Small+Mighty Play Hub | Godalming, Surrey
Part-time: approximately 25 hours per week
Expected start date: around 20 August 2026
Pay: [insert hourly rate]
Join our kitchen team
We’re looking for an enthusiastic and reliable Café Chef / Cook to join our friendly, family-run sensory play café in the heart of Godalming.
This is predominantly a hands-on kitchen role, preparing and serving our menu of fresh, healthy café food with a modern street-food-inspired twist. You’ll be responsible for food preparation, cooking, presentation and helping the kitchen run smoothly during busy services.
As a small, close-knit hospitality team, everyone helps where needed. Alongside your main kitchen responsibilities, you will occasionally support the front-of-house team by preparing barista coffee and speciality drinks, welcoming and checking in guests, serving customers and helping to keep the café looking its best.
We are looking for someone who genuinely enjoys working with food, takes pride in every dish they send out and can remain organised and positive in a fast-paced kitchen.
Key kitchen responsibilities
- Preparing, cooking and presenting fresh café and street-food-style dishes
- Completing daily food preparation ready for service
- Following recipes, portion controls and presentation standards consistently
- Managing several food orders at once during busy periods
- Ensuring orders are prepared accurately and served promptly
- Maintaining high standards of food quality, taste and presentation
- Following food hygiene, allergen, health and safety procedures
- Monitoring food labels, use-by dates and stock rotation
- Restocking ingredients and communicating low-stock items
- Keeping kitchen equipment, preparation areas, fridges and storage spaces clean and organised
- Completing opening, closing and cleaning tasks
- Washing up and maintaining a safe, efficient working kitchen
- Supporting the wider team to deliver a smooth and enjoyable guest experience
Additional café responsibilities
Although the majority of your time will be spent in the kitchen, you will also be expected to support other areas of the café when required, including:
- Preparing barista coffee, iced drinks and speciality beverages
- Welcoming guests and checking families in for their play sessions
- Taking customer orders and answering menu or allergen questions
- Delivering warm, friendly and attentive customer service
- Serving food and drinks
- Keeping customer areas clean, tidy and welcoming
About you
This role would suit someone with previous experience as a café chef, cook, kitchen assistant, catering assistant or experienced kitchen team member.
You’ll be a great fit if you:
- Have previous experience preparing and cooking food in a café, restaurant or commercial kitchen
- Are confident working independently in the kitchen
- Can manage multiple orders and priorities during busy services
- Work quickly without compromising quality, cleanliness or presentation
- Have good knowledge of food hygiene and kitchen safety
- Understand the importance of allergen awareness and accurate order preparation
- Are organised, reliable and comfortable using your initiative
- Enjoy working as part of a small, supportive team
- Are willing to help across the wider café when needed
- Have a naturally friendly, welcoming manner
- Take genuine pride in great food and excellent hospitality
Barista experience and a Level 2 Food Hygiene qualification would be an advantage, but additional training will be provided.
About Small+Mighty
Small+Mighty is a modern sensory play café created for young families. We pride ourselves on serving freshly prepared food in a beautifully designed, welcoming environment that feels very different from a traditional soft-play venue.
As a family-run independent business, our regular guests and members are at the heart of what we do. Many have been visiting us for years and have become part of the Small+Mighty community. We want every guest to feel recognised, welcomed and genuinely looked after.
What we offer
- Approximately 25 hours of work per week
- A predominantly kitchen-based role with plenty of variety
- Full training and ongoing support
- A friendly, supportive and close-knit team
- The opportunity to contribute ideas and take pride in the food we serve
- A lively working environment where no two days are quite the same
- The chance to become part of a much-loved independent local business
How to apply
Please apply with your CV and a short note telling us about your kitchen experience, your approach to food and hospitality, and why you would like to join Small+Mighty.
We’re hoping for our new team member to start around 20 August 2026 and would love to hear from someone who is passionate about freshly prepared food, confident in a busy kitchen and happy to be part of a warm, customer-focused café team.
Pay: £12.71-£13.00 per hour
Benefits:
- Company pension
- Discounted or free food
- Free parking
- On-site parking
Work authorisation:
- United Kingdom (required)
Location:
- Godalming GU7 1AF (required)
Work Location: In person
