Restaurant jobs in the UK

[Jozef]

Hi, I’m British but have lived abroad since graduating university in 2003. I’m thinking about moving back to the UK but have very little idea about the restaurant job market over there.

In a nutshell, I work for a small homegrown restaurant here in Kuwait that wants to expand into a regional franchise (that’s why they hired me). Since joining I have made dramatic changes to the menu using menu engineering (and am even working on a second version), changed the branding and logo. I have refurbished the old store and opened a new one as well as changing the operations of the central kitchen (including the introduction of portion control) and hiring new staff. I also have introduced proper guidelines and systems covering health and safety, administrative issues and operations.

I have been at PANINI for 8 months now and I am planning for third and fourth

stores. I had done a similar job for another smaller start up (which got bought by

the current company I am working for), before that I was a Sales and Ops manager for a totally different type of business. All my knowledge is self taught, and that’s really why I want to come back to the UK as it is a much faster paced and competitive place to work and learn compared to Kuwait.

So my questions are:

How easy/difficult is it finding restaurant jobs in the UK?

How do you go about finding them?

Would my experience be considered ok?

If I wanted to work on the line in a kitchen, would my basic cooking skills get me

a job doing that or am I confined to restaurant management?

Any advice or suggestions would be great..

Thanks

Edited August 26, 2007 by Jozef (log)

[ravelda]

I would say that you should be able to get a job working the line, but you would most likely be at commis level. Your best bet is to wite to some restaurants where you feel you could add value, maybe offer to do a stage so they can asses your level of skill and take it from there. We have a lot of guys who have joined us through this approach.