Cook School Head Chef

Hours: Full time, 40 hours per week.

Schedule: 5 shifts a week, 2 Saturdays a month (Sundays off)

January start

Borough Kitchen is dedicated to inspiring home cooks by offering premium tools, expert knowledge and creative ideas that elevate both cooking and entertaining. As the UK’s leading premium kitchenware retailer, we operate five London stores, a fast-growing eCommerce platform, and a cook school. We provide an exceptional range of kitchenware, tableware and inspiration.

We are looking for a hands-on Head Chef to lead our kitchen and teaching operations. This role offers the chance to balance creative lesson delivery with operational leadership, while also gaining valuable business operations experience. This is an excellent opportunity for someone with a breadth and depth of experience, looking to move into a more intimate cooking environment with lots of guest engagement. 

You will divide your time between teaching and cooking, team development, and ensuring the smooth running of our cook school and kitchen environment.

Responsibilities

Teaching and Team Development

• Deliver engaging, cooking-based evening lessons Monday to Saturday.
• Provide guidance, mentoring, and progression planning for chefs and assistants, creating personal progression plans to develop team skills.
• Attend lessons during quieter periods to support training and maintain best standard practice across the school, as well as receiving feedback from the team and implement structural change to improve lesson effectiveness and efficiency.

Operational 

• Work alongside Head of Cook School, Head of Operations and store managers to ensure smooth running of the cook school, from overseeing food related health and safety, to cook school maintenance issues and inventory management.
• Conduct weekly stocktakes across all sites and work with the store team to ensure each school is adequately stocked.
• Work closely with the Head of Cook School to improve operational efficiency, managing COGS effectively and resolve supplier issues effectively.

Development and Hospitality

• Work alongside the Head of Cook School to design and create new and exciting cookery classes, from recipe testing to resource development.
• Help to continually improve and implement best standard practices, training the team to improve lesson delivery and outcomes.
• Support interdepartmental tasks including capturing marketing content.

• A strong background in professional kitchens (5 years minimum) with previous leadership experience (Junior Sous Chef or above).
• A warm and outgoing demeanour to help nurture a strong environment for open learning for our guests.
• Passionate about teaching, training, and developing others, with a strong focus on the why as well as the how.
• Exemplary knowledge of food safety standards and compliance.
• Organised with excellent time management and communication skills.
• Flexible, proactive, and able to balance cooking, teaching, and operational responsibilities.
• Pastry experience is ideal but not essential.

• Be part of a passionate and knowledgeable team that values quality and craftsmanship
• Industry-leading discount programme on products for our employees
• Complimentary Cook School classes
• Company events
• Access to an employee assistance programme, which includes free counselling sessions, financial and legal advice, and discounts and cash-back offers across 1,200+ brands, plus a wide range of health and wellbeing resources

Borough Kitchen is proud to be both an Equal Opportunities Employer and a London Living Wage Employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.