Chef

Overview

In this NHS kitchen role, you prepare meals from scratch for patients, staff and visitors in a busy in-house operation. You work with the head chef and team to meet high standards, ensure safety and compliance, and help provide nutritious food as part of the patient recovery journey. You’ll handle stock, allergen data and HACCP processes, while supporting colleagues and continually improving service in a collaborative environment.

Pay / Benefits

• flexible working
• development opportunities
• wellbeing focus
• Disability Confident employer
• inclusive organisation
• supportive culture

Responsibilities

• Prepare meals from scratch following established recipes and methods
• Maintain clean, safe working area and participate in deep cleaning
• Cook and serve meals in a timely manner
• Minimise waste through portion control and accurate quantities
• Optimise stock usage (FIFO) and monitor temperatures
• Ensure allergen data accuracy and HACCP compliance; correct labeling and storage
• Record temperature data and maintain labeling
• Complete mandatory and catering-specific training (Food safety, Allergen, Listeria)
• Support team to meet time pressures and participate in toolbox talks
• Use departmental computer systems and understand data for meal planning and reporting
• Understand patient ordering system and communicate data for special diet requests
• Attend team meetings to discuss service improvements

Key requirements

• 3 GCSE or equivalent
• NVQ level 2 or equivalent in catering
• Basic qualification in food hygiene (CIEH Level 2)
• Previous experience in hospital trust environment
• Experience in culinary service or large-scale catering environment
• Proficiency with basic PC, printers and scanners
• Experience working with a large team
• Desirable: NVQ in nutrition; complaint handling; risk assessment familiarity
• Desirable: previous hotel/large establishment experience

• teamwork and collaboration
• attention to detail
• problem solving under time pressure
• HACCP procedures
• allergen data management
• temperature recording and food safety documentation

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