Chef Manager

Title: Chef Manager

Location: Central London

Salary: £45 - £50,000 per annum, full time

Benefits:

• 28 days holiday 
• 3 volunteering days
• 3 days grandparent leave
• 24 weeks’ enhanced maternity leave
• Bespoke training and development opportunities
• Pension and life insurance
• Discounts available on our Perkbox app (high street shops, holidays & cinema)
• Wellbeing hub
• Access to employee assistance programme
• Free meals while on shift
• Career development opportunities
• HIT Apprenticeships available for all experience levels

We currently have an exciting opportunity for a Chef Manager with a passion for exceptional food and a strong background in delivering high-quality catering services within an education setting.

If you’re someone who believes in creating nutritious, seasonal, and delicious meals that support young minds, and you’re confident leading a team in a busy kitchen and hospitality environment, we’d love to hear from you.

This role requires experience in plant-based and allergy-aware cooking, as well as a genuine commitment to delivering thoughtful, inclusive menus. The position also includes overseeing a hospitality service and maintaining the highest standards of food quality, presentation, and service.

This is a fantastic opportunity to help shape the future of school dining—bringing creativity, care, and leadership to a truly rewarding environment.

As a Chef Manager your focus is to work closely with your teams to develop a great work relationship and together to provide the best customer service.

As well as having an excellent presentation, organisational and communication skills, you will be able to demonstrate a real passion for food & service and possess bags of enthusiasm.

• Collaborate with the back of house team to help develop well-balanced and nutritious menus that cater to diverse dietary requirements and preferences.
• Prepare and manage the catering budget, ensuring cost-effective operations while maintaining quality standards.
• Establish strong relationships with school Bursar, Head Teachers and faculty.
• Recruit, train, supervise and motivate catering staff.
• Ensure compliance with food safety regulations, hygiene standards, and quality control protocols.
• Identify opportunities for growth, innovation and improvement in menu offerings, service delivery and operational efficiency.
• Maintain strict adherence to health and safety regulations, ensuring a clean and organised kitchen environment.

• Proven experience as a Chef Manager in a high-volume, quality-focused environment.
• You can demonstrate that managing, training, and supporting a team has been an important part of your career to date.
• Financially astute, you are very analytical and know how to create and maintain budgets and drive commercial performance.
• Excellent coaching, delegation and influencing skills.
• Ability to prioritise multiple projects in a fast-paced, multi-faceted, creative environment and able to thrive under pressure.
• Ability to multitask, prioritise responsibilities, and adapt to changing circumstances in a fast-paced environment.
• Meticulous organisational abilities and a high attention to detail
• Empathetic, clear and highly effective verbal and written communication
• Ability to adapt to challenges and opportunities with a solution-oriented perspective.
• Excellent strategic thinking and critical reasoning skills

Holroyd Howe is one of the UK’s leading contract caterers, providing fresh innovative food services solely to independent schools and colleges. We are a team of experienced professionals who tailor our catering service provision specifically to suit children of all ages in order to meet the bespoke requirements of each school.

To provide our teams with the right skills to succeed in their jobs, we invest in their training and development. Our exceptional teams of seasoned specialists customise our catering services to fit children of all ages and satisfy the unique needs of our clients.

We pride ourselves on:

Sustainability

Sustainability is at the heart of our thinking; always mindful of the ethics of our sourcing and how we prepare our meals.

Nutrition

We take nutrition seriously and understand the impact a healthy diet has on the fundamental years of development. Meals are always freshly prepared from scratch and packed with nutritious ingredients.

Food Innovation

We offer a wide portfolio of training opportunities and experiences, which attracts chefs who are passionate about culinary excellence and menu innovation to our team.

From tasting tables, theme days and food theatre, to chef demonstrations and supplier showcases, we create engaging and fun dining experiences for our students. We work together to make mealtimes exploratory, quirky, and fun for our pupils, helping them build strong and healthy relationships with food.

Holroyd Howe is an equal opportunities employer. We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expect all employees to share this commitment. All roles within Holroyd Howe involve regulated activity. It is a criminal offence for individuals barred from working with children to apply for such roles. An Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, including a Barred List check will be required for all successful applicants. Shortlisted applicants will be asked to provide information about relevant criminal offences and will be subject to an online search of publicly available information. This search helps identify any issues that may affect suitability to work with children.

This appointment is offered on the return of satisfactory professional references.