Head Chef | Exceptional Food. Extraordinary Scale

Head Chef | Wellington College

Restaurant thinking. Hospitality standards. 3,300 meals a day.

Location: Wellington College, Crowthorne, Berkshire, RG45 7PU
Salary: £55,000 per annum + excellent benefits
Hours: 40 hours per week, 5 days out of 7, including evenings and weekends as required

Imagine Bringing Restaurant Standards to 3,300 Meals a Day

What if you had the freedom to create exceptional food at a scale most chefs never experience?

What if you could shape the dining experience of thousands of people every day, lead a talented kitchen brigade and work within one of the UK's most prestigious independent schools?

At Wellington College, we're looking for a food-passionate Head Chef who believes great ingredients, bold flavours and exceptional standards should never be limited by volume.

This is far more than a school catering role.

It's an opportunity to combine the creativity of a great restaurant kitchen with the ambition of premium hospitality and the operational excellence required to deliver outstanding food at extraordinary scale.

We're looking for a chef with flair, conviction and imagination. Someone who challenges convention, thrives under pressure and knows how to turn ambitious culinary ideas into exceptional food, service after service.

You'll have the opportunity to influence culinary direction, inspire a talented team and create memorable dining experiences for a diverse community of students, staff and guests.

If you believe high-volume food should be every bit as exciting as fine dining, this is your opportunity to make a real impact.

The Opportunity: Extraordinary food, Extraordinary scale

Set within 400 acres of beautiful Berkshire countryside, Wellington College is a world-renowned independent school with exceptionally high expectations — academically, culturally, in sport and in the dining experience we deliver every day.

Our catering operation serves approximately:

• 600 breakfasts every day
• 1,900 lunches every day
• 800 evening meals every day

That's around 3,300 meals daily, each representing an opportunity to deliver something exceptional.

Our students include aspiring elite athletes, talented musicians, performers and young people with diverse interests, ambitions and nutritional needs. The food we serve plays a genuine part in their daily lives, wellbeing and performance.

Your challenge? To make every service count. To create food that people look forward to eating. To bring fresh thinking, bold flavours, exceptional presentation and a genuine passion for hospitality into a high-volume environment.

This is where culinary ambition meets operational excellence.

Who We're Looking For

We're looking for a chef with personality, presence and a serious passion for food.

You might have developed your craft in a luxury hotel, a premium restaurant, a fine-dining kitchen, a Michelin-recognised establishment, a high-end contract catering operation or a major banqueting and hospitality environment.

Your background matters, but so does your ambition. We want someone who can bring the standards and creativity of premium hospitality into a large-scale operation — and who understands that delivering excellence for thousands of diners requires exceptional organisation, technical skill and leadership.

You'll be someone who:

• Thinks beyond the conventional. You bring ideas, challenge the norm and constantly look for ways to make food more exciting.
• Loves the craft. Flavour, ingredients, seasonality, texture and presentation matter to you. You care about the details.
• Understands scale. You know how to translate ambitious culinary ideas into menus and production methods that work consistently for hundreds or thousands of diners.
• Leads with conviction. You set high standards, make confident decisions, challenge poor practice and bring your team with you.
• Has commercial intelligence. You understand food costs, labour, procurement, waste and budgets — and know that creativity and commercial discipline must work together.
• Thrives on complexity. Multiple services, competing demands and high expectations bring out your best.
• Never stops improving. You are curious, open to new ideas and passionate about developing both people and food.

You don't need to have followed a conventional career path. What matters is that you can demonstrate outstanding culinary ability, experience operating at scale and the leadership to make a real difference.

Your kitchen. Your standards. Your impact.

Working closely with the Executive Head Chef, you'll play a pivotal role in shaping the culinary direction of the operation.

You'll lead a structured kitchen brigade with four Shift Leaders overseeing pastry, breakfast, lunch and evening dining, supported by more than 15 additional culinary colleagues, including Chef de Parties and kitchen assistants.

Your role will be to inspire this team to deliver food that is consistently excellent, service after service.

You'll Be Responsible For

Culinary direction and innovation

• Developing exciting, contemporary menus that balance creativity, nutrition, seasonality and value.
• Bringing restaurant-quality thinking to large-scale production without losing sight of practicality or consistency.
• Exploring new ingredients, techniques, cuisines and presentation styles.
• Creating memorable dining experiences that reflect the expectations and diversity of the College community.
• Championing fresh food, sustainability, responsible sourcing and the reduction of food waste.

Leadership and team development

• Leading, challenging and inspiring a talented kitchen brigade.
• Empowering Shift Leaders to take ownership and deliver exceptional results.
• Developing culinary talent through coaching, training and clear expectations.
• Building a kitchen culture where standards are high, ideas are encouraged and people take pride in their work.
• Leading recruitment, performance management, succession planning and workforce development.

Operational and commercial excellence

• Delivering approximately 3,300 meals a day across multiple services.
• Managing menu costing, food budgets, labour, purchasing, stock control and supplier relationships.
• Developing production plans and rotas that deliver quality, efficiency and consistency.
• Ensuring kitchens, equipment and production areas are ready to perform.
• Maintaining exemplary food safety, allergen management, health and safety and due diligence standards.

Relationships and the dining experience

• Working closely with the Executive Head Chef and wider management team.
• Building trusted relationships with students, teaching staff, Housemasters and senior College stakeholders.
• Being visible in the dining environment, listening to feedback and acting on it.
• Taking pride in the finished product, the service experience and the reputation of the operation.

What you'll bring

We're interested in what you can do, the standards you've worked to and the difference you've made.

Essential experience and qualifications

• A proven track record as a Head Chef, Senior Sous Chef or equivalent senior