Head Chef

Head Chef – The Annex

Located in the heart of Cape Town, The Annex is looking for a strong Head Chef to manage the kitchen, lead our team, and create systems to optimize productivity. This role is suited to a chef with solid operational experience, calm leadership under pressure, and a passion for quality, consistency, and team development.

Key Responsibilities

• Kitchen Leadership & Management Take overall responsibility for BOH operations. Lead, supervise, train, and develop the kitchen team, including Sous Chefs, CDPs, junior chefs, and scullery staff. Set clear expectations, allocate responsibilities, manage performance, and maintain discipline and professional standards.
• Service Execution Ensure the kitchen is fully prepared for breakfast, lunch/dinner service, conferences, functions, and special events. Conduct pre-service checks, ensure adequate mise en place and staffing, and maintain smooth service during high-volume periods.
• Food Cost & GP Management Manage food costs against agreed targets. Monitor recipe costing, portion control, purchasing, yields, wastage, staff meals, stock variances, and menu pricing. Investigate poor GP or unusual variances and implement corrective action.
• Stock Management & Ordering Oversee kitchen purchasing, ordering, receiving, storage, issuing, and stocktaking. Establish appropriate par levels and ensure ordering is based on occupancy, restaurant bookings, functions, and forecasted business levels. Prevent unnecessary overstocking and emergency purchasing.
• Wastage Control Ensure all kitchen wastage is recorded accurately and reviewed regularly. Identify the causes of excessive wastage and implement measures to reduce spoilage, overproduction, incorrect preparation, and portioning errors.
• Menu Development & Costing Develop and maintain restaurant, breakfast, buffet, conference, and function menus with management. Cost all dishes before implementation and ensure menus balance guest expectations, operational practicality, ingredient availability, and required GP.
• Food Safety, Hygiene & Compliance Maintain high standards of food safety and kitchen hygiene, including temperature records, FIFO, date labelling, allergen management, storage, cleaning schedules, personal hygiene, pest control, and equipment cleanliness. Ensure the kitchen is always inspection-ready.
• SOPs & Kitchen Systems Develop, implement, and maintain clear kitchen SOPs covering preparation, recipes, cleaning, opening/closing procedures, stock management, receiving, wastage, food safety, and service standards. Ensure systems are actually followed rather than simply documented.

Requirements

· Minimum 7 years’ experience in a 5* hotel or high-volume restaurant

· Proven experience working in a busy restaurant or hotel and handling high-pressure service periods.

· Takes responsibility for food quality, kitchen cleanliness, team performance, wastage, and service standards.

· Preference for candidates with a stable employment history and verifiable references

· Confident in leading and motivating a team

· Excellent organisational and time-management skills

· Ability to remain composed under pressure

· Strong focus on cleanliness, systems, and consistency

· Relevant culinary qualification preferred

What We’re Looking For

• Professional and hands-on leadership style
• Passion for hospitality and guest experience
• Attention to detail and pride in execution
• Creative but operationally grounded
• Team player with a growth mindset
• Must be able to work evenings, weekends, public holidays, and late shifts

·

To Apply

Please send your CV, a short introduction, and portfolio/photos of your work (if available) to: chef@fourthbeach.co

Pay: R30 000,00 - R35 000,00 per month

Application Question(s):

• We used R120k of food this month against R300k food revenue. What would you investigate?
• You have 180 breakfast guests, two staff have called in sick, eggs are running low and guests are waiting. Talk me through what you do.
• Your GM challenges your food cost and you disagree with their conclusion. What do you do?
• Tell me about a time your kitchen missed its food-cost target or service went badly. What was your responsibility?

Work Location: In person