Availability of chefs 27th July 2015
The availability of chefs of all levels remains tight due to a large demand for chefs and not enough good quality chefs to go round.
Many chefs are still choosing to work offshore also in preference to working in hotels and restaurants.
Head Chefs
There are a good amount of decent candidates for jobs around the central belt, Edinburgh, Glasgow and some in Perthshire.
If you are paying over £28,000 to £30,000 and pay overtime after 48 hours on a pro rata basis you will expect to attract good candidates for interview.
For rural locations, including Aberdeen, it can be difficult. We would advise to pay upwards of £28,000 - £30,000 and overtime after 48 hours on a pro rata basis and include accommodation as a package. For pubs we would suggest upwards of £26,000 including accommodation at no charge.
Head Chef 2AA Rosette suggest £29,000 to £34,000. 3AA we would suggest £35,0000 to £40,000.
Sous chefs
The availability sous chefs in rural Scotland is quite tight. There are candidates out there but good ones with stable work histories and relevant recent work references are quite scarce.
To get a good sous chef in the central belt we would advise to pay upwards of £22,000 to £27,000 with overtime after 48 hours on a pro rata basis.
For the more rural locations including Borders, Aberdeen and the islands, we would advise more innovative ways of getting chefs by paying an hourly rate of approximately £12-£13.50 per hour with live-in accommodation and one weekend off a month, one evening free a week or working 4 day weeks with longer hour days.
Chef de partie
In the central belt there are lots of bodies in Glasgow and Edinburgh but fewer chefs wanting to go further afield.
To attract good chefs we are suggesting to employers to think outside the box with regards to wages and hours. We are suggesting upwards of £18,000 for a 45 hour week which equates to with live-in accommodation and one weekend off a month. Or pay an hourly rate of £8 - £11 per hour. Another way you could attract chefs is to offer training or to send them on courses.
Commis chefs
There are some commis chefs looking for work. To get good commis chefs it is important to have a stable team in place where the commis can learn the trade under other skilled chefs. We would suggest paying minimum wage or £7 per hour with live-in accommodation for more rural areas. Offering training or getting them on day-release at college will help get chefs to stay.
Relief
Relief can and does change daily although it is generally quite tight and remains a chefs market.
So we are getting closer to the end of the season now and the tide seems to be turning. We are now up to a team of 4 in the office not including 2 other part-time staff and Bentley the Bassett-hound who enjoys his walks around Moffat but really spends most of the time sleeping.
The weather in Moffat is holding up as much as we can expect as usual for the Scottish summer and we are all hoping that it picks up before autumn comes in.
In the past few weeks we have been busy making permanent placements at a number of places all over Scotland and some in the North of England. These are including Ducks of Kilspindie, Burts Hotel in Melrose, The Inn at Brough in Cumbria and The C-Shack over in Edinburgh.
We currently have around 20 jobs on our books all over Scotland. There seems to be no pattern but there are quite a few jobs in Aberdeenshire, the Borders and the rest dotted about all over the country including Skye, Invernesshire and Edinburgh.
Relief is still very tight and we have some chefs available but most of our chefs are out working all over Scotland. Availability becomes slightly better from August but as some of relief chefs are now taking permanent jobs for over the winter it is getting tight then too.
Our new brochures have also arrived this week as well as a new batch of business cards and pens. So Chefs In Scotland marketing is definitely on the up and if you are due a pen please PM us on Facebook and we can get them sent out to you.
For now I must get back to arranging more interviews to get those permanent placements made.
Relief is still very busy with all our relief chefs out working. If you have any availability please drop me an email jojo@chefsinscotland.co.uk or call 01683 222830.
Vytis Baltrunas is working over on Skye at the 3 AA Rosette Ullinish Lodge as Sous Chef.
Craig Palmer has completed his 2 weeks stint at The Queens Hotel in Oban and is booked for chef de partie at Airds.
Richard Cameron worked 4 days over at The Bridge of Orchy Hotel and I now up in Banchory at The Burnett Arms.
Over on Shetland we have Roger Brown, Don Craig, Rene La Barre and John Ferguson.
Piotr Miga is doing a great job on relief he finished a long stint at the Queens Hotel in Oban and is working at the Moorings Hotel in Fort William.
Paul Crawford is currently working up in Tongue at The Ben Loyal Hotel as Head Chef.
Michael Njoroge is currently up in Alford at The Kildrummy Castle Hotel working alongside head chef Philippe Alamichel.
Andrew Bruce after working for 4 days up in Turriff and the Fife Arms he is now down in the Borders at The Dryburgh Abbey Hotel.
Mario Pohlman is finishing up at the Pitfarrane Hotel and is booked to go up to The Albert Hotel in Kirkwall, Orkney.
Lots of different places to see whilst you are out on relief.
Thanks for all your continued support and hardwork
This week Johanna has been busy getting relief chefs out to various different establishments in Scotland. Relief is still very tight as we are right in the middle of the season but we do have some availability from next week.
When I was working as a chef in Dumfries and Galloway I had the chance to work with a couple of relief chefs from Chefs In Scotland. All of them were good guys, and all worked very hard in a very busy environment.
We were looking for a sous chef at the time, we had various different people come and go but it took 2 months to get someone permanent.
A lot of the time chefs on relief are helping out establishments during a very hectic time when kitchens are stretched for staff and time.
Now I am working on the other side of the phone seeing how busy relief is and how hard permanent chef recruitment is, I realise it’s not just ask for a chef and one shall receive. There is a lot more to it than that and a number of processes to go through before a chef actually turns up. But like working in a kitchen as the tickets come through we must do the best we can. In some ways the jobs aren’t similar as there is no cooking involved. However there are a lot of transferable skills such as perseverance, communication and time.
We have made a couple of placements in the North of England and Cumbria so far this year including the Golf Hotel Silloth, Daffodil Hotel and this week The Inn at Brough. We do have other positions in this area so if you are interested in working in this area do send your CV to Jessica at recruitment@chefsinscotland.co.uk.
The weather in Moffat is overcast with some sun today and we are hoping it will keep dry for the Gala this week.
Jessica
By Johanna
It’s beginning to look a lot like SUMMER (about time)
Scott MacIntyre is currently working at the Oban Caledonian as Sous Chef also in Oban is Craig Palmer working at the Queens Hotel.
David Ironside is booked out for a few dates at the Kinloch Hotel over on Arran and also over there is Gordon Todd and Alan Baird both working in Brambles kitchen at Auchrannie.
New relief chef James Oneil and Stewart Howie are working at The Loch Fyne Oyster Bar in Cairndow.
Frank McDonald got asked to go back for just over 3 weeks at The Grant Arms in Monymusk.
Over in the Borders – Mark Murray at New Woll Golf Club, John Forestier at Burts, Michael George at The Dryburgh Abbey Hotel and Craig Watson at The Horse & Hound.
Jamie Atkinson and Jaimie Foran both getting on really well at The Golf View Hotel in Nairn.
James Paton is back helping out for a couple of weeks at The Moorings in Fort William with Eddie Higgins and Piotr Miga.
Thanks everyone for all your hard work and your support.
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