Join our program and establish yourself in the most exclusive London restaurants.

Find a job 

Every year hundreds of Chefs move to London to build and expand their careers as Chefs and for good reason. 

London hosts some of the best Restaurants and Chefs in the world: with the most advanced equipment you can find will be in almost every single kitchen; fresh seasonal produce delivered to your doorstep on a daily basis; and being surrounded and mentored by professional Chefs creating and developing new techniques.

London has become a fantastic place for Chefs that are serious about their careers and to learn and progress as Chefs while earning a good salary. 

The downside is that finding a professional kitchen to work for in London is challenging, especially if you don't have any contacts that can help you. 

Chefs for London is here to help you overcome all these challenges in a few easy steps. We have access to an extensive restaurant network with the best possible career opportunities available in the London restaurant scene - opportunities that promise to boost your career as a chef. We are dedicated to help you establish and manage your career as a chef in London.

We have created a very easy to use platform for both Chefs and Restaurants to work on and achieve their recruitment goals by the click of a button. 

Learn how you can establish yourself operating in London's elite restaurants cooking the food you love. 

How does it work?

Chefs for London is a free service for all our Chefs looking for jobs in London no risk and no payment is needed what so ever. 

We also provide you with various tools to achieve your recruitment goals in just a few clicks.

Add profiles & cv

Create your quick and easy step-by-step Ad on our website 

We ask all our Chefs to create a profile with us. It is a very simple step-by-step process and will only take a few minutes of your time. This information will provide us with all the necessary details we need to help you find the best possible Job in London. By doing so, it allows us to get straight to work and reduce the amount of frustrating emails and calls going back and forward usually experienced during the recruitment process.

Find Jobs 

Search for Job offers in our network, Restaurants that are currently looking for Chefs in London

Restaurants can post job offers in this section. It is a summary of only the most important and necessary information about the jobs. 

Apply for this Job

This will automatically notify us that you are interested in one of our Restaurants 

At the bottom of every Job offer, this button will appear. By simply clicking on it, we will be notified that you are interested in that Job. We will then get into contact with the Restaurant and send them your Profile information. If the Restaurant is interested in your profile, we will then set up a trial shift for you at that restaurant as soon as possible.

Play and Pause 

Play and Pause give you full control so you can decide when you want your Ad to show on our website

Our team will automatically receive a notification to let us know that you are looking or no longer looking for a Job. It also allows you to save your Ad in your Profile and enables you to use that same Ad or Edit it slightly if you need it for a future recruitment project. This makes it even easier and quicker to re-post your Ad and notify us that you are looking for a job in London again. 

General information 

We will also send you a document with all the necessary information you will need to get started in London – a bank account, accommodation, travel, NI numbers, etc. 

Chefs for London would like to invite you to join our Network today!!!!

Click here for FAQ

How will Chefs for London benefit your Restaurant?

There were two major factors that we took into account when we designed our company "Time and Cost". 

With the increasing number of restaurants operating in London, which includes 51 Michelin stars and many more fantastic world class Restaurants, it is obvious that the bar for good food and professional service in London is set at the highest standard.

Due to Restaurants constantly pushing for higher standards, the demand for good Chefs has dramatically increased over the last few years and made it extremely hard to find and manage Chefs. 

Chefs for London specialise in Chefs that want to work in London. It allows us to focus all our expertise and resources in one place, providing our Restaurants and Chefs with the best possible service we can offer. 

Time

We have created a platform that enables restaurants to have easy access to trained professional Chefs in our network which we obtained through a series of marketing strategies and good relations with some of the best Chefs universities and culinary schools in the world. 

Find Chefs in our network

All the Chefs in our network have a summary of their curriculums with only the most relevant information about their careers as a Chef, posted on our website. 

Before any Chef can post their Profile on our website, our team will first review their CVs and work states to make sure they meet our requirements. By doing so, we keep the platform clean and organised and our Restaurants can quickly search with the filter option and find professionally trained Chefs in minutes.  

By simply clicking on the Chefs profiles that interest your company we will automatically be notified and get in contact with that Chef and arrange a trial shift for the Chef at your Restaurant as soon as possible. 

