Sous Chef - Private Members Club - London

Job Summary

This role is to consistently support the delivery of a genuinely unique and positively unforgettable dining experience across your designated kitchen at The House of KOKO and its event offerings. As Sous Chef, you will be instrumental in maintaining exceptional food and service standards, ensuring smooth day-to-day operations, and contributing to a team-first, quality-driven kitchen culture.

Reporting to the Head Chef, you will act as a dependable second-in-command - Supporting leadership across restaurant service, private events, and back-of-house systems, while upholding consistency, professionalism, and compliance at every level.

You'll bring precision, calm leadership, and a collaborative mindset that drives both culinary excellence and operational efficiency.

Role and Responsibilities

Operational

• Support the Head Chef in leading daily kitchen operations, ensuring food quality, consistency, and timely service across all areas.
• Oversee mise en place, service prep, and efficient kitchen close-down procedures.
• Act as kitchen lead in the absence of the Head Chef, ensuring continuity of standards and communication.
• Maintain high levels of hygiene, organisation, and allergen awareness, ensuring full compliance with food safety protocols.
• Play a key role in delivering in-house and external events, ensuring kitchen logistics, service timelines, and bespoke menus are executed to brief.
• Communicate effectively with Events, FOH, and wider Ops teams to coordinate service and kitchen readiness.
• Perform regular quality checks on dishes, ensuring presentation and taste are upheld at all times.
• Maintain kitchen documentation and logs in line with health & safety requirements and site readiness expectations.
• Support the Head Chef in implementing operational efficiencies, systems improvements, and service refinements.
• Attend operational briefings and represent the kitchen when required.

Financial

• Work with the Head Chef to help monitor food GP, waste management, and prep yields to support the kitchen's financial performance.
• Support stock management: checking deliveries, assisting with ordering, and monitoring usage.
• Assist with rota planning and labour forecasting in line with service demand.
• Maintain correct portioning and dish execution to protect recipe costings and minimise overproduction.
• Flag equipment repair or replacement needs promptly, supporting cost control and continuity of service.
• Help track kitchen performance and understand how day-to-day decisions impact financial outcomes.

Team Management

• Lead by example in your work ethic, professionalism, and attention to detail.
• Act as a role model and line leader to junior chefs and kitchen porters, providing daily support, feedback, and training.
• Conduct pre-service briefings, helping to align team focus, service standards, and daily priorities.
• Help identify and develop emerging talent within the team, supporting succession planning and skills growth.
• Contribute to recruitment and onboarding of new kitchen team members, ensuring smooth induction and training.
• Promote a positive, respectful, and high-performance team culture in line with KOKO's values.
• Uphold standards of punctuality, appearance, and conduct across the brigade

About You

We are seeking a quality-led Sous Chef to support the daily operations of dynamic kitchens - someone who embodies professionalism, consistency and a deep passion for food, with the following key attributes:

• Previous experience as a Sous Chef in a high-volume, quality-led environment.
• Passionate about seasonally focused, modern food with strong attention to execution.
• Confident in managing service, leading small teams, and giving clear direction under pressure.
• Positive, proactive and solutions-focused in a fast-paced kitchen environment.
• Detail-oriented when it comes to cleanliness, compliance, and consistency.
• Comfortable supporting both day-to-day restaurant service and bespoke event execution.
• A collaborative communicator who thrives working cross-functionally with FOH, events and senior kitchen leaders.
• Eager to grow, develop others, and contribute to a professional, dynamic kitchen culture.

Please note we are only able to consider candidates with the Right to Work in the UK