Aramark UK
Group Executive Chef
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Job Description
Are you a passionate culinary leader with experience driving food excellence across multiple locations? We are seeking an Executive Chef to provide strategic culinary leadership across six sites within our EMEA portfolio, setting the direction for food quality, innovation, customer experience, and operational performance. Working closely with the Director of Operations, you will inspire and develop Head Chefs and culinary teams, ensuring consistently exceptional standards while balancing regional consistency with local relevance.
This is a highly visible role requiring regular travel, strong stakeholder management skills, and a proven ability to deliver through others. You'll lead menu and concept development, champion food safety and compliance, drive commercial performance, and support key projects and site mobilisations. The successful candidate will bring significant multi-site culinary leadership experience, strong commercial awareness, and a track record of developing high-performing teams in a premium contract catering, workplace dining, or similar foodservice environment.
Key Responsibilities:
- Provide senior culinary leadership across six EMEA locations, ensuring consistently high standards of food quality, presentation, and customer experience.
- Lead, coach, and develop Head Chefs and senior culinary teams, building capability, engagement, and succession pipelines.
- Drive menu development and culinary innovation, using customer insight, market trends, and client requirements to enhance offer relevance.
- Monitor and improve operational performance, supporting participation, sales growth, food cost control, and waste reduction initiatives.
- Ensure all sites maintain excellent food safety, allergen management, hygiene, and compliance standards.
- Build strong relationships with clients, operational leaders, and key stakeholders, representing the culinary function in reviews and presentations.
- Support major projects, new site mobilisations, and business growth opportunities across the region.
- Share best practice across locations, driving continuous improvement, consistency, and delivery of agreed business objectives.
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Key Requirements:
- Significant senior culinary leadership experience across multiple sites, regions, or business units.
- Proven background within premium contract catering, workplace dining, or a similar high-volume foodservice environment.
- Strong people leadership skills, with experience developing, coaching, and inspiring high-performing culinary teams.
- Commercially astute, with a track record of improving food cost control, productivity, and operational performance.
- Excellent knowledge of food safety, allergen management, hygiene standards, and compliance requirements.
Qualifications
- Professional culinary qualification and Level 3 Food Safety certification (or equivalent) with the ability to travel regularly across EMEA locations.
Key Benefits:
- Competitive salary of £80,000 depending on experience
- Generous annual leave that increases in line with service, with the opportunity to buy extra
- Life assurance and pension scheme
- Benefits app: access to 100s of discounts, free mortgage advice, cycle to work scheme, health cash plans, online GP appointments, and our Employee Assistance Programme
- FOOD! Opportunities to attend in-house events and try the culinary genius of our teams (we are a food business after all!)
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Additional Information
At Aramark UK, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace where everyone is valued and empowered to thrive. As a proud Disability Confident Employer, we actively encourage applications from individuals of all abilities and are dedicated to supporting employees with disabilities throughout their career journey. We are an Armed Forces Friendly organisation and proud signatory of the Armed Forces Covenant. We welcome applications from veterans, service leavers, cadet forces adult volunteers, reservists, and military families. For roles requiring security clearance, any offer of employment will be conditional upon the successful completion and maintenance of the required level of security clearance. Applicants must meet the relevant eligibility and residency requirements applicable to that level of clearance. We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people, and we expect all employees and workers to share this commitment. Where relevant to the role, safer recruitment checks will apply, including references and an enhanced DBS check in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE). We ensure our recruitment process is accessible, and reasonable adjustments are available at every stage, from application to interview and employment. If you require any adjustments or have any questions, please reach out to our recruitment team – careers@aramark.co.uk Join us in fostering a workplace where everyone can achieve their full potential. All applications will be treated in the strictest confidence.
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