WE ARE HIRING – HEAD CHEF (Berlin)

We're looking for an experienced, creative and hands-on Head Chef to join our team at rocket + basil!

We are a busy Berlin-based café and catering company with a dedicated prep and production kitchen that is passionate about fresh, seasonal, vibrant food. From our daily café offering to corporate catering and private events, we create food that is delicious, colourful and made with care.

We're looking for someone who loves cooking just as much as they enjoy leading a team, developing menus and keeping a busy kitchen running smoothly.

YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES Menu Development & Food Quality

• Create, develop and execute seasonal menus and recipes for our café, catering and events
• Oversee hot and cold kitchen production, ensuring consistent quality, presentation and taste.
• Stay hands-on and support kitchen stations whenever needed.

Kitchen & Production Management

• Oversee daily operations across our café kitchen and dedicated prep and production kitchen, ensuring an efficient and well-organised workflow.
• Develop and manage production schedules, kitchen rotas and staffing to ensure daily service and catering are fully covered.
• Oversee ordering, inventory and stock management, ensuring cost-effective purchasing and a food cost target of 25%.
• Implement and monitor systems for deliveries, storage, FIFO, stock rotation and food waste reduction.
• Ensure the team maintains kitchen organisation, daily fridge and dry-store checks, and food safety and hygiene standards, including HACCP.
• Continuously improve kitchen processes, efficiency and productivity.

Catering & Events

• Plan and execute on-site and off-site catering and events alongside the owners and the wider team.
• Oversee catering production, packing, logistics and timely delivery, ensuring everything runs smoothly from preparation to execution.

Team Leadership

• Lead, motivate and develop our kitchen team, fostering a positive and collaborative working environment.
• Delegate responsibilities, oversee daily workflows and ensure clear communication and accountability across both kitchens.
• Support and train team members to maintain high standards and encourage teamwork.WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

Experience as a Head Chef, Sous Chef or Kitchen Manager, ideally in a busy café, restaurant or catering environment.

• A passion for fresh, seasonal and creative food.
• Strong organisational and leadership skills, with the ability to manage multiple productions and deadlines.
• Experience in menu development, recipe costing, purchasing and inventory management.
• A solid understanding of food hygiene, HACCP and kitchen safety.
• A proactive, solution-oriented team player who takes ownership, leads by example and is happy to get hands-on when needed.
• Experience in catering, events and high-volume production is a big plus.

WHAT WE OFFER

• A creative, varied role with the opportunity to shape our food offering.
• A supportive, international and passionate team.
• The chance to work across café service, catering and exciting private events.
• Real responsibility, creative freedom and room to make an impact.
• A collaborative environment in an independent, growing Berlin food business.
• Competitive salary based on experience.

BEFORE APPLYING

Please make sure you either already have, or are able to provide, the documents required for employment in Germany:

Tax ID (Steuer-ID) Registered address (Anmeldung) Social security number (Sozialversicherungsnummer) Rote Karte / Belehrung nach §43 IfSG for working with food

INTERESTED? We'd love to hear from you!

Send us your CV and a little bit about yourself, your experience and why you'd like to join rocket + basil.

We look forward to meeting you!

Job Types: Full-time, Contract

Pay: 18,00€ - 24,00€ per hour

Expected hours: 40.0 per week

Work Location: In person