Chef Manager – Elizabeth Knox Home & Hospital Kitchen, Auckland

A fantastic opportunity has become available at one of our largest aged care kitchens. Cater Plus is seeking an experienced Chef Manager to lead the kitchen team at Elizabeth Knox Home and Hospital in Epsom, Auckland.

This is a permanent, full time position, rostered Thursday to Monday (40 hours per week).

About the role:
Reporting to the Site Manager, you will be responsible for the day to day management of the kitchen, while remaining hands on with cooking and service. This is a pivotal leadership role in a busy aged care environment, catering for up to 260 residents daily.
You will lead, motivate, and support your team to consistently deliver high quality, nutritious meals while maintaining excellent food safety, service, and compliance standards.

Key responsibilities:
• Ordering, preparing, cooking, and presenting wholesome, quality meals
• Step in to support site operations in the site manager’s absence
• Adapting menus to meet a wide range of dietary requirements
• Leading and supporting the kitchen team to achieve high performance
• Managing food and labour costs in line with budgets
• Maintaining New Zealand Food Control and Food Safety compliance
• Ensuring a clean, tidy, safe, and hazard free kitchen environment
• Completing daily and monthly management tasks, including:
o Rosters and timesheets
o Recording meals and uploading information to company systems
o Ordering food in line with cycle menus
o Managing resident dietary requirements
o Completing Health & Safety reporting
o Handling internal and external emails
• Communicating operational matters effectively with management and team members
• Building positive working relationships with residents, staff, and stakeholders

About you:
You will be an experienced Chef with strong leadership capability and a passion for delivering great food and service. You will also have:
• Proven experience leading a kitchen team
• A solid understanding of food cost control and basic profit and loss
• Strong organisational, communication, and time management skills
• A practical understanding of New Zealand Food Control and Food Safety Regulations
• Confidence using basic computer systems (e.g. emails, rosters, reporting)
• A positive, flexible, and can do attitude

Why join Cater Plus?
Cater Plus is one of New Zealand’s leading catering companies with over 740 team members nationwide. We’re known for great food, great service, and creating workplaces where people feel supported, valued, and proud of what they do.

How to apply:
You must be legally entitled to work in New Zealand (NZ citizen, resident, or valid work visa). Please include your current visa status and expiry date (if applicable) with your application.

Applications are reviewed as they come in, so don’t miss out. Apply now with your CV and a brief cover letter telling us why you’d be great for the role.