Health, Safety & Compliance

• Food Safety & HACCP: Ensure all production strictly complies with the Somerset Larder Food Safety & Quality Management System (FSMS), HACCP principles, allergen controls, and relevant legislation.
• Hygiene & Equipment: Maintain clean work areas and ensure equipment across all sections is operated safely and cleaned correctly.
• Record Keeping: Complete all required food safety, temperature records and traceability records.
• Label Checking: Ensure labels are legible & accurate (date, allergens, ingredients)

Qualifications

• NVQ Level 2/3 in Professional Cookery (or equivalent experience)
• Food Safety Level 2 (or higher)

Skills and Knowledge

Culinary & Section Expertise

• Multi-Section Capability: Proven ability to run and manage all central production kitchen sections, including the Main Kitchen, Salad Room, Bakery, and Cold Rooms.
• Quality Assurance: Exceptional eye for detail in checking dish presentation, portion sizes, and adherence to spec sheets before dispatch.
• Dispatch Operations: Strong understanding of central distribution processes, ensuring orders are accurately picked, packed, temperature-controlled, and dispatched on schedule.
• Training Techniques: Ability to break down complex cooking methods and teach implementation of new dishes effectively to team members and apprentices.

Food Safety, Hygiene & Compliance

• Food Safety Management: Deep working knowledge of HACCP, allergen control protocols, cross-contamination prevention, and food safety standards.
• Traceability & Auditing: Proficient in maintaining accurate food traceability records, temperature logs, and quality check documentation.

Operational Efficiency

• Waste Management: Practical knowledge of waste control measures,
• Stock Control: Knowledge of raw material storage, goods-in verification, and rotation standards across frozen, ambient and chilled storage.
• Mentorship & Nurturing: Demonstrates patience, empathy, and clear guidance when training chefs and apprentices on new recipes, techniques, and kitchen section routines.
• Teamwork & Collaboration: Works proactively alongside section team members to support production and maintain smooth kitchen workflow.
• Communication: Excellent verbal communication skills; effectively relays section updates, stock needs, and operational issues up to supervisors/management and updates staff.
• Adaptability & Resilience: Stays calm and structured under high-volume time pressures; adaptable to shift rotational needs across different kitchen areas.
• Positive Attitude: Brings a "can-do" approach to work, fostering pride, high morale, and togetherness within the central production team.

For this role you must have evidence of right to work in the UK. As a project, we do not discriminate on the grounds of age, gender, race, colour, religion, disability or sexual orientation, and we welcome applications from all sections of the community.