Travelbound - Chateau Du Molay - Head Chef

Join us for the 2025 season at Travelbound’s amazing Chateau Du Molay in Northern France Travelbound specialise in offering residential school trips to groups from all over the word

This role will be based at our truly idyllic, 18th Century Chateau, situated in Normandy, France. Renowned for its history, beautiful towns, and sandy beaches, in your down time you will have the chance to explore everything Normandy has to offer Or, if you fancy something different on your day off you can jump on the train and be in central Paris within a couple of hours

A season at Chateau Du Molay will give you the opportunity to build on your hospitality skills and make memories which will last a lifetime. With an international customer base and team of around 20 staff members from across Europe and the world, there is a unique opportunity to practice your French and English language skills

**What will I be doing?**

At Chateau du Molay, our kitchen provides meals for hungry school guests and teachers from France, UK and around the world. With a maximum capacity of 200 guests and 30 members of staff, our menus provide for high covers, high quality food appealing to a child’s palette. You will need to be comfortable with preparing simple, yet wholesome meals on a large scale whilst managing up to 5 other staff, including Potwash, KP’s and your other chefs.

With a well-planned menu in place, you will have a good understanding of numbers and allergens well in advance - so plenty of time to get on top of prep work A platter service is provided for the children, whilst a plated service is provided for the adults. Dishes are simple, nutritious and adapted for a multi-national audience. For example: Freshly made soup to start, chicken chasseur with green beans, carrots and boiled potatoes for main and tarte au citron for dessert.

As a Catering Manger you will be responsible for the general day to day operation of our kitchen. This includes kitchen, food and chemical/ consumable stock orders. The Chateau has a tried and tested menu of dishes which have evolved over the past 15 years; however, you will have to plan which dishes are served on which days to allow for special food evenings including: Frogs & Snails nights, Crepe and Cidre nights as well as summer BBQ’s.

Another key focus of your role will be to lead your kitchen team of around 3 chefs and the support of Kitchen Porters and Pot Washers. Our Catering Manager needs to lead from the front and set a shining example of teamwork and work ethic to keep the team motivated. Many of our chefs are very eager to learn so training and sharing your experience of the catering industry will be invaluable

Whilst this is a management level position, this is a very hands-on role, and you will be heavily involved in each service and kitchen clean down with your team - first in, last out approach. Whilst the paperwork side of this job is much less than most Catering Management roles, it does form an integral part of the role as does the planning and ordering - so time set aside to work on the various spreadsheets, is essential

**What skills and experience do I need?**
- Previous Head Chef or high-level Sous Chef experience essential
- Confident leading a kitchen team
- Previous experience in ordering and stock control for large volumes
- Previous experience of volume catering is a bonus
- Previous experience in a hotel setting or previous winter/ summer season is a bonus
- An excellent understanding of the Health and Safety regulations (Food & Hygiene, HACCP, COSHH)
- Experience and detailed understanding of preparing meals to cater for all dietary requirements (some very severe)
- Able to work with the Chateau Directeur to hit budget and KPI targets
- Not afraid to roll your sleeves up and get stuck - from basic food prep to an end of service clean down
- A desire and the necessary knowledge to develop more junior members of your team quickly
- Conversational English is essential
- **French speaking is a bonus**

**What can Travelbound offer me?**
- Competitive, seasonal salary paid in Euros as all staff will be on a French contract for 2025
- All meals - even on your days off
- Optional on-site accommodation free of charge
- Option to live off-site if you live locally
- Uniform
- Insurance
- Access to on-site facilities including staff bikes, outdoor swimming pool (May-Sept), BBQ, discounted drinks in the Chateau bar etc.
- Management training once at the Chateau
- Support with travel arrangements (based on your current destination)
- Role progression and the chance to return for future seasons

**The extra bits**
- We ask applicants to be fully available from February 2025 to July 2025 (with the chance of extending right through until October 2025)
- You must be 18 or over by Februaray 2025 to apply
- Due to Brexit implications, applicants with EU documentation are preferred e.g., EU passport, EU work visa, French residency permit or Carte de Sejour