Head Chef  – Luxury Hotel – Galway

Red D are recruiting an experienced, commercially astute Head Chef for a leading luxury hotel in Galway.

This is an excellent opportunity for an accomplished Head Chef to join the Senior Leadership Team of a substantial hotel operation with multiple food and beverage outlets and a busy events and banqueting business.

The Head Chef will have overall responsibility for the culinary operation, leading and developing the kitchen teams while maintaining consistently high standards of food, presentation, food safety and financial performance.

The Role

Working closely with the Senior Leadership Team, the Head Chef will be responsible for the day-to-day leadership and management of the kitchen operation.

Key responsibilities will include:

• Leading, managing and developing the kitchen teams across the hotel
• Developing and evolving the culinary offering across multiple outlets and meal periods
• Creating menus that enhance the guest experience while delivering consistency, quality and commercial performance
• Maintaining excellent standards of food preparation, cooking and presentation
• Establishing and maintaining food presentation and quality standards
• Managing busy service periods and ensuring consistently high standards across all areas
• Taking responsibility for food costs, menu costings, margins and kitchen labour costs
• Monitoring stock levels, stock rotation, purchasing and overall kitchen efficiency
• Overseeing the ordering of ingredients, equipment and supplies
• Recruiting, training, mentoring and developing kitchen team members
• Creating a positive kitchen culture built around high standards, teamwork and respect
• Ensuring food preparation and kitchen operations comply with all relevant regulatory requirements
• Ensuring HACCP procedures are consistently followed in accordance with Food Safety Management policies
• Maintaining rigorous quality control, food safety and hygiene standards
• Working closely with the wider management team on the continued development of the hotel’s food offering and overall guest experience

Experience & Skills Required

The successful Head Chef will ideally have:

• A minimum of three years’ experience as a Head Chef within a quality hotel, resort or similarly complex hospitality operation
• Strong experience managing a substantial kitchen operation with multiple food outlets and service periods
• Experience across restaurant dining, events and banqueting
• Excellent leadership skills with the ability to inspire, develop and retain a strong culinary team
• A genuine passion for food and menu development
• Strong commercial awareness with proven experience in food cost, menu costing, margin and labour control
• Excellent organisational skills and the ability to lead demanding service periods
• A thorough understanding of HACCP, food safety and kitchen compliance
• The ability to develop and maintain a strong food safety culture throughout the kitchen team
• High standards of presentation, consistency and attention to detail

Salary & Benefits

An excellent salary and benefits package is available for the successful Head Chef, including:

• Excellent salary
• Performance-related bonus based on agreed KPIs
• Health and wellness benefits
• Employer pension contribution
• Meals on duty
• Career development opportunities
• Employee hotel discounts

About Red D Recruitment

Red D Recruitment specialises in hospitality recruitment across Ireland, the UK and Europe.

We recruit for senior management and executive roles across hotels, restaurants, workplace catering, tourism and visitor attractions. Our clients range from luxury boutique hotels and leading restaurant groups to large-scale hospitality and catering operations.

Red D Recruitment is committed to equal opportunities and welcomes applications from people of all genders, backgrounds and identities. Selection is based on merit, skills and experience.

We can only consider candidates with full, unrestricted permission to live and work in the EU.
UK passport holders are also welcome to apply.