The weather all over Dumfries and Galloway has been very wet this week. We have been on amber alert and the roads into Moffat were flooded yesterday morning and the Nith broke its bank yesterday afternoon. Today began with a wet start again but this afternoon it has dried up and there is even a small amount of sun peeking through the clouds.
At Chefs In Scotland this week we have been busy making permanent placements all over Scotland including Perthshire, Inverness-shire, Aberdeenshire and Edinburgh and Lothians. The jobs are coming in starting immediately as well as in March and April for the season and longer. If you are looking for work at the moment please don’t hesitate to get in touch and we can get you registered.
There has been lots of articles in the news this week about getting young people into industry but what we can do to make this honoured trade a career option for young people. We all know that when you start off in the kitchen as a commis chef you need a lot of dedication, time and a passion for the industry to work 60 hours a week for £14,000 a year. However the more time and dedication you put into the role there are rewards to come from it. There are positives to working in this industry including camaraderie, learning your trade from great chefs and mentors and the buzz of service. You also get a chance to be creative, which you may not find in a standard 9-5 job and where academia isn’t the be all and end all. So really when we do get young chefs into the kitchen starting out the impression the head chef makes on them could be the difference between staying in industry, working their way up and making the same impressions or moving between jobs and leaving the trade. But this isn’t something that is going to happen overnight unfortunately.
We are still keen to meet relief chefs. We have availability and we do understand that with the weather conditions at the moment it is difficult. However we do appreciate our chefs coming to meet as it enables us to fit a face to a name and the same for the chef.
For now it is time to get back to arranging interviews and getting some chefs placed.
Head ChefsGood in central location including Glasgow, Edinburgh and Stirling.
Currently good in Perthshire, Highlands, Inverness-shire and most regions of Scotland if offering live in.
Suggest wage from £25,000 upwards will get some candidates, ideally over £28,000 and suggest paying overtime for extra days and for hours worked over 48 sanctioned by management.
Ideally this will get candidates with verifiable work histories and often well known to Chefs In Scotland. Below quality will be hit or miss.
3AA Rosette head chefs (suggest £35,000 to £45,000) can be scarce, some 2AA (suggest £27,000 to £32,000) and happy to look.
Sous chefsAvailability ok for live in sous to 4 star paying £22,000 to £30,000.
In central areas such as Glasgow, Edinburgh, Perth, Stirling can try live-out. More rural availability currently quite good also but will change as we move towards Easter
2AA Rosettes and above can be quite scarce. Suggest five day week with overtime pro rata over 45 or 48 hours.
Chef de parties
Availability currently good in Glasgow , Edinburgh and central bell.
Availability is pretty good currently in rural Scotland also if offering accommodation, there are a lot of chefs looking for live in accommodation.
There do seem to be issues with staff retention in rural Scotland and we are happy to give advice to hoteliers and meet them to discuss at our offices in Moffat.
Suggest £17,000 (low side) to £21,000 or hourly rate £8.50 - £11 per hour with live in accommodation.
Commis chefs
A few bodies available. Suggest £14,000 live in or out. Or minimum wage.
Pastry a few available happy to have a look
For perm we can look if pay “fee of interest” or advertise
Relief
Currently very good although can change daily but we update our database on a daily basis and very happy to look if you are paid up to date with us.
Happy to advertise all positions or us to look with Fee of interest. For sous and below can look and advertise. Fee of interest deducted from finders fee.
We are now into 2016 and it has started out well with 11 relief chefs booked out this week, and still over 20 chefs out working in total.
Out over the festive period were Ryan Williamson and Ionel Rizea at Kastille, Roddy White, Mark Murray and Dmitrij Cvilij at Kirklands, Alan Baird at Dundee Apex, Piotr Dziedzic at Benalder Estate, Sara-Jayne Moffat at Kingsmills, Glyn Musker and Shaun Lee at Dalmunzie, David McConnachie at Caladh Inn, Chris Daily and David Ironside at Lodge at Carfraemill, Phil Smith at White Horse Inn, Tim Morris at Grant Arms Hotel, Stuart MacColl at Bridge Hotel, Michael Njoroge and Robert Birrell at Scores Hotel, Paul Smith at Knockderry Hotel, Martin Nel at Isle Ornsay, Graeme Kennedy at Foxtons plus many more who were out working before.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our chefs for all their hard work and support and hope everyone has a great year ahead.
1 week until Christmas (my birthday the big 30!!) I hope everyone is organised and getting into the spirit. CIS team are off out tonight for our Christmas meal at The Balmoral Hotel in Moffat. I will be finishing for the Christmas holidays from tonight and back on the 5th of January.
There is still good availability for relief chefs for over Christmas and New Year.
Relief will be quieter in January and February as expected for the time of year.
We are happy to look at new relief chef from March/April 2016 onwards.
We would ideally like to meet all relief chefs at our office in Moffat.
For all new chefs we need an up to date CV with contactable work references we then give you a call to register you.
We all wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year.
So here it is the week before Christmas and I am sure all our chefs are very busy working. Michael is just back from Spain with Bentley the Basset-Hound who seems to have enjoyed himself. It is like Bentley never left and he is already settled asleep on the office floor.
Johanna is off from tomorrow on her well-deserved Christmas holidays and Chefs In Scotland we will be celebrating Christmas tomorrow night at our works do.
This week, although much warmer, it is certainly starting to feel more festive about the town with all the Christmas lights up and lots of Christmas cards coming through the post from our chefs. Thank you to all who has sent cards.
Chefs In Scotland Christmas opening times will be as follows:
Monday 21st December: 9-5pm
Tuesday 22nd December: 9-5pm
Wednesday 23rd December: 9-5pm
Thursday 24th December: Closed
Friday 25th December: Closed
Saturday 26th December: Closed
Monday 28th December: 9-5pm
Tuesday 29th December: 9-5pm
Wednesday 30th December: 9-5pm
Thursday 31st December: Closed
Friday 1st January: Closed
Saturday 2nd January: Closed
Monday 4th January: Open as usual
Chef recruitment is keeping busy with plenty of CVs this week with jobs starting in the New Year. So if you are looking for a new challenge please get in touch with your up-to-date CV and we will see what jobs you would be relevant for. Lots of enquiries and adverts for jobs starting in January, February and March 2016 also.
Thanks for all your hard work and all the best!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2016
From Michael, Johanna, Jessica and Bentley.
RSS