HEAD CHEF / KITCHEN LEAD (UK)

Launched in Paris in 2019, Tigermilk is a fast-growing restaurant group with 12 locations across Europe - 10 in France, 1 in Belgium, and our newest opening in London (Tottenham Court Road).

We bring Latin American-inspired cuisine and cocktails to life in vibrant, centrally located restaurants - 100% homemade, responsibly sourced, and built on strong brand identity and guest experience.

Now, we're accelerating our expansion in the UK, with multiple openings planned across London and beyond - and we're looking for an experienced Head Chef to lead our kitchen teams, ensure flawless execution of our food standards, and build the training and operational structure needed to scale successfully.

This is a hands on leadership role for someone who thrives in high energy kitchens and is passionate about developing people, maintaining strict hygiene and compliance, and delivering consistent, high quality Tigermilk food - every day, at every site.

The Role

As Head Chef / Kitchen Lead - UK, you will be responsible for delivering consistent, high quality Tigermilk food standards in the UK.

This is a hands on leadership role where you will:

• Lead daily kitchen operations and execution during prep and service
• Train, develop, and structure kitchen teams to build autonomy and consistency
• Oversee recruitment and onboarding for kitchen hires
• Maintain strong hygiene, food safety, and compliance standards
• Support future openings through training and operational setup

What You'll Be Responsible For Kitchen Execution & Standards

• Deliver consistent food quality, taste, plating, and speed during every service
• Ensure strict compliance with technical sheets, recipes, and portion control (grammage)
• Maintain strong coordination with FOH/GM to ensure smooth service flow

Training & Team Development (Core Priority)

• Build and run a structured training programme for cooks (onboarding, station training, assessments)
• Coach and upskill kitchen teams to reach consistent performance across stations
• Maintain clear training tools: SOPs, checklists, prep guides, plating references

People Management

• Lead and motivate teams through strong standards, discipline, and positive culture
• Support performance development through feedback, coaching, and structure
• Organise schedules and team planning in coordination with Operations

Recruitment Oversight

• Support and oversee kitchen recruitment: interviews, trial shifts, evaluation, selection
• Ensure onboarding is effective and team structure supports performance and retention
• Build a pipeline of talent to support new openings

Stock Discipline & Storage Organisation

• Maintain disciplined labelling, date control (prep/use by), FIFO rotation, and organised storage
• Keep fridges/freezers/dry storage structured to support fast inventories and reduce waste

Hygiene, Food Safety & Compliance

• Ensure the kitchen is UK food safety compliant and EHO ready at all times
• Enforce HACCP based procedures, allergen controls, temperature checks, logs and traceability
• Maintain daily and weekly cleaning routines (opening/closing checklists, deep cleans)
• Train teams on hygiene behaviours, cross contamination prevention, and allergen awareness

New Openings & Expansion

• Play a key role in pre opening and launch phases: kitchen setup, training plans, test services
• Support future sites to embed strong standards from day one
• Be mobile to support openings and multi site needs when required

What We're Looking For

• 5+ years in professional kitchens, with 2+ years in a leadership role (Sous Chef / Head Chef / Kitchen Manager)
• Experience in high-volume, fast paced service environments
• Strong leadership with a genuine passion for training and developing teams
• Strong understanding of UK hygiene and food safety compliance (HACCP, allergens, logs)
• Highly structured, disciplined and consistent - you build systems, not just services
• New opening experience is a strong advantage

What Success Looks Like

• Consistent food quality and standards across services and teams
• Strong, autonomous kitchen teams with clear training structure
• A clean, organised, audit ready kitchen every day
• Successful recruitment and onboarding to support growth
• Smooth and repeatable openings as Tigermilk expands in the UK

Why Join Tigermilk?

• Join a fast growing European group launching and scaling in the UK
• Real opportunity to shape kitchen standards and build teams from the ground up
• High energy restaurants with a strong brand identity and guest experience focus
• Career progression opportunities through growth and expansion

Location & Contract

London (Tottenham Court Road) + travel for openings
Full time, permanent
Salary: competitive, based on experience