Head Chef to own the Peacemaker kitchen end to end - standards, menu, costs, roster, training, compliance. You are the single point of contact between the kitchen and the venue manager. When something's wrong with the food, it's your call to fix it. When something's right, it's because you built it.
You'll inherit a capable senior cook who knows the pit and wants to stay on the tools. You're not starting from scratch, and you're not walking into a hostile kitchen.
Roughly 80% of your time is Peacemaker. The other 20% is group-level: input into food at Volstead and Devil You Don't, where venue managers have asked for a chef's eye on the offering.
Key responsibilities
Own the menu with full creative control at Peacemaker, subject to a 35% blended food COGS target
Maintain food quality and consistency, restoring Peacemaker's BBQ reputation
Manage kitchen P&L; including costing, ordering, supplier relationships, waste, and stocktake
Lead the team through rostering, training, hiring, and performance management
Ensure compliance with food safety, allergen management, temperature logs, and council requirