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Mereworth is an award-winning wine producer with a vibrant cellar-door/café. Mereworth is looking to improve on its already successful food offering and increase our retail and trade offering by becoming increasingly bakery-led. We are looking for a Head Baker to drive this change and future growth.
We are searching for an established hands-on baker who will head up the kitchen team and be responsible for production, staffing, catering health & safety, ordering and product development.
Mereworth consists of a highly passionate team driven by quality. The vision we are working towards is creating a center of excellence for all things food and drink led. This is an exciting opportunity to join a creative team and put a personal stamp on the Mereworth product portfolio.
What Youll Be Doing:
- Managing catering production for our café, private hire events, retail and trade
- Lead day-to-day bakery production breads, pastries, cakes, etc
- Responsible for all aspects of food quality control
- Responsible for catering health & safety and food standards
- Responsible for ordering, stock control, wastage and working with management on cash-flow planning and profitability
- Manage staffing and staff kitchen training
- Product development
- Working with other departments such as Events to create bespoke catering packages and prices.
- Working with operations and bar manager to deliver a successful hospitality service.
- Covering operations manager / bar manager in their absences to oversee staff and running of the bar/retail
Were Looking For Someone Who:
- Has at least 3 years of experience in artisan baking
- Knows fermentation inside out and can work with hydration, temperature, and timing with confidence
- Is reliable, creative, and able to lead by example
- Can balance quality and efficiency in a busy kitchen
- Has experience managing staff and purchasing
- Wants to be part of a small, passionate team
Bonus Points If You:
- Love experimenting with new recipes and flavours
- Have experience with deck ovens or steam-injected baking
- Have knowledge of sourdough
- Have experience with budgeting and planning
- Care about local sourcing, seasonality, and sustainability
- Have knowledge of wine and food pairings
- Have knowledge of retail
What Youll Get:
- Competitive pay, depending on experience
- Simply Health Healthcare
- Free parking
- Pension
- Discounts on the Mereworth product portfolio including award-winning English Sparking Wine
- A beautiful setting in the Kent countryside
- The chance make changes and influence the direction of a growing business and to put a personal stamp on our product portfolio
