Kitchen Assistant

Contract: Permanent

Hours: Part Time - 16 Hours per week

Work Pattern: Tuesday and Saturday

Salary: £25,397 per annum, pro rata (£10,159 per annum, actual)

Place of work: Pembroke Street, Oxford OX1

Line Manager: Cafe supervisor

About the Employer:

Our client is one of the UK’s most exciting and influential contemporary art organisations, renowned for its bold and ambitious artistic programme that promotes diversity and internationalism and celebrates contemporary art as a progressive agent of social change.

They welcome more than 100,000 visitors each year with 10,000 attendances in creative learning and participation activities.

About the Role

This café is currently open Tuesday to Saturday 11am-6pm and Sunday 11am-4pm, everyone works as a team to produce a clear menu offering paninis, soups, and seasonal specials as well as a wide range of cakes and pastries. Devising dishes to limit wastage and working to strict budgets is a very important part of menu planning.

This café is an important part of the gallery, and the Kitchen Assistant is responsible for providing a welcoming, friendly environment, serving a high quality menu with excellent customer service. This is an operational and hands-on role where the large majority of time is spent planning and preparing the café food and drinks and interacting with the general public.

Responsibilities

Customer Service

• Provide excellent customer service to a wide variety of customers both external and internal (staff, artists etc.)

Food Preparation

• Update weekly menus and prepare orders for the following week.
• Create high quality seasonal dishes in design and taste that reflect the Gallery’s exhibition programme.
• Ensure that all café food and drink is prepared and presented in accordance with the standards.
• Ensure that Café displays are attractive, well stocked and menus are produced according to plan.
• Take pride in maintaining the Cafés hygiene rating – everyone cleans and a strict schedule is adhered to.

Health & Safety and Daily Operations

• Adhere to Hygiene Policies and ensure the kitchen meets all regulations – Allergens, Manual Handling, CoSHH, HACCP, Fire, Knife handling
• Ensure high levels of hygiene are maintained in the kitchen and café areas according to procedures set out in the Safer Food Better Business Manual. Regularly review food hygiene procedures.
• Ensure that all health and safety requirements are met in the kitchen.
• Complete all other training assigned by the Gallery, including Safeguarding Children Level 2.

Staff

• Attend regular gallery staff meetings.

Essential Skills & Experience

• A passion for preparing good quality fresh food with the drive to create new recipes and experiment with new ideas that respond to the Gallery’s programme.
• Excellent eye for detail and food presentation.
• Experience of working in a similar café environment including exposure to the duties outlined above (specifically food preparation, cooking, cash handling and till usage).
• Level 2 or over NVQ Qualification or equivalent.
• Qualifications in Level 2 Hygiene, Food Allergens Awareness and Working in Licensed Premises. Willingness to train to Level 3.
• Barista experience, making a range of coffees and hot drinks.
• Understanding of Allergens and dietary requirements.
• Self-motivated and able to work on own initiative and without supervision.
• You need to be enthusiastic, approachable and above all an absolute team player.

Benefits

An auto-enrolment pension scheme is in place with Legal & General. Under pension auto enrolment legislation, the employee will pay 5% (before tax relief) and the employer will pay 3% of qualifying earnings to the Legal and General plan.

Employees are entitled to a staff discount in the onsite Shop and Café. There is an Employee Assistance Programme through Gemelli, and a series of discounts and salary sacrifice schemes through BHN Extras.

Applications must be received by 9.00am Sunday 30 November 2025.

Initial interviews are planned on receipt of successful applications on a rollover basis, please complete your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

Interested?

To apply, please click the apply button. You will be taken to a simple CHM Recruit form where you can find out more information and complete your application by following the instructions.

This employer is committed to creating equality of opportunity for all and they value diversity in their team. As part of their Anti-racism Action Plan, they welcome applications from people from the Global Majority who are under-represented in the workforce in the Arts sector.

No agencies please.