Availability of Chefs in Rural Scotland 4th May 2017
Head chefs
In rural Scotland including Inverness, Aberdeen, The highlands and islands, Perthshire, The Borders, Dumfriesshire and all the west coast including Ayrshire.
There are some head chefs always looking for a new challenge.
We advise offering accommodation with permanent head chef jobs to attract candidates.
Otherwise you may have to wait some time until a relevant local candidate becomes available. Suggest paying in the region of £16 per hour with accommodation provided at no cost for seasonal positions.
For more permanent roles suggest £30,000 per annum upwards plus bonus scheme based on profit margins, turnover, wages ratio and if relevant for gaining accolades.
2AA Rosette and above head chef candidates with stable and relevant work histories are quite scarce. Suggest paying to £35,000 for a 2AA Rosette head chef
In general for head chefs suggest paying £28,000 upwards to £50,000 according to requirements and demands of the job.
Ideally we advise for a five day week and over-time paid on a pro rata basis for extra days worked and for hours in excess of 48 on a pro rata basis.
Head Chefs may be ok to be paid monthly but more junior positions, we very much advise you pay weekly in what is a competitive market place.
With all the social media currently available, many chefs are becoming very savvy about where they wish to work and establishments with records of poor chef retention may find it harder to attract good quality permanent candidates. Scotland is quite a small country.
Sous chefs
In rural Scotland, it can be hard to get candidates but there are some candidates available if there is a good package in place.
2AA Rosettes there a few available. Suggest wages of £22,000 - £28,000 upwards to £30,000 for 3AA Rosette sous chef.
A good way to attract candidates is to pay hourly rates for every hour worked by chefs. For sous chefs suggest £12 to £14.50 per hour this will help to attract and retain good candidates. If paying salaried, we suggest five day week with overtime pro rata over 48 hours.
Chef de parties
In rural Scotland with accommodation there are a few candidates if wages are decent, suggesting hourly rate of pay and providing accommodation.
The availability of chefs who are looking for places such as Fort William, Inverness and West Coast is poor although there may be some chefs looking for live in accommodation that may be happy to relocate.
If paying by salary £19,000 for a 45 hour week works out £8.11 an hour which is on the low side. Suggest paying up to £22,000 or hourly rate £10.00 - £12.50 per hour with live in accommodation at a small charge.
We would hope you will get decent candidates with this.
Commis chefs
Pay relevant minimum wage per hour as opposed to salary.
These rates are for the National Minimum Wage. The rates change every April.
Over 25 £7.50 per hour
21 to 24 £7.05 per hour
18 to 20 £5.60 per hour
Under 18 £4.05 per hour
Apprentice £3.50 per hour
Thought for the week.
“chefs prefer to be paid weekly”
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