Operations Chef

What makes the perfect pub? It’s great ales, delicious food, a welcoming atmosphere, and the warm welcome from a team that’s at the heart of everything we do.
The Inn Collection Group is a multi-award-winning pubs with rooms company, proudly located in some of the most outstanding destinations across the North of England and Wales. At ICG, we deliver exceptional hospitality by living and breathing our core values of respect, customer focused, warmth, , and honesty, all with the goal of Making People Happy.

How we say thank you!
• Celebrate your birthday with an extra paid holiday.
• Build your future with support from our Lead-Inn development program.
• Take the time you need to rest and recharge; Paid Breaks are on us.
• Enjoy 50% off food at any of our Inns
• Relax with a stay at any of our Inns during January, February, and March for just £1.
• Take advantage of the chance to explore our beautiful locations, with 1/3 off room bookings all year round.
• Experience a spontaneous trip away with £50 on same day bookings
• It’s not just for you—your loved ones can enjoy 15% off bed and breakfast too!
• 24/7 confidential support is always there when you need it with our Employee Assistance Programme
• Tronc (…that’s tips to me and you)
• Contribute to a company that gives back through our Give-inn back scheme
• Join an award-winning team recognised as the Best Pub Employer at the Publican Awards.

This role is field-based across our inns throughout the North East, North Yorkshire and the Lake District, working closely with Head Chefs and kitchen teams to support operations, drive standards, and strengthen performance across each kitchen.

You’ll Fit Right Inn

As an Operations
Chef, you’ll play a key role in supporting our inns
through their busiest trading period of the year. This role is about pace,
quality, standards, team confidence and commercial acumen. You will
work alongside our Head Chefs and kitchen teams to strengthen kitchen
performance, identify the gaps that slow service down, and coach
teams to deliver consistently brilliant food.

Your responsibilities will include building
strong relationships with Head Chefs and Sous Chefs through open communication,
motivation, and support.

You’ll occasionally work the pass during
peak periods with your focus on building capability,
improving standards and helping sites have a successful summer
season.

You will bring
heartfelt hospitality to life through great food, clean kitchens, strong
team relationships and practical, commercially focused support.

If you’re excited by the chance to
make your mark, build winning teams, and help shape the future of our kitchens,
we think you’ll fit right inn...

Your Responsibilities

• Team building: Build
  strong, open and positive relationships with Head Chefs and Sous
  Chefs, creating a team culture that is honest, fun, supportive and
  focused on succeeding together.
• Peak skills building: Work the pass during
  peak trading periods to identify skills
  gaps, mise en place gaps and operational gaps that impact speed,
  food quality and guest experience. Turn these observations into
  practical coaching and clear actions.
• Commercial performance: Help
  sites maximise summer trading by improving pace,
  quality, consistency and kitchen readiness, supporting teams to bank
  the cash during peak periods.
• Cost control: Implement purchase
  trackers immediately where needed, monitor overspend and coach Head
  Chefs and Sous Chefs on stronger purchasing discipline,
  stock management and commercial decision-making.
• Food quality: Coach teams to reduce
  excessive frozen stock holding, deplete frozen items appropriately and
  strengthen fresh food quality, availability and consistency across
  the region.
• Recruitment support: Support recruitment
  needs across the region, including CV screening, interviews and
  practical advice to help build stronger kitchen teams.
• Kitchen audits and clean kitchens: Complete regular
  kitchen audits to ensure cleanliness, food safety, compliance and
  company standards are being maintained. Where gaps are identified,
  provide follow-up coaching and clear improvement actions.
• Diary planning: Work to a
  signed-off weekly diary agreed with the Operations Manager and Operations
  Director. The diary should cover five days per week across a range of shifts
  and sites, ensuring activity is planned, purposeful and aligned to
  regional priorities.
• Clear reporting: Report into the
  Operations Manager, with a dotted line to the Area Director, sharing clear
  updates on progress, risks, actions and support required.

• Head Chef and Sous Chef relationships are stronger,
  with more open communication and clearer accountability.
• Sites are better prepared for peak trading, with
  stronger mise en place, better pass control and improved
  service pace.
• Kitchen teams receive practical coaching that improves
  confidence, standards and consistency.
• Purchase trackers are in place and overspend is
  challenged, understood and coached quickly.
• Frozen stock levels are reduced and fresh
  food quality is strengthened.
• Kitchen audits are completed, gaps are
  followed up and standards improve week by week.
• The weekly diary is planned, signed off and
  focused on the sites and shifts where support will have the greatest impact.
• The role supports commercial delivery
  during summer trading without becoming shift cover.

• You are driven by great food,
  high standards and doing the basics brilliantly.
• You understand what a busy kitchen needs to deliver
  pace, quality and consistency at peak trading times.
• You build strong relationships with Head Chefs and
  Sous Chefs through open communication, trust, challenge and support.
• You are confident working the pass, reading
  a service and spotting the skills, mise en place and
  operational gaps that affect speed and quality.
• You are commercially aware and understand the link
  between purchasing, stock holding, waste, food quality and cash
  performance.
• You are calm under pressure, solutions-focused and
  able to coach in the moment without taking over.
• You are comfortable supporting
  recruitment activity, including CV screening and interviews where needed.
• You are based within a commutable distance of
  the North East, North Yorkshire & The Lake District and happy to travel regularly across the region.
• Your values align with ours.