Lucas Restaurants Chef jobs in Melbourne VIC

Sponsor: STMSTKILDA PTY LTD T/A La Roche Café

ABN: 26 633 800 156

Position: Chef (ANZSCO 351311)

Work Type: Full-Time - 38 hours per week

Salary: $77,000 - $80,000 per annum + Superannuation

Location: 138-140 Acland Street, St Kilda VIC 3182

About the Business

La Roche Café is a well-established casual dining venue located at 138-140 Acland Street, St Kilda, Victoria. Positioned in one of St Kilda's most recognised dining precincts, the café attracts a diverse customer base including local residents, workers, families, tourists, and visitors to the nearby beach and entertainment areas.

The venue is known for providing breakfast, lunch, dinner, drinks, and late trading services in a relaxed and welcoming environment. La Roche Café offers a broad modern Australian café and restaurant menu including breakfast and brunch items, pizzas, pastas, burgers, salads, mains, share plates, desserts, coffee, and beverages. The business focuses on generous serves, fresh ingredients, consistent food quality, and friendly service at reasonable prices.

Position Summary

The Chef is responsible for planning, preparing, and cooking high-quality dishes in accordance with La Roche Café's menu, recipes, and service standards. The role involves coordinating day-to-day kitchen operations, maintaining consistency in food quality and presentation, assisting with menu planning, supervising kitchen staff, and ensuring compliance with food safety, hygiene, and workplace health and safety requirements.

This position plays a key role in supporting efficient kitchen operations across breakfast, lunch, dinner, and late trading periods, while helping the business deliver a high-quality dining experience to customers.

Key Responsibilities

• Plan menus in consultation with management, considering customer preferences, seasonal availability of ingredients, and the café's breakfast, lunch, dinner, and drinks service requirements
• Estimate food and labour costs and assist management in maintaining kitchen budget targets
• Prepare and cook a wide range of dishes including breakfast items, brunch dishes, pizzas, pastas, burgers, salads, mains, share plates, desserts, and modern Australian café menu items
• Monitor food quality at all stages of preparation and presentation to ensure consistency, portion control, and high standards
• Ensure all dishes are prepared and presented in accordance with established recipes, specifications, plating standards, and customer requirements
• Demonstrate cooking techniques and provide guidance, training, and support to cooks, kitchen hands, and other kitchen staff
• Coordinate kitchen operations during busy service periods to ensure meals are prepared and served in a timely and efficient manner
• Regulate temperatures of ovens, grills, fryers, stoves, and other cooking equipment to ensure safe and correct food preparation
• Manage food preparation processes to maximise efficiency, reduce wastage, and maintain adequate mise en place for service
• Oversee stock control including ordering, receiving, storage, labelling, stock rotation, and monitoring of ingredient quality
• Assist in controlling food costs, labour costs, and kitchen operating expenses through efficient kitchen practices
• Supervise, train, and support kitchen staff to ensure adherence to workplace procedures, recipes, hygiene standards, and service expectations
• Assist with preparing staff rosters in line with business needs and operational requirements
• Maintain a clean, organised, and safe kitchen environment at all times
• Ensure compliance with food safety standards, hygiene regulations, workplace health and safety requirements, and relevant internal policies
• Accommodate dietary requirements, food allergies, vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free requests where required
• Liaise with front-of-house staff and management to manage customer feedback, special requests, and service issues

Key Requirements

• Proven experience working as a Chef in a commercial kitchen, café, restaurant, or hospitality environment
• Strong knowledge of modern Australian café-style cuisine, including breakfast, brunch, grill, pasta, pizza, burger, salad, and main meal preparation
• Ability to work efficiently in a fast-paced, high-volume hospitality environment while maintaining high standards
• Excellent culinary skills with strong attention to detail in food preparation, cooking, portioning, and presentation
• Ability to supervise, train, and coordinate kitchen staff effectively
• Strong organisational, communication, problem-solving, and time management skills
• Ability to contribute to menu planning, recipe development, specials, and continuous improvement of kitchen operations
• Understanding of food cost control, stock management, waste minimisation, and kitchen workflow
• Sound knowledge of food safety, hygiene, and workplace health and safety obligations

Qualifications

• Certificate IV in Commercial Cookery
• Diploma of Hospitality Management or equivalent qualification

Experience

• At least 1 year of relevant experience as a Chef in a commercial kitchen, café, restaurant, or hospitality environment

Work Environment & Conditions

• Fast-paced commercial café and restaurant kitchen environment
• Requires working evenings, weekends, public holidays, and late trading periods as required by the business
• Requires standing for extended periods and performing physically demanding kitchen tasks
• Requires safe use of commercial kitchen equipment including ovens, grills, fryers, stoves, knives, and food preparation equipment

Job Types: Full-time, Permanent

Pay: $77,000.00 – $80,000.00 per year

Work Location: In person