Create Ads

With Ad+, Restaurants can very quickly create as many free Job offers on our website as they like and even store the ads in their profiles with the Play and Pause option for quick and easy future recruitment use. Chefs can apply directly to the ads and we will receive the information immediately so there is absolutely no need for our restaurants to go through all the applications and waste time. We do it for you.  

Our Team

With the information provided in the ads, our recruitment team will get straight to work and start looking for Chefs that we think will be the ideal candidate for your restaurant. 

We will then choose the top candidates from the information we received and send an email with the Chefs’ profiles, the location of the Restaurant and time and date of the Chefs’ trial shifts. All that is left for you to do is just confirm back to us by email that everything is in order. 

To summarise:

• Create your quick and easy Ad. 

• Confirm back to us via the confirmation email. 

• You can also quickly search through our Chefs’ profiles and click on the Chefs you like.

What we do for you:

• A free platform where our restaurants can advertise and search for professional Chefs. 

• Various tools to help you achieve your recruitment goals in minutes.  

• Our team will find Chefs for you through a series of marketing strategies. 

• We organise and deal with all the applications and will only send you the top candidates. 

• We organise the time and dates for all Chefs trials at your restaurant.

• If you need, our team will help you create your ad. 

• Handel all phone calls and emails for you. 

• Follow up call

 Cost

• Chefs for London is 60% cheaper than most agencies in London.

• Free advertisement on our website. 

• We will not invoice the Restaurant if the Chef or Restaurant decides within the first month that the arrangement is not working out. 

• No need for expensive phone calls. Our website has been set up so that everything can be done by just logging on to your profile.

Chefs for London has been designed to save you time and money. You can now achieve your recruitment goals in minutes without those frustrating emails and phone calls usually associated with the recruitment process.  

Join Chefs for London today and see just how easy it is. No obligation required. 

Click here for FAQ

Helpful information for Chefs to start working in London

Helpful information about London

• How to find a flat or room
• Need a cheap affordable place to stay for a few days?
• Opening a bank account
• Apply for a National Insurance number “NI.”
• Oyster Travel Card
• General information about London
• Shopping for new Chefs knives or kitchen uniforms 

How to find a flat or room

To find a flat or room in London is very easy to do. There are hundreds of rooms on offer every day.  Plus, there are fantastic websites that we will list and explain to you how each and every one works. We are only going to list a few of the most popular websites that we think are the best ones to use. London is a big city, but they have an excellent transport system in place. It means that even if you live on the outskirts of London it will only take you about 30 min to 45 min to get to most places in London. You can also go on the TFL website, and they will find the quickest way to and from your house and show you the timetables. (New this year starting from the 12 September you will be able to travel on the Jubilee, Victoria, Piccadilly, Central and Northern Tube lines all night on Fridays and Saturdays.)

However, we do suggest that you look for a place in zone one, two or three as this will give you more and quicker options to travel around London. "Bicycle or walk." 

Easy Roommate

Find a Roommate or Room for Rent - Post a free ad on EasyRoommate (the largest Roommate finder website). They have 1000s of Roommates and Rooms for rent.  They offer a great service. You will need to create a profile with them, and they will help you find a room or roommate. Easy Roommate also has a 24/7 customer service. It is great if you don't want to spend a lot of money on rent. 

Gumtree

Their website is one of the biggest and most popular sites out there. A lot of people use it because it is free, and anybody can go and search for rooms, flats, etc. No obligation required what so ever, all you need is a telephone. You do however need to check your computer quite often as the rooms will sell very quickly on this site, and you don't want to miss your opportunity. 

Spare Room

Find a flatshare or flatmate fast! They have 1000s of rooms for rent in flatshares across London.  This Website is more or less the same as Gumtree. All you need is a telephone and some spare time to view the flats. This site is very easy to use, and you should have no trouble finding yourself a flat.

P.s. Please do not pay anybody a deposit or rent money upfront.  Please make sure you can trust the person and that you have physically been inside the flat and spoke to the landlord or people that you are going to rent the room or flat from. For example: “Could you please pay the first-month deposit and rent into my account and you can pick up the keys from me at the local shop” No!!!

 Affordable place to stay for a few days

Hostels are a fantastic way to stay in central London at affordable prices. It is an excellent option if you don't have a friend or family member to stay with when you first arrive in London and need a few days to get your own flat or room. We will list a few places that will make it easy for you to access tubes, buses or even walk to where you need to be. 

