Perrywood Sudbury –
SOUS CHEF 44.5 hours per week
No evenings or split shifts
Minimum one scheduled weekend off per month
£34,000 per annum
We are excited to be recruiting for a talented and motivated Sous Chef to join our brand-new kitchen, serving 200-seat restaurant at the heart of our garden centre. This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced chef who is ready to take a leading role — supporting the Head Chef, guiding the team day-to-day, and helping to create a positive, collaborative kitchen culture where everyone can thrive. We are looking for someone who leads by example: calm under pressure, organised, and genuinely passionate about mentoring others.
Our menus are freshly prepared on site using high-quality ingredients, sourced locally wherever possible, reflecting our strong connection to the community we serve. We are especially proud of our commitment to inclusive dining, with a keen focus on our free-from menus — ensuring every guest feels welcomed, valued, and well cared for.
Perrywood is an independent, family-owned garden centre and nursery group run by the Bourne Family. Our Tiptree, Buckhatch and Sudbury centres are all surrounded by beautiful countryside and our mission is to offer a memorable garden centre experience, delivering wow customer service and giving our employees and customers, a reason to smile.
Rewards and Benefits
In addition to the salary, you will receive the following benefits:
- Discount – From the start of your employment you will receive 10% discount on specific items. Following a successful probation period, the discount increases up to 20% discount on specific items and after one year’s service up to 40% discount on specific items. (some exceptions apply)
- Paid holiday – holiday entitlement is 22 days per year, plus bank holidays. Restrictions apply (part-time pro rata)
- Annual Christmas bonus
- Part-uniform provided
- Employee Assistant Programme - a confidential personal and professional support service
- available to all employees and their immediate families 24/7, 365 days a year.
- Training & development, as required. We have an e-learning scheme called GROW, and also take part in other training with product suppliers and external trainers
- Company sick pay – following a successful probation period employees are entitled to 10 days paid sickness (restrictions apply and part-time pro rata)
- Access to our Retail Discount Scheme – savings on retailers including Tesco, Pizza Express,
- M&S, Waitrose, Argos, Apple, Currys PC World, Thomas Cook and 100’s more
- Workplace pension
- Free parking
Key duties
- Support and stand shoulder to shoulder with the Head Chef whilst also mentoring and developing the wider kitchen brigade.
- Supply food in adequate quantities for the day’s business, whilst controlling and minimising waste.
- Able to prioritise workload, understanding and delivering to a time schedule
- Play your part in contributing to menu and recipe development alongside the Head Chef, with
- excellent knowledge of seasonal ingredients, allergens and special dietary requirements in order to sustain and improve our high-quality food offering.
- Undertake weekly and daily ordering from suppliers, fully understanding the implications of over or
- under ordering and have ongoing knowledge of supplier prices.
- Manage a busy open kitchen, with a calm and confident manner in the absence of the Head Chef directing staff in other areas whilst doing this.
- Being at the forefront of quality control from the delivery of produce to tasting and identifying if dishes are always up to the highest standard.
- To participate in daily and weekly cleaning rotas and maintain your areas of work to a high standard, along with completing statutory documents with regards food hygiene and health and safety
Your capabilities
- Confident across all sections of the kitchen, with pastry skills preferred but not essential.
- Excellent allergen and special dietary knowledge with an interest to bring new ideas to our business
- Effective multi-tasker – must be able to fit daily preparation duties around busy breakfast and lunch service
- Strong team player and role model with good coaching skills, the ability to pick up and apply new skills and methods quickly.
- Excellent communication skills – listening as well as talking
- Problem solver with the ability to solve problems as they arise or seek appropriate advice
- Positive and enthusiastic approach to work from the start to the end of each day
Requirements
- Proven experience of working in a team, along with the ability to organise daily and weekly workload, adapting to changing priorities.
- Ability to work across both the main and cold sections of the kitchen confidently.
- You must be able to bend, lift and carry items as required and sustain long periods of time on your feet.
- Ability to follow instructions and effectively pass onto others.
If this Sous Chef position sounds like the ideal opportunity for you then apply to us directly, we’d love to hear from you!
For further information and a full job description please visit the Perrywood website https://www.perrywood.co.uk/careers/
Perrywood is an equal opportunities employer and is committed to ensuring our recruitment processes are as inclusive as possible. If you require any reasonable adjustments, please inform us as soon as you are able so that we can make the appropriate adjustments.
Job Type: Full-time
Pay: £34,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Company pension
- Employee discount
- On-site parking
Work Location: In person
