Out and About
7th April
I spoke with Scott Morrison the new head chef at The Cuillin Hills in Portree on Skye this morning. Unprompted Scott said he could not fault in any way the two excellent chefs who were up to help him out for a couple of weeks over a very busy period. Cameron Brown and Nelson Reposo. Many thanks. Scott used to pop in as a young chef to our offices in Wentworth Street in Portree when he was working at the Bosville to have a chat with his then girlfriend who is now his wife and she kindly helped us out with invoices.
Graham “Top Dog” Smith who hasn’t won a cup has been excellent over on Stornoway in Lewis, Skeabost on Skye and now over on Shetland at the Scalloway Hotel. Many thanks Graham and look forward to no Jaeger bombs at the CIS golf competition in Moffat later on in October.
Paul Devonshire, a well known chef, has been helping out for a few shifts at Go Glasgow off Paisley Road West. I stayed there a couple of weeks back for a night and the hotel has been transformed since Crerer took it over, managed by Graham Urquhart, formerly of Palm Court in Aberdeen. Look forward to staying again and thanks for helping us out Paul.
Lillian Clarkson will hopefully have received her CIS pen by now and thanks again Lillian.
Joe Wright, who is based in Kelso, often pops up for a couple of cameo roles in between several full time jobs. Joe is over in Ardanaseig for 7 days, thanks for all your support joe.
Thomas Scott has done a lot of excellent jobs over the last few years and is usually asked to stay on longer, like he is on Arran at the Glenisle just now. Many thanks also Thomas. It has been a few years now.
Tim Morris is back up in the North West of Scotland helping out at Tigh An Eilan and providing excellent support. Many thanks again Tim.
Down in Lockerbie, Phil Smith and Mick Kitson have been working hard at The Dryfesdale Hotel, a very busy hotel with an excellent reputation.
Alan Baird is also working in Lockerbie at The Townhead and getting on well. Many thanks again Alan.
Chris Roberti is up in Kinlochewe and is getting rave reviews as always from the outgoing owner Andrew.
Down in North of England, we have had a good few chefs on the go.
Glyn Musker completed a long stint at The Morrit. Paul Sellers is working there for a few days at the moment.
In Melrose, Nick Henderson was singing the praises very highly of Sarah Jeffrey who was working at Burts for a month, many thanks Sarah and good luck with your new job. All the best.
Sarah Pozzi has finished a good stint on Skye and is helping out in Edinburgh at the moment. Many thanks Sarah.
Peter Norrie, Kai Stutzkeitz, Michael Njoroge, Garry McGirr, Ionel Rizea, Richard Naismith, Gary Imlach, Andrew McMillan, Mark Wilkinson, Kirsty Hamilton, Daniel Haig, Colin Thomson. All are out and About in Scotland and North England.
Graham McCleish has ventured over the border into Carlisle fresh from enjoying Westport in Usit where Sharon Shearer is the head chef, lovely people said Graham.
There are many, many excellent chefs out there, good honest, hard working, reliable and with skills too many to name.
mòran taing do còcairean ann an Alba
Well it’s almost the last day of March and we have certainly had a busy month.
With over 50 relief chefs out working and a lot about to start their next job.
We are happy to look at new relief chefs, all you have to do is email your updated CV to jojo@chefsinscotland.co.uk or you can call our office 01683 222830 and register. We look forward to hearing from you.
I have been meeting chefs this week at our office and still happy to meet new chefs.
There are a few of our relief chefs who are taking permanent/seasonal jobs.
Kenny Bruce, Scott Macintyre, Mark Murray, Sarah Jeffrey, Philippe Alamichel.
We wish you all the best and you know where we are if you are looking for work in the future.
I will be away from the office next Wednesday 5th April but back on Monday 10th April. Michael will be working on relief while I am away.
Chris Roberti finished at Gartmore House and is now in Achnasheen at Kinlochewe Hotel. Mark Wilkinson is over on Mull at The Western Isles Hotel and has his next job booked in for next week, Alan Baird has been extended at The Townhead Hotel in Lockerbie, Peter Norrie is settling in at Eddrachillies and Dale Paton will be joining him after another short stint at The Dryfesdale Hotel, Graham McLeish is finishing at The Westford Inn in Uist (great pictures Graham) Ally Elder is back from Thailand for the season and we had him back at The Station Hotel in Dumfries and is just finished at The Lovat Hotel in Beauly, Stuart Agnew is at The Bothy Bistro, Daniel Haig managed to get a couple of days work in at Springkell and Cumbria Park hotel before he heads on holiday, Craig Brown is still working away close to home at the Newton Hotel, new relief chef Barry Richards is at The Station Hotel in Portsoy, Nelson Reposo is over in Skye at The Cuillinhills Hotel where Chris Daily is just finishing up at Skeabost. Sarah Pozzi is also away from Skye and got another booking in for next week for 2 weeks (home every night) there are a lot more chefs out too many to mention.
Thanks everyone for all your hard work, some excellent reference coming back in, Well Done J
Availability of Chefs in Scotland 13th February 2017
Head chefs
There are head chef candidates in central Scotland if paying in excess of £28,000 and upwards.
In other major Scottish cities such as Inverness, Aberdeen, Stirling, Perth, Dundee, there is good availability of head chefs, again suggest paying £25,000 upwards, the more money the more choice of good candidates you will have.
In rural Scotland including Skye, Shetland Islands and rural Argyll there are candidates if paying £25,000 upwards with accommodation.
2AA Rosette suggest £30,000 to £38,000 and for 3AA Rosette suggest £40,000 to £45,000.
One rural job in Argyll recently got 40 applicants.
Sous chefs
If it is a live in position for 4 star hotel suggest paying £22,000 to £30,000.
In central areas such as Glasgow, Edinburgh, Perth and Stirling can try live-out and you will get candidates. 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 £24,000 - £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 candidates also..
There are some chefs looking for live in accommodation and 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 £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. Current rates are £12.50 to £16.00 per hour for full working weeks with fee to CIS on top of that of £50 plus Vat per week to 10 weeks within a 9 month period of the chef starting with you.
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.
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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