The Harley Café offers a range of high quality fresh daily food, on a weekly and seasonally changing menu, with an emphasis on locally sourced quality ingredient led cooking, and bright modern flavours.

Named Cafe of the Year 23/24 in the Great Food Club Awards and shortlisted for the Farm Café of the year in 2025 and 2026 with the Farm Retail Association, we are proud of our ethos and exceptional produce and service, and have high standards in our small but busy café.

We are part of a multi-award-winning Farm Shop based on The Welbeck Estate. The shop is famed for its locally sourced, full carcass butchery counter, Neal's Yard cheeses, estate-walled garden produce and network of fantastic local suppliers, which creates a dream larder for our Chefs.

This is an opportunity for a Head Chef to lead, motivate and inspire - demonstrating a passion for creating excellent innovative dishes and pushing the boundaries between café and restaurant food.

We want our loyal customers to enjoy our thoughtful and attractive presentation, understand the story behind the dishes, experience the care and expertise that has developed them, and learn more about the ethos behind our local ingredients and dedicated suppliers. This role reports directly to the Farm Shop and Café Director.

This fantastic opportunity includes daytime shift patterns - typically falling between 7am and 4:30pm – including regular weekend working with occasional evening events.
Pay rate based on experience.

• Full control over menus and sourcing – working within our vision and ethos.
• Driving consistent, high quality operational standards.
• Full accountability for compliance to all aspects of food safety standards and legislation
• Leading and managing the small, dedicated kitchen team.
• Working closely with the Café Manager to ensure Harley Café is consistently seen as a destination for incredible food and service standards.
• Communicating clearly your enthusiasm about seasonality, locally sourced quality ingredients and innovative dishes.
• Working alongside the Farm Shop team to source and support the use of seasonal ingredients.
• Planning evening events to showcase menu changes and celebrate special occasions.

• Proven experience in a busy, fresh food environment – working as a Sous Chef or above for over a year.
• Experience of working within a vision and ethos and demonstrating a passion for creating high-quality food, elevating standards and ensuring that every dish reflects quality, consistency and care.
• Understanding of the importance of a range of allergen free, vegetarian and vegan dishes alongside a healthy and thoughtful children’s menu.
• Professional, self-motivated with proven leadership experience. 

Ongoing training will be provided for the successful candidate.

Employees receive various benefits; for the full list, click here. 

Additional benefits for this role include generous food and beverage discounts. 

Interviews will be held in person. 

Sunday, 29 March 2026