Smart Hostels

This website offers a few fantastic hostels in central London. Their prices range from £9.99 a night with free WiFi, and breakfast included but make sure you book as soon as possible because they do tend to sell their rooms very quickly. 

Hostel World

LondonHostelworld.com is a website that you can choose from a broad range of affordable hotels and hostels. Their prices are on average between £20-£40 pounds per night, and most places include breakfast and WiFi. You should have no problem finding a decent place to stay with them for a few nights. 

St Christopher's Inns

St Christopher's Inns offers seven hostels in London and is a great place to meet new people. The price is around £20 per night including breakfast and WiFi and specials on food and drinks in the restaurant bar. 

Opening a bank account

There are so many ways you can do this, but we are only going to list the one that we think is the easiest and works the best. 

When you start working in a company or restaurant in London, go to your Head Chef and ask for a letter of employment and let them know it is for you to open a bank account. The company will have no problem giving you this letter. The letter just states that you are currently working for that company. 

Take a signed copy of your contract the letter of employment a photo ID (passport) and the address that you are currently staying at (Hostel, your friend’s house, etc.). You can then go to any bank near you and ask to speak to someone about opening an account. 

Please also note the way they handle customers can change a lot, and not just between banks but between branches as well. So don't just stop at the first bank that doesn't want to help you. Go to the next one until you find a bank that will help you. A very useful tip will be to ask your Chef to find out what bank branch the company uses and with your contract and letter of employment you should have no problem opening an account.  Once you have opened one account, you can then use that information to change to another bank if you wish to do so. 

Apply for a National Insurance number “NI.”

Applying for a national insurance number is a very easy process but do it as soon as you get to the UK because it can take a few days for you to receive the number. The good thing is you can start work before your National Insurance number arrives if you can prove you can legally work in the UK. You should tell your employer that you have applied for one and give it to them when you have received it.

You can only apply once you are in the UK by phone. You must have the right to work or study in the UK to get a National Insurance number.

National Insurance number application line

Telephone: 0345 600 0643

Textphone: 0345 600 0644

Monday to Friday, 8 am to 6 pm

Oyster Travel Card

An Oyster card is a transport pass for London that gives you unlimited travel in London. The prices vary according to the number of zones you need to travel through. We will also advise you to buy a weekly Oyster card straight away as this will work out the cheapest.

Oyster cards are valid for one day, seven days or 1 month and are available from the following places:

• Underground Stations
• London train stations
• Newsagents
• London Travel Information Centres

Your Oyster card is valid for travel on all types of transport in London including:

• Underground (the tube)
• Local suburban trains within London
• Docklands Light Railway (DLR)
• London Overground
• Buses all over London. Any Oyster card allows you to use the buses in all zones (zones 1-6)

When you get a new Oyster card, you'll need to pay a £5 deposit. If you decide you don't need it anymore, return your Oyster card to an Underground Station ticket office and they will refund your deposit.

Weekly Oyster cards

• Zones 1–2    £32.10
• Zones 1–3    £37.70
• Zones 1–4    £46.10

Monthly Oyster cards

• Zones 1–2    £123.30
• Zones 1–3    £144.80
• Zones 1–4    £177.10

There are many different options, and we have only mentioned a few of them but they are also the most important ones you will need. 

General information about London

There are hundreds of things to do in London and it will be impossible for me to go through all of them but here is a few that we like:

Borough Market

Borough Market is one of the best food markets in London and you will be able to sample some of the best produce, enjoy a beer and get something to eat for less than £5. “live music”

Opening hours: WEDNESDAY-THURSDAY: 10am-5pm FRIDAYS: 10am-6pm SATURDAYS8am-5pm

Brick-Lane Market

Brick-Lane Market is a fantastic Sunday plan. The market is open from 9 a.m to 5 p.m only on Sundays. Almost anything can be found on Brick-Lane, from antique book to eight-track cartridge decks. They have the most incredibly cheap but tasty street food from different cultures.  Hundreds of young people go there every Sunday to enjoy a beer or just to watch the local street artist perform.  

Camden Town

Camden Town is open every day of the week and offers many different things, from street markets to nightlife. Go up to Camden Lock and you will find small interesting shops and get something to eat for under £5. The best days to go are on Saturdays or Sundays. 

