Deputy Head Chef

ABOUT US

Oxygen House is a family of businesses whose ethos centres around positive impact. Companies within the Group are involved in education technology, data analytics, sustainable property development, impact investment, renewable energy, and city planning.
Oxygen House is also the name of our service Company and our purpose-built offices in Exeter where our central team and several of our group companies are based. We are a B-Corporation business, which means that our commitment to sustainability and reducing our environmental impact are an integral part of our constitution and values.
Sustainability and co-working are built into the design and fabric of the office building. We offer a range of free onsite facilities that are available to everyone in the team, focusing on wellbeing and championing sustainability. There’s an outdoor all-weather pitch, gym, indoor games facilities and a café serving delicious, local, organic and planet-friendly food.   We have regular events and activities, both to spend time with each other socially and to support our charities and good causes.

THE ROLE

Our Deputy Head Chef will be a talented individual who can support the Head Chef to deliver exceptional quality, sustainable food to our office teams. This will require a balance of hands-on, technical skill and people management, together with the vision to create and develop a food service in line with our ethos and to meet our current and future needs.
We pride ourselves on the quality of service we provide to those working or visiting Oxygen House. We’re constantly developing and there’s potential for our food service to evolve in future.
This is a proactive, customer-driven role, requiring consideration of a wide range of stakeholders and growing businesses. Food is very much at the heart of Oxygen House and of our sustainability vision, hugely valued by our team whose culture is high-achieving and professional but also informal and fun!

Key duties:
• Working collaboratively across the kitchen team and wider company to achieve our ambition of becoming Net Zero by 2030.
• Provide senior input within the team to develop a high-achieving, sustainable food service with a pioneering, customer-led culture and exceptional service and quality standards.
• Deputise for the Head Chef when required, liaising with key stakeholders to understand needs and aspiration and drive continual improvement across our food services.
• Operational oversight of the kitchen team.
• Provision of professional expertise, flair and thought-leadership in sustainable catering.
• Assist the Head Chef in the development of a high level of culinary knowledge and service skill across the catering team.
• Ensure the team keep up to date with trends and developments in the industry, particularly in sustainability.
• Creative input to seasonal menu creation and food presentation.
• Continual professional development of self and team.
• Support the recruitment and training of new team members.
• Ensure health and safety regulations are strictly observed.
• Assist with budgeting; establishing and meeting financial targets and forecasts.
• Support quality assurance of the products and services provided, maintaining effective financial, administrative and food hygiene records.

Requirements

ABOUT YOU
You’ll be a team player, willing to roll up your sleeves to work within the team on whatever is needed and with all of the professional skills, experience and flair you’ve gained working in fast paced, high quality catering environments. You may currently be working in a sous chef or other senior role within a team and looking for an opportunity to still be hands-on in the kitchen, while developing your existing management experience and knowledge of sustainable catering.

In particular, you’ll have
• The ability to lead and motivate staff, with demonstrable management experience in an equivalent role.
• Knowledge and expertise in sustainable food practices, or evidence of self-directed learning in an area of specialist knowledge or expertise.
• Creative flair.
• Experience in sourcing high quality, locally-sourced, organic produce and using this to best advantage each season.
• Strong customer focus, appreciative of customer expectations.
• Drive and determination to improve standards and set the bar high.
• Ability to think on your feet and take initiative.
• A great and engaging communication style, quick to respond, good at managing expectations and working hard to achieve a good feedback loop with colleagues and customers.
• A well-organised and flexible approach to work.
• A ‘can do’ attitude, results-driven, with strong attention to detail and ability to work under pressure.
• Willingness to make challenging decisions and include appropriate people in decision-making processes.
• Strong admin skills and IT literacy.
• Numeracy and financial skills to develop and manage a budget.
Desirable qualifications include:
o City & Guilds diplomas in professional cookery
o BTEC HND in professional cookery
o A foundation degree in culinary arts
o Health and safety and food hygiene certificates

Please note that unfortunately, at this current time, we cannot accept applications that require sponsorship for an employment visa.

To apply for this role, please click "Apply"