We currently have 36 relief chefs out working. Relief this week has been quieter but unfortunately, it’s that time of year.
We have had a few more jobs in for over the festive period, if you can let me know what your availability is for over this period by private messaging me.
We have our Christmas opening times confirmed and these will be posted next week.
I will be popping along to The Lowand Brewery and Black Bull Hotel’s 1st Birthday party where we will get to try the new beer “Santa’s Little Belta”. If you are near Moffat then why not pop in and give it a try, it’s on from 7pm.
Here are some chefs we currently have out
Alan Macpherson is back at Eden Court after celebrating his grandson’s 1st birthday 😊
Norbert Waniek is finishing today at the Golf View Hotel
Roddy Mackinnon is at the County Hotel in Stornoway
Paul Nisbet is also at Eden Court
Tim Morris is back at Perth Racecourse
Ross Hunter is at Columba Hotel in Oban
George McCallum is back in Shetland at the Scalloway Hotel
Michael George is at Ailean Chraggan in Perthshire
Taylor Mcfarlane is at the Pinetrees Hotel
Thanks to ALL of our chefs 😊
We currently have 40 relief chefs out working and 12 relief jobs confirmed for the week so far.
This week has been a good week for hits with 3 permanent placements.
We are still looking for some of our chefs to get in touch with their festive availability. Double time is payable on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.
I was off for just under 2 weeks and it was nice to recharge the batteries, I was down in Cockermouth for a hen weekend, we rented a large country house with a hot tub and BBQ hut, it was lovely and the weather was kind to us too!!
I then went to Benidorm for the annual Fiesta Festival we arrived on Tuesday and the big British Fancy Dress is on the Thursday, this year our theme was Braveheart 😊 We went our for a few nice meals in the Old Town where there was lots of fish, seafood and steaks it was all lovely. We arrived back in a very cold Glasgow on Sunday.
Jessica is finishing up today for 2 weeks, she is off to NEW YORK NEW YORK to spend time with her family who moved there a few months ago. Jade and myself have already put our order in for Cannoli’s from Carlos’s Bakery……………………..
Here are some of the chefs we have out working now
Daniel Haig has now finished at The Lovat and went to the Inch Hotel for a few days as Sous Chef
Dale Paton is at Tontine Hotel in Peebles
Jo Fenner is back at The Comrie Hotel
Colin Thomson is at Etive Care Home near Oban
Craig Morris and Virginijus Tiskus are both at The Fife Arms in Braemar
James Pratt is in Aberdeen at the Fishmarket @ Soul
Steve Cameron is at The Classroom in Nairn
Stuart MacColl and Shaun Murray are at Thainstone Events in Inverurie
Sarah Pozzi is at The Ship Inn in Elie
Just want to say hope Denzil is feeling better and on the mend soon
Thanks to ALL our relief chef for all your hard work and support 😊
On Saturday, myself and my partner visited Six by Nico in Edinburgh. The theme this time was 'Mad Hatters Tea Party'. I am a big Alice in Wonderland fan so I was really excited to try this menu! We were visiting for the opening of the Christmas Markets so this fitted in nicely with our trip.
We currently have 41 chefs out working all over Scotland and North England. We have 7 jobs confirmed so far for the week.
If you are happy to work Christmas and New Year (double time is payable both days) please get in touch to let us know.
There are some relief jobs coming in, but it is much quieter which is what we expect for the time of year.
Here are some of the chefs we have out working now:
Stuart Sullivan who is new to us this year is at The Scores Hotel where he has been working for the last few weeks.
Stephen Mcculloch is up in Shetland working at The Brae Hotel.
George Mccallum is finishing up at the Waterside Inn in Peterhead.
Bobby Ainsworth is at The Loch Ness Inn for the second time this year.
Andy Westwood and Scott Macintyre are working at The Kings House in Glencoe.
Al Mancini is working at Saorsa which is a vegan restaurant in Pitlochry.
Jason Paxton is finishing up at Skeabost this week.
Scott Mckie is at The Inverary Inn.
Norbert Waniek is at the Golf View Hotel in Nairn.
Thanks to all our chefs for your hard work and continued support 😊
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 ok, 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 £16 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 as 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.
In more central Scotland, there are candidates if paying decent money (i.e. upwards of £28,000 or £13-15 per hour) and offering good working conditions.
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 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 £10 to £12 per hour or a salary of between £22,000 - £25,000.
Commis chefs
There are 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 £12.50 to £18.50 per hour according to the position.
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