Head Chef

The Pinnacle is a proper Melbourne pub — busy, well run, and built on doing the simple things exceptionally well. The kitchen runs at volume and the standard stays high. The team is tight, and the people here take genuine pride in what leaves the pass.

With seven days trade, and a tight-knit team, it's a hands-on kitchen and a close one. We're looking for a working Head Chef to take full ownership of the kitchen: the food, the team, the numbers and the standards.

They set the menu, build and lead the back of house team, hold food quality and safety, and deliver the kitchen's contribution to the venue's financial performance. This is a working Head Chef role — close to the pass rather than administrative — but the accountability is complete. The food, the team, the numbers and the standards all sit here

The Role:

• The food - Menu development and direction, quality and consistency, specs and recipe cards, supplier and product decisions.

• The team - Hiring, training and developing your brigade. Clear communication, real accountability, and a kitchen people want to stay in.

• The numbers - Food cost and gross profit to target, labour managed through the roster, ordering, stock and waste.

• The standards - Food safety, compliance, prep done before service, sections set, the pass moving without a scramble.

• The relationship with the floor - Working with the General Manager and FOH so the venue runs as one operation, not two.

What we're looking for:

You've led a high-volume kitchen and you know consistency is a discipline, not luck. You run tight food and labour costs without letting quality slip. You're calm under pressure, direct with your team, and you lead by example on punctuality, prep and presentation.

Specifically:

• Proven experience as a Head Chef, or as a Sous Chef ready to step up, in a venue of comparable standard and volume

• Demonstrated ownership of food cost, gross profit and labour

• Confidence building rosters to a labour budget and to staff entitlements

• A real track record of developing chefs — people who stayed and progressed

• Trade qualification in commercial cookery or equivalent experience

• Food Safety Supervisor certification, or the ability to obtain it before you start

• Full working rights in Australia

What good looks like at six months:

• Food and labour percentages hitting target month on month, not in a single strong month

• The food going out to the same standard on services you don't work

• Your brigade stable and developing, with the next leaders coming from inside it

Why this role:

This is a kitchen you'll genuinely run, in a venue that backs its leaders. You'll have full autonomy over the food and the team, an owner who is engaged rather than absent, and a management team that invests in the people leading its venues.

How to apply:

Apply through Seek, or send your CV and a short cover note to sean@pax.melbourne. Tell us who you are, what you've built, and why The Pinnacle. We're not after a cover letter that mirrors this ad back at us — we want to hear your voice.