and improve dishes that fit the Hula brand.
Our food should be:
- Fresh
- Colourful
- Modern
- Healthy
- Commercial
- Easy to execute consistently
- Suitable for a busy brunch kitchen
- Visually appealing
- Cost-effective
You should be comfortable taking an idea from concept through to a fully operational recipe.
That includes:
- Recipe development
- Recipe testing
- Ingredient quantities
- Batch recipes
- Portion sizes
- Plating specifications
- Allergen information
- Food costing
- Training the kitchen team
- Ensuring the dish works during busy service
We are not looking for unnecessarily complicated restaurant food. We want great Hula food that tastes excellent and works operationally.
Food Cost & Commercial Management
You will be responsible for helping maintain strong food margins.
You should understand the relationship between:
purchasing → recipe costing → portion control → stock → waste → actual food cost
Responsibilities will include:
- Recipe costing
- Monitoring food cost percentages
- Controlling portions
- Managing waste
- Managing stock levels
- Completing or supervising stocktakes
- Ordering effectively
- Monitoring ingredient price changes
- Identifying opportunities to reduce costs without reducing quality
- Working with management on supplier and menu decisions
You do not need to be an accountant, but you must be commercially aware and understand that a successful kitchen needs to produce both excellent food and healthy margins.
Food Safety & Compliance
You will act as the operational food-safety lead within the kitchen.
Responsibilities include ensuring strong standards around:
- HACCP
- Food hygiene
- Allergens
- Temperature control
- Date coding and labelling
- FIFO
- Cleaning
- Food storage
- Kitchen documentation
- Staff training
- EHO readiness
The kitchen should be maintained to inspection standard every day, not prepared only when an inspection is expected.
Service & Kitchen Performance
You will be expected to actively improve how the kitchen performs during busy periods.
This includes looking at:
- Ticket times
- Kitchen bottlenecks
- Prep levels
- Staffing
- Menu complexity
- Equipment use
- Section layout
- Communication between kitchen and front of house
You should be comfortable making operational decisions quickly during a busy brunch service.
What We Are Looking For
The right person will ideally have:
- Previous Head Chef, Senior Sous Chef or Kitchen Manager experience
- Experience leading and developing a kitchen team
- Experience in a busy, high-volume kitchen
- Strong organisational skills
- Excellent food-safety knowledge
- Experience with ordering, stock control and waste management
- Understanding of recipe costing and food cost
- Confidence developing and improving recipes
- Ability to create kitchen systems and procedures
- Strong communication skills
- A calm and practical approach during busy services
- High standards without creating an aggressive kitchen environment
Experience in brunch, café, casual dining, hotel breakfast or another high-volume daytime operation would be particularly relevant.
This Role Might Suit You If…
You are the person in the kitchen who naturally notices:
- Why prep keeps running out
- Why the same dish looks different depending on who makes it
- Why too much stock is being ordered
- Why food is being wasted
- Why a section slows down during service
- Why a recipe is difficult for the team to execute
- Why somebody needs more training
- How a process could be simplified
…and then you actually fix the problem and create a system so it stays fixed.
That is the type of Head Chef we are looking for.
What We Offer
- Competitive salary depending on experience
- Primarily daytime working hours
- An established and recognised Edinburgh hospitality business
- A good existing kitchen team to lead and develop
- Genuine responsibility and autonomy
- Opportunity to influence menu development
- Direct access to the owners and senior management
- Opportunity to improve and shape the kitchen rather than simply inherit somebody else's systems
- A supportive management environment focused on developing people and improving the business
The Recruitment Process
Because this is a management role, our recruitment process will assess more than cooking ability.
Shortlisted candidates may be asked to discuss:
- How they would organise a busy kitchen
- How they manage and develop chefs
- Food costing and waste management
- Recipe development
- How they would improve service during busy periods
There may also be a practical kitchen trial.
About Hula
Hula is an independent Edinburgh café business specialising in healthy brunch, breakfast, lunch, juices and smoothies.
Our Grassmarket site is a fast-paced operation serving both Edinburgh customers and a significant tourist market.
We care about great food, good people and creating systems that allow our teams to perform at their best.
If you are a strong chef who also thinks like a manager, trainer and operator, we would like to hear from you.
Please apply with your CV and a short introduction explaining your kitchen management experience and why you think Hula would be a good fit for you.
Pay: From £14.50 per hour
Expected hours: 30.0 – 45.0 per week
Benefits:
- Discounted or free food
- Employee discount
Work Location: In person
