Head Chef at The Botanical Rooms

Up to £70,000 per annum plus tronc and fantastic benefits

Advert closes: 3rd July 2025

The Botanical Rooms – our 60-cover, flagship contemporary fine-dining restaurant – is on the lookout for a dynamic new Head Chef to lead the charge. You’ll be at the helm during busy services, guiding and developing your team, and working hand-in-hand with our gardeners, butchers, and bakers. From foraging across the estate to crafting stunning, ingredient-led dishes, you’ll bring creativity, precision, and flair to every plate.

Our Head Chef

You’ll take the reins of the Botanical Rooms kitchen, our flagship restaurant based at Hadspen House Hotel. Leading a team of around 13 chefs and kitchen porters, you’ll oversee day-to-day operations with full creative control over your menus — celebrating ingredients grown, reared, or foraged across our estate.

As a senior presence in the hotel, you'll be a hands-on leader who inspires and communicates confidently across departments and at all levels of the business.

With our open kitchen at the heart of the guest experience, you’ll also play a visible role in service. We actively encourage interaction between chefs and guests, so experience in an open kitchen or guest-facing environment would be a real advantage.

Key Responsibilities:

Create seasonal showstoppers – Design innovative menus that hero the finest produce grown, reared, or foraged across our estate.
Inspire and grow your team – Lead from the front, nurturing talent and creating opportunities for your brigade to thrive.
Streamline and succeed – Implement smart systems and workflows to keep the kitchen running like clockwork.
Drive profitability – Own the numbers, managing food costs with a sharp eye while maintaining exceptional quality.
Collaborate across the floor – Work hand-in-hand with our front-of-house team to deliver seamless, memorable guest experiences.
Champion safety and standards – Take full responsibility for kitchen hygiene, food safety, and compliance – no shortcuts, no compromises.

Skills and experience:

Proven track record in a luxury hotel at head chef level for two years.
Experience using fresh produce from a walled garden and producing first class dishes based on availability and providence.
Demonstrable versatility
Microsoft Office and good tech skills.
Experience leading a large team.
A driving license is desirable due to the location of the Estate

The Botanical Rooms

The Botanical Rooms is set within Hadspen House, our striking Georgian manor house Hotel at the heart of the estate. It offers a refined yet relaxed dining experience that celebrates the estate, the produce, seasons and the makers. Guided by an estate to plate philosophy, the culinary team craft menus that continually evolve with the seasons. Ingredients are sourced directly from the estate’s gardens, pastures, and surrounding woodlands. Estate-reared British White beef, lamb, and venison feature prominently, alongside fresh vegetables grown onsite and day-boat fish landed at West Country ports.

Foraged treasures from local hedgerows and woodlands add a delightful element of surprise to each dish. These fleeting ingredients, gathered at their peak, are woven into modern British menus with care and simplicity.

The semi-open kitchen, centred around a charcoal grill, brings a sense of theatre to the dining experience, while the courteous and polished service ensures a seamless and memorable meal. In this elegant yet relaxed setting, The Botanical Rooms offers food cooked simply and beautifully with each dish celebrating a piece of estate produce which is has been prepared to let the ingredient shine in its original form, not masked by process. —full of heart, soul, and the rich flavours of Somerset

What we can offer

A positive workplace environment with opportunities to develop both personally and professionally.
Stay in shape with our complimentary use of our gym and wellbeing classes
Look after your wellbeing with complimentary access to our Spa and swimming pools and our exclusive benefit of 50% of Spa Treatments.
Enjoy shopping in both our shops on estate and online with 30% discount for all our colleagues and free delivery for any online purchases.
Discover exclusive perks with our Discounted hotel stays for staff, accompanied by a fantastic 30% discount at our restaurants.
Complimentary garden membership for the Newt and our partner gardens including the Eden Project, Kew Gardens and The Lost Gardens of Heligan
Complimentary meal whilst on shift, created using fresh produce from our estate by our dedicated staff food chefs
We value your hard work and recognise your achievements through our colleague recognition programme “Newt Awards” with the opportunity to achieve a variety of amazing rewards including a complimentary Hotel Stay.
Support from our Employee Assistance Programme for both yourself and your family
A team that knows how to have fun with regular team engagement activities including monthly Gather and Grow Motivational Speakers and our regular fun squad events, which include activities such as Go-Karting and Wine Tasting, to name but a few.
Access your earnings at anytime with Wagestream, with access to nationwide brand discounts
Up to 30 days annual leave each year for our full-time team

INDURG