News

Out and About Friday 13th March

We currently have 31 chefs out working with 11 confirmed so far this week

We have had 3 cancellations due to the coronavirus

If you are a relief chef that is booked and cannot make it to a job with symptoms of the virus please get in touch, at the moment we have excellent availability.

There are still lots of jobs being registered on a permanent basis, if you are looking for work please email over your CV which should be updated, reference details and hygiene certificate to recruitment@chefsinscotland.co.uk

Here are a few chefs we have out working just now

Kirsty Hamilton is at Thainstone House Hotel in Inverurie

Chris Wright is at The Kings Manor Hotel in Edinburgh

Peter Norrie is at Thainstone Events in Inverurie

Ross Hunter is with Stuart MacColl at Lomond Hills Hotel in Cupar

John Taylor and Ryan Williamson are at The Skeabost Hotel in Skye

Marc Taylor also in Skye he is at Kinloch Lodge Hotel

Michael Pallister is at Bishop’s House Isle of Iona

Chris Roberti is at Inn at Lathones in Fife

Philippe Alamichel is at Arnotdale House

Chris Robertson is at The Castle Hotel Huntly

Ben Mailer is at Airds Hotel in Appin

Jim Miller is at The Inverarary Inn

Brian Ferguson is at The Scores Hotel in St Andrews

Thanks all for your hard work and support 😊

Monday 9th March

Monday 9th March

As we are approaching closer to Easter the office is gradually getting busier. Relief has picked up and Johanna is getting jobs confirmed daily, permanent has also picked up significantly with jobs being registered daily. We have lots of permanent and seasonal positions available across Scotland including the Highlands and Islands such as the Isle of Harris, Isle of Skye, Fort William etc.

Jessica is currently on annual leave until Wednesday so myself and Johanna have picked up Senior recruitment for the time being. We have a good availability of chefs at the moment and we are getting lots of CV’s in daily. We are still getting chefs from outside of the EU looking for work in Scotland but we keep getting asked what is going to happen come December time. Sadly, I don’t think any of us really know the full scale yet of what is to come. We can only hope that those outside of the EU will still be given the right to work in the UK.

Out and about 6th March 2020

It has been a better week for relief chefs out with 15 so far for the week and 36 chefs out in total.

Hopefully this will continue to rise 😊

We have 3 permanent chefs placed so far this week with another offer

Adverts have been steady, we have 123 permanent / seasonal jobs currently on our website.

We are happy to meet chefs to discuss permanent or relief work here in Moffat, just get in touch to check our availability.

Here are some chefs we have out just now

Kirsty Hamilton is working today at Croft View Care Home

Martin Ewart is at Eden Court for a 4 week period starting today

Chris Wright is away to work at The Waterside Inn in Peterhead

Glenn Richards is at the Woodpecker in Lanark for this weekend

Ally Elder is at Balcary Bay Hotel

Allan Rennie is at The Red Lion in Forres

Glyn Musker is up in Perthshire at Inn on the Tay

Pat Johnstone is at Craigmonie Hotel in Inverness

Thanks to ALL our relief chefs for your patience, hard work and support we really do appreciate it 😊

Post Brexit sponsorship

Under new laws, the minimum salary for those who wish to work in the UK has changed. There will no longer be free movement and a stricter policy will be brought in to allow only ‘skilled’ workers into the UK to work. A points-based system will be brought into place and will be calculated on several things; qualifications, current salary, and their ability to speak English for example. A minimum number of 70 points must be achieved for those who wish to gain access to the UK.

The minimum salary for those wishing to gain entry to the UK is £25,600 per annum. However, this can be ‘traded’ for a lower salary if your job is a ‘shortage occupation’. For example, there is a large shortage of nurses currently in the UK and the government is stating that nurses on £22,000 per annum will be allowed access to the UK as we are in desperate need for nurses with the NHS under more pressure than ever. There is a shortage of chefs in the UK and we get a lot of chefs from Poland and Spain looking for work over here. It can be hard as many establishments simply cannot afford to pay the higher salaries to match what the government will require. There simply aren’t enough British chefs to go around and this will only make it harder to get chefs from other countries. What sort of impact is this going to have on our industry? Many smaller hotels in rural areas of Scotland may be in jeopardy as they are not busy enough to be able to afford the higher salaries and will solely rely on British chefs. A lot of front of house staff can be foreign too and again this can cause a shortage on the industry, especially for couples who come to work together. I do agree that skilled workers should gain access to the UK over those are ‘un-skilled’ but it can be hard to define a line between skilled and un-skilled work. This will eliminate those who simply come to the UK to not work and gain free housing, health care etc. Again, another touchy subject as more often than not these people are escaping war zones, poor living conditions etc.

What are your opinions on this? Is our industry, or even the whole of the UK, in serious trouble?

Availability of Chefs 3rd March 2020

Head chefs

If paying good money and in a central location such as Glasgow, Edinburgh, Stirling, Dundee, Aberdeen and Perth the availability of head chefs is very good, basically, the more central and the larger local population the better availability.
What is good money for a head chef? This can vary from a small pub to a large five star or 3AA Rosette Hotel and can be anything from £15 per hour for a one-man job cooking simple food to £45,000 and upwards.
For a standard hotel job we would suggest in the region £32,000+ with overtime paid pro rata over 45 to 48 hours sanctioned by management.
Bonus schemes always help and can be based on getting a gross profit margin of over say 65 to 70% and it is always advisable stressing in advance how often the bonus is paid and what the exact criteria are. Other bonuses may be based on increase in sales. Keeping wages ratio down and helping to achieve certain net profits subject to maintaining quality of food, kitchen cleanliness and staff retention.
In more rural Scotland it is harder to get and retain chefs and often accommodation should be offered to attract suitable candidates.

Sous chefs
The availability of sous chefs in rural Scotland is good. Sometimes, a mature former head chef will be happy to take a step back to work alongside head chef.
In more central Scotland, there are candidates about if paying decent money (i.e. upwards of £28,000 or £13-14 per hour) and offering good working conditions there is no reason why you cannot keep a good sous chef with a stable track record.
In rural Scotland, there can be a need to think outside of the box to retain and attract good sous chef candidates. Its is almost essential that you will need to provide accommodation in rural areas.

Chef de parties
Availability is very good in Glasgow, Edinburgh and the central belt.
In rural Scotland with accommodation there are candidates and you will get applicants if wages are decent, suggesting £11 to £12 per hour or a salary of between £22,000 - £25,000. The more money you can pay the better the availability there is.

Commis chefs
There are usually a few candidates available centrally or further afield if offering accommodation.
Pastry Chefs: this is quite a specialist position and there can be a couple of specialised pastry chefs looking, not always though.

Enclosed link to minimum wages.
www.minimum-wage.co.uk/

Availability of Relief Chefs changes, and we can advise daily. The rates of pay are £13.50 to £18.50 per hour according to the position.
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