When I was working in kitchens there was always a lot of fun and some pranks pulled especially when I was starting out. When I was working in an Indian restaurant when I was 17 the chefs used to hide my lunch inside the tandoor oven and I used to have to go in and get it. Other times I have been locked in the walk-in fridge, and nearly set on fire also. But I must admit it was all in good banter and I never felt it was anything else.
I have also been sent to get a leg of salmon out of the freezer, covered in a bucket of water on a last shift and had chilli rubbed round the rim of my glass all day. One time the chef had asked me to ring through to the bakery for our bread order and gave me a random number for the local town. An elderly lady answered the phone and had no clue what I was on about. It wasn’t until the chef was in stitches until I realised what he had done. I have also been asked to try the salt crust but that is one that I didn’t fall for.
All of the time I thoroughly enjoyed myself travelling about Scotland.
What is the worst thing you have been asked to do when you were starting out in kitchens?
Head chefs
There are head chef candidates in central Scotland if paying good money in excess of £28,000 and upwards for head chef jobs.
In rural Scotland including Inverness and all the highlands and islands, there are a few head chefs and 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.
In rural Scotland and particular 2AA Rosette country house hotels relevant candidates are scarce. Skye, Shetland Islands and rural Argyll there are candidates if paying good money (about £35,000 for 2AA Rosette head chef)
Suggest paying £28,000 upwards to £40,000 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.
Aberdeenshire, Dundee and East coast, and Perthshire there are quite a few Head Chefs registered.
The more central, the more candidates you will expect to get and the more rural, the harder it can get.
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
If it is a live in position for 4 star hotel suggest paying £24,000 to £30,000.
In central areas such as Glasgow, Edinburgh, Perth and Stirling can try live-out and there are a few relevant chefs. In rural Scotland, it can be harder 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 £25,000 - £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 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
Availability currently ok in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Perthshire and central belt. Quality can be mixed. In rural Scotland with accommodation there are a few candidates if wages are decent, suggesting £10 to £12 per hour.
There are some chefs looking for live in accommodation and may be happy to relocate and again are of varying quality.
If paying by salary suggest £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 £9.50 - £12 per hour with live in accommodation at a small charge. We would hope you will get decent candidates with this.
Commis chefs
Few bodies available. Enclosed link to minimum wages.
www.minimum-wage.co.uk/
Pastry a few available happy to have a look
For perm we can look if pay “fee of interest” or advertise
Availability of Relief Chefs change daily and we can advise.
So here we are into the 3rd week in January and we are getting lots of permanent positions registered and relief still remains quite quiet. Alannah Morrison will be joining us back in the office next week. Hopefully bringing some samples from The Harris gin distillery she has been working in over the winter and we look forward to seeing her next week.
We are still pushing on with recruitment in the North of England including Cumbria, Northumberland, Lake District and North Yorkshire and I arranged some interviews there yesterday which are taking place on Friday so fingers crossed.
Michael is working predominately on head chef recruitment
and has lots of positions registered all over Scotland.
I am working on all junior recruitment including sous, chef de partie and
commis chef recruitment. I have been busy placing lots of chef de parties and
commis chefs and it is a real joy to have an effect on their career and getting
them really good opportunities.
Johanna Watson who is in her 7th year of working in Chefs In Scotland will be sorting out a lot of the property aspects of our business and of course dealing with any relief work as and when it comes in.
We are still keen to meet chefs at our new and refurbished offices in Moffat. Which are looking very lovely I must say. So if you want to come and discuss either permanent positions or relief work please give us a call and we will check our availability.
Jessica
Happy New Year to you all.
January is a quiet month for relief.
We do have the odd job coming in but more area specific.
Over the festive period we got out Dale Paton to Ardlui Hotel, Graham Smith to Shieldaig Lodge, Sarah Jeffrey and Lauran Galloway to Aysgarth Falls, Mark Murray and Stuart MacColl to The Kingsmills Hotel, Ally Bell to The Wheatsheaf in Swinton, Daniel Haig at Grant Arms Hotel, Shaun Murray at The Cross Keys in Kelso, Mark Shaw at Auchrannie, Glyn Musker at The Morritt, Kieran Grant and Jason Keenan at The Caledonian Hotel in Dumfries, Andrew Brown at The Links Hotel, Ally Caldwell at The Creggans Inn, Andras Rethi and Gary McGirr at The Steadings in Kirkcaldy, Ionel Rizea at Foxtons, Peter Norrie at Loch Insh Watersports Centre, Jason Paxton at Old Bridge Inn, Stephen Kessell at Eden Court Theatre, Jan Provaznik at Duisdale, Michael Pallister at Springkell, Alan Baird at Mustard Seed, Gary MicGirr at Allan Ramsay Hotel, David Ironsite at Pittodrie House Hotel, Sara Jayne Moffat at Lodge at Carfraemill, Graham Smith at Skeabost Hotel and Derrick Bartley at Creggans Inn.
We are nearly finished with our refurbishments and we will look to meet relief chefs again from week starting 16th January, if you are currently doing relief work with us or are looking to start then please give us a call and we can our availability.
Thanks again for all your hard work and continued support.
Wednesday 4th January 2017 News page
It is good to get back to a routine after the festive period and I am enjoying working in the chef recruitment office this week.
This will be my 20th year of working in recruitment since 1998 and the 17th year that the business has been called Chefs In Scotland.
We had a very good year in 2016 and we managed to grow the business by just over 10%. We have set out our stall to increase the chef recruitment side of the business by 15% in 2017.
Joining me at the CIS offices here in Moffat are Jessica Huntley who dealt with all permanent recruitment for the last few months of 2016. Jessica is dealing with sous chef, chef de partie, commis and pastry chef recruitment.
Johanna Watson returns tomorrow and will continue as relief chef manageress working into her 7th year with us here in Moffat.
Alannah Morrison who spent 7 months here last year is coming back to work at the end of January and we have converted one of the empty rooms at Sunnybrae into an office which is called “England” and we are keen to get more business in the northern half of England, specifically Cumbria, Northumberland, Lancashire, the Lake District and North Yorkshire.
We will make sure that this is not to the detriment of our traditional core business throughout Scotland including all the islands and rural parts of Scotland of which there are many.
I am dealing with head chef and executive head chef recruitment.
We are opening until 5pm until late January when we will be open until 6pm and will continue to open on Saturday mornings.
We are holding our prices for permanent recruitment at last year’s levels and the rates for relief work will remain the same for now also.
Please feel free to call the office on 01683 222830 or visit our website to place adverts directly.
All the best for 2017
Michael in Moffat
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