Head Chef

The team who opened Ripples Rose Bay in June are leaving to open the next SRG venue. They built the place — the marina site, the seafood menu, the 6:30am kiosk queue. Your job is to make it permanent.

Why we're hiring now

SRG opens seven venues this year. Every opening pulls experienced people out of venues that are already trading, and that's exactly what's happening here. Ripples Rose Bay is a few weeks old and trading well. It now has to become what Ripples Milsons Point became after 2002 — somewhere people come back to for twenty years. That comes from systems and a strong brigade, not from launch momentum.

What you own

• Food cost inside budget every quarter, with variances traced to their source in the same week they show up
• Kitchen labour matched to how the venue actually trades, not to a roster template carried over from last month
• A brigade that runs service to standard on the days you aren't there
• A sous chef who is ready to do your job by the end of the year
• Guest food scores that hold or climb, and a clean record on allergens
• Seasonal menus delivered on brief and on time, plus one costed improvement each quarter that you find yourself

What good looks like

At 90 days: You know your food cost to the dollar and can explain every variance without looking it up. Prep lists and line checks are written down and followed by everyone, including the casuals. You've named your sous chef.

At 12 months: Food cost and labour have held inside budget across four quarters. Service has run to standard, without you present, on at least two occasions each quarter. Your sous chef has an active plan to replace you, and nobody good has left your kitchen.

You'll do well here if

• You set up the shift before it starts, because you already know where it will fall over
• You tell the Executive Chef about a cost problem while it's still small, and you never surprise them with one
• You fix things at the source instead of working around them each service
• You write down how your kitchen runs, so it survives a resignation
• You stay calm under pressure rather than loud
• You'd rather your cooks get the credit for a good service than take it yourself
• You can handle a 6:30am kiosk and a 9pm pass in the same week without dropping standards on either

What you get

• A salaried role with a documented annual incentive plan, measured on food cost, labour, food quality and how much stronger your team is at the end of the year. 
• A kitchen that's a month old — new equipment, new fit-out, on Rose Bay Marina
• A group opening seven venues this year, which is why this role is open and how the last person moved up
• Discounted WSET courses, the annual managers' conference, and dining across all 17 venues

Who we are

SRG is a Sydney hospitality group, owned and run by the Drakopoulos family since 2000. Aqua, the first venue, is still trading 25 years later — which tells you what we build for. Ripples has been on the water since Milsons Point in 2002, and Rose Bay is the newest of them. We're a group that measures things: wine list awards, food scores, and the numbers in your kitchen budget.

How to apply

Send your CV via this portal. 

You'll hear back within five working days either way. From there: a phone call with an Executive Chef, one conversation on site, and a trial. We'll have a decision inside three weeks of your first call.