Visit London

Visit London is an excellent website and they have a great selection of things to do in London. On their website you will find information about places to eat, general tourist attractions and nightlife, how to get there and how much it will cost. 

Shopping for new Chefs knives or kitchen uniforms 

Dennys Brands

55A Dean St, Soho, London W1D 6AG, United Kingdom

Nisbets 

121 Shaftesbury Ave, London WC2H 8AD, United Kingdom

Japanese knife company Soho

8 Greek St., London W1D 4DG, United Kingdom 

Visit our website for more info

Click here for FAQ

Add your restaurant to our network and achieve your recruitment goals effortlessly at low cost!!!!!

How does it work 

We recognise that time is precious when you are running a restaurant. And with the increasing number of new restaurants opening their doors every day in London. The demand for good Chefs is becoming extremely difficult to find and manage.

We dedicate our time to finding the most talented Chefs for our Restaurants in London through our networks, marketing and good relationships with some of the best culinary schools and universities in the world. It enables us to find the talent that will meet your specific needs. Our company is designed to eliminate the hassle and frustration usually associated with the recruitment process by making it as easy as possible for you and your business.

Profile

We ask all our clients to create a profile with us. It is a very simple step-by-step process and will only take a few minutes of your time. This information will provide us with all the necessary details we need to understand your company’s requirements. By doing so, it allows us to get straight to work and reduce the amount of frustrating emails and calls going back and forward usually experienced during the recruitment process.

We also provide you with various tools to achieve your recruitment goals in just a few clicks.

Post Jobs

Creating quick and easy step-by-step Ads on our Website for free

This information will not only be posted on our website for Chefs to view, but it will also provide our team with all the necessary information they need to find the right Chefs for your company. We will then select the top candidates that are interested in your Ad and arrange for those Chefs to go for trial shifts at your restaurant as soon as possible.

Find Chefs 

Search for Chefs in our network that are currently looking for jobs in London.

Chefs can post their profiles in this section. It is a summary of only the most important and necessary information about the Chefs and their careers. By doing so, we eliminate the hassle of searching through hours of unnecessary paperwork and enables our clients to view and assess the Chef’s profiles more efficiently.

Ad+

With Ad+, you can create and run multiple Ads on our Website.

You can always just contact our office by phone or email with the basic information. And one of our team members will be more than happy to create and post the Ad for you on our website. 

I am interested in this Chef 

It will automatically notify us that you are interested in one of our Chefs.

At the bottom of every Chefs profile, this button will appear. By simply clicking on it, we will be notified that you are interested in that Chef. We will then get into contact with the Chef and send him the job offer. If the Chef accepts the job offer, we will then set up a trial shift for that Chef at your restaurant as soon as possible.

Play and Pause 

Play and Pause give you full control so you can decide when you want your Ads to show on our website.

Our team will automatically receive a notification to let us know that you are looking or no longer looking for that particular Chef position. It also allows you to save all your Ads in your Profile and enables you to use that same Ad or Edit it slightly if you need it for future recruitment projects. This makes it even easier and quicker to repost your Ads and notify us that you are looking for Chefs again. 

Payment 

• Advertising jobs on our website are free of charge, no risk and no payment is needed what so ever.

• Low-cost recruitment is up to 60% cheaper than most agencies.

• We will only invoice the company after the Chef has completed his or her first month in the restaurant to ensure both the candidate Chef and Restaurant Head Chef are happy with the agreement. 

• For payment information, please contact the office and we will send you the necessary details.

Click here to visit our website for more information 

Tips for Chefs: How to successfully ace a trial shift?

What should I do to be successful in my trial shift?

Be on time  

Being late for your trial shift is one of the worse things you can do, and you will not score any points by being late. I can guarantee you, your Chef will not be impressed. 

Make sure you know exactly where the restaurant is and how long it will take you to get there. Do this a day or two before your actual trial shift. We suggest you be there 30 minutes before your shift starts. 

What you need to bring with you to your trial shift.

Knives

   

London restaurants do not supply you with knives and asking to borrow a knife is like committing a crime. Be prepared it shows that you are serious about your career.

