Head Chef - The Side Hustle (Sports Bar)

At The Side Hustle, food needs to keep pace with the atmosphere. High-volume, fast-moving service where quality, consistency, and speed all matter. As Head Chef, you'll take full ownership of the kitchen operation - driving performance, leading your team, and ensuring food enhances the guest experience without ever slowing it down. This is a role for a commercially aware leader who can balance pace, quality, and control in a high-energy environment. What you'll be doing Driving kitchen performance

• Delivering food sales in line with site targets
• Managing food GP through effective ordering, portion control, and waste management
• Controlling labour in line with budgets and trading patterns
• Identifying opportunities to improve efficiency and profitability
Owning food quality and consistency
• Ensuring all dishes meet brand specification
• Maintaining consistency across all shifts, including peak trading
• Balancing speed and quality in a high-volume environment
• Keeping menu execution simple, effective, and repeatable
Delivering service at pace
• Ensuring food is delivered within expected service times
• Running an efficient kitchen alongside bar and floor teams
• Maintaining clear communication with front-of-house
• Adapting quickly to changes in demand during live events and busy periods
Leading and developing your team
• Recruiting, training, and developing a strong kitchen team
• Setting clear expectations around performance and standards
• Building a team that performs consistently under pressure
• Supporting succession planning and development
Maintaining standards and compliance
• Maintaining high standards of cleanliness, organisation, and food hygiene
• Ensuring compliance with food safety, EHO, and company policies
• Owning kitchen maintenance and equipment care
• Ensuring all due diligence and documentation is completed accurately
Collaborating to deliver the experience
• Working closely with the General Manager and Bar Manager
• Ensuring food complements the overall guest experience
• Responding to guest feedback and driving improvements
• Supporting key trading periods and events
  
  Leads by example with high standards and strong work ethic
• Calm, organised, and decisive under pressure
• Takes ownership of kitchen performance and results
• Works collaboratively with front-of-house teams
Experience
• Experience as a Head Chef or Senior Sous in a high-volume environment
• Strong understanding of food GP, stock control, and labour management
• Experience leading and developing kitchen teams
• Strong knowledge of food safety and compliance
  
  Nightcap's mission is simple.
To be the leading operator of premium bars and drinks-led hospitality concepts in the UK. We create the bars for the best nights ever. Our visually immersive spaces and bold cocktails create the perfect set up for an unforgettable night. It is a really exciting time to join us. We are looking for ambitious individuals that are looking to develop and take on new opportunities as we grow. We have an industry leading bartender training program, and we are currently developing our management training program with the aim of being 'best in class'.


• Competitive salary plus bonus potential
• Clear progression pathways across Nightcap brands
• Training and development to support your next step
• Up to 50% discount across all Nightcap venues
• Access to a wellbeing support platform and EAP services
• Discounts with a wide range of businesses through our benefits portal
• Early access to your pay through Stream
• 4 x annual salary life assurance to support your loved ones
Why The Side Hustle? Because this is where sport, nightlife, and performance come together. You're not just running a kitchen - you're building one that delivers, every shift. Fast, consistent, and commercially strong. If you're ready to lead a high-performing kitchen in a high-energy environment, we'd love to hear from you., The most insane staff parties... I mean FESTIVALs! With all food and drinks provided. Endless progression opportunities. New to the cocktail world? We have fantastically skilled trainers who will be proud teach what you need to know and more. Rewarding Bonus Scheme And drinks always on us! If you are a driven individual that is looking for a fun and exciting journey, then this is the company for you!