Sales Chef - South England

About us:

Our Client is a market leading contract catering company specialising in school food. By combining their understanding of the education sector and their knowledge of what’s on trend in the food world, they encourage creativity and excitement in their kitchens, allowing teams to do what they do best and provide fantastic food experiences for the children.

By providing excellent care and services to both clients and children, they have ensured the successful growth of the company and to keep up with the rapid pace of this growth, we are now looking for an experienced Sales Chef to join the team.

The Role

As a Sales Chef, you are an ambassador for the business, representing us in a professional manner at all times. You will deliver sales presentations and collaborate with internal colleagues to achieve the best possible results for the company.

This role is 40 hrs per week, 52 weeks per year, £45,000 - £50,000 per annum

Main Responsibilities

• Collaborate with Business Development Managers to deliver high-quality, bespoke food offers to prospective and existing clients.
• Ensure compliance with all Company & Client policies, site rules, and statutory regulations relating to health & safety, safe working practices, hygiene, cleanliness, fire safety, and COSHH.
• Being innovative and creative, undertake projects to continuously improve and evolve all food presentations across the education catering sectors.
• Be accountable for the preparation, set up and delivery of all food presentations.
• Develop strong relationships with regional teams, including Development Chefs, Group Managers, Chef Managers, and the Aspens Management Team.
• Coach and develop chefs to ensure they can perform to the required capability level and can meet and maintain company standards, compliance & policies in all areas of food health, safety and quality.
• At the request of the Business Development Managers, carry out site visits to evaluate and agree on future food offers
• Assist the central development team in creating company-wide new innovative on-trend dishes, menus & initiatives. This can involve project work as a full development team that will require travel outside of your region.
• Ensure that excellent levels of service are being delivered to customers. Training and coaching on-site teams to better their customer service practices.
• To fully comply with company menus/concepts/offers & when working in units within the geographical area
• Deliver & assist with delivering hospitality events, parent taster evenings & added value events promoting the best that Aspens can offer.
• To work collaboratively with other regional development chefs on large scale events & projects - This may require nationwide travel & overnight stays.
• Attend weekly sales meetings, quarterly Chef’s Boiler Room, and Divisional Training

The Ideal Candidate

• Extensive experience in culinary arts and a strong knowledge of various cooking techniques, ingredients and cuisines
• A recognised culinary qualification; such as NVQ Levels 1/2/3 or equivalent
• Ability to develop new recipes and create innovative dishes, in line with the Government Food Stand Guidelines and Aspens Brand Standards
• Proficiency in designing menus, considering factors such as dietary restrictions, cost-effectiveness, and seasonal availability.
• Proficient in food preparations, cooking methods, and kitchen equipment operation. Knowledge of food safety and hygiene standards is essential.
• Effective communication and collaboration with colleagues, including the ability to present to small and large groups. Understanding the different communication techniques required to both students and clients. Clear instructions and feedback to the Sales, Operations Teams and other stakeholders
• Efficiently manage multiple tasks, work under pressure, and meet deadlines without compromising on quality
• Meticulous approach to food presentations, ensuring dishes are visually appealing and adhere to the Company Standards
• Ability to adjust recipes and menses to cater to various dietary requirements, cultural preferences, and customer feedback, whilst ensuring it is in line with the Company Guidelines
• The ability to lead a team, delegate tasks, and foster a positive work environment. Collaboration with other chefs, kitchen staff, and management is crucial.

Why join them?

As one of the UK's fastest growing independent businesses you'll be joining a company where people are at our core and the opportunity to develop your career is endless. They offer fantastic learning and development programmes and the ability to gain qualifications whilst supporting you all the way

We understand that the health and wellbeing of our employees is vital so as well as a competitive salary and car allowance/car, we've just launched our brand new benefits programme which includes the important things like private healthcare and enhanced parental leave, ways to save money and the opportunity to spend your birthday doing something special to you rather than working!

Please note, our client expects all staff to share their commitment of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children/young people so an enhanced DBS disclosure will be sought by the company

Pineapple Recruitment are recruiting for this role on behalf of our client and are acting as a Recruitment Agency.