Shoes 

Black shoes are normally the best way to go but if you have white or other colours it should not be a problem. As long as they are up to kitchen safety regulation you should be okay. 

Trousers 

Black or blue and white check trousers are what most kitchens will accept. 

Hats

A black or white skull cap will do.

Jackets and Aprons

Most restaurants in London will supply you with a jacket and an apron. But make sure you take one with you just in case. White jackets and black aprons should be your best bet.  

Our advice will be for you to stick to the list we provided you with above. It will help you blend in with the other chefs and look the part. Please do not go and buy yourself fancy jackets and pants with funny pictures and colours. Most kitchens are open for the customers to see the Chefs working, and you will not be allowed to wear or use your uniform. 

Kitchen tour 

The Head Chef will take you on a tour of the kitchen before you start working and introduce you to fellow Chefs. Please pay attention when he does this it will be good for you if you can remember where everything is.  It will give you more or less an idea of how they operate and where to find and store products.  Calling fellow Chefs by their names will leave a good indication that you will have no problem fitting in quickly. 

Work clean 

Your Head Chef will assign you to a station, immediately get yourself organised with some soapy water and sanitiser for your section.  Wash down the bench before you start prepping any food. Please make sure that it is not the last time you wash your bench down. After every job, you complete wash down your bench and change the cutting board accordingly. 

Do not at any point stick your fingers inside the food to taste it or use the same spoon twice. It will very easily indicate to the Head Chef what type of training you have had in the past. 

Prep 

If the Chef asks you to prep something (e.g. chop onion), ask him to show you exactly how he wants it done and then you can follow how he did it with the remainder. A good tip will be to leave his example in front of you so you can keep checking to make sure that you are still doing it as he showed you. 

Work fast 

Do the best you can but make sure that whatever you prep is exactly how the Chef wants it or better. The quality of your end product is more important than the time you did it in. 

Taking a bit longer to complete a job is better than trying to show the Chef how fast you can work and end up with a product that the Chef cannot serve. 

Next job 

Immediately after you finished the job that the Chef gave you clean down your section and ask what else you can help with. Please do not stand around and do nothing – this is crucial! There is nothing that annoys a Head Chef more than chefs standing around doing nothing. 

Ask questions 

If there is something you don't know about, do not be afraid to ask the Chef to explain it to you but don't ask too many questions to the point where you are annoying the Chef while he is busy getting things ready for service. 

Tip: If you feel the need to ask a lot of questions try asking different Chefs so that you don't bother just one Chef the whole time. 

Showing initiative  

Showing initiative is great, but we will suggest you keep it to yourself on your trial shift. What you don't want to do is try and change the Chefs menu on your trial shift. Keep your ideas to yourself and observe what is going on. There might be a very good reason they don't do things your way. 

Show interest 

Taking interested in what other Chefs are preparing will not only demonstrate that you are willing to learn, it will also give you a better idea of how they do things and help you with your decision at the end of the day. However, do this in moderation. If the Chefs are busy in their section, ask if there is anything you can help them with instead. 

Be social 

Show your fellow Chefs that you are social but try and focus on the job at hand. If you start talking too much about your weekend away and not focusing on what you are doing the chances of you making a mistake is much greater.

Service start 

If you are assigned to a station like fish, meat or pastry focus on the job and make sure you constantly organise and clean your section. It will help you deliver a better service and show the Chef you can handle the situation. 

If the Chef doesn’t assign you to a station, ask him what he wants you to do during service. The chances of him telling you to join him on the pass are good. So when service starts concentrate on what he is doing, learn the plates and as service goes on start helping him with the plates, wipe down the pass, hand him sauces, etc. Don't just stand there, get involved.  

After service 

Clean down and if you are finished with your section start helping other Chefs clean down their sections. Don't stop until the whole kitchen is clean and organised.

At this point, the Chef will ask you to sit down for a meeting with you to discuss what is going to be the next step or he might ask you to stay for the late shift as well. It is usually a good thing and he wants you to see a different style of service for the night time or whatever else his reason might be. Do not say "No". If you are busy cancel whatever plans you had and make sure you stay for the late shift. It will show the Chef that you are motivated and not afraid to work hard. 

Follow these tips correctly during your trial shift and I will say 60% of the job is done and the rest will depend on your cooking abilities.  

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