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.
These astronomical amounts just go to show how well thought of Bourdain by other chefs and hospitality workers all over the world in life and in death. 40% of the proceeds were donated to the culinary institute where Bourdain studied himself.
With Christmas just only 6 weeks away the Christmas dinner in our house has already been discussed.
I feel that each families Christmas Day is unique and we all have our own traditions and ways of celebrating.
We have always spent Christmas Eve with a Cheese Board and The National Lampoon Christmas Vacation; produced 10 years before I was even born it has been my favourite since I can remember. It would often not be until around 11pm at night before we got to it as I would be working.
Christmas day always start with a full Scottish breakfast, of course, and tea served from my great grans tea pot - another tradition.
We always have either a Prawn Cocktail or Lentil Soup to start. Followed by the traditional turkey and all the trimmings. Pudding is always a meringue dessert of some sort; either pavlova or a roulade and an option of cheesecake. Christmas pudding in our house has never been an option, thankfully as I'm not a fan. We have always had the same dinner for as long as I can remember and I feel that its a tradition I will continue to pass on.
I always remember one of my friends telling me that her family don't open their presents until after 12, after they have had their traditional cola ice cream floats. Something I always thought was bizarre to have on Christmas Day.
My Aunt actually served up Fillet steaks and all the trimmings last year as none of her kids will eat turkey. Personally couldn't have Christmas Dinner without a turkey roast dinner.
At the end of the day, families will have their own personal traditions that are unique to them.
We currently have 49 chefs out working all over Scotland and North England. We have 10 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:
Gian Devey is back at The Scores Hotel where he has been working for the last few weeks.
Tim Morris is working again at East Haugh in Pitlochry which is close to home for him.
Mario Pohlmann is at The Borve Hotel.
Ally Mcgeachy is working at The Stonefield Castle.
Chris Rush is also close to home and is working at Grantown East in Grantown on Spey.
Ben Mailer and Richard Clark are working in St Andrews at The Rav.
Leon Edgson is working at The Braeval Hotel in Nairn.
David Carroll is at The Craig Manor down in the Lake District.
Ryan Williamson is finishing up at The Inverary Inn.
Steve Lyall is working at the Killiecrankie Hotel in Perthshire.
Thanks to all our chefs for your hard work and continued support 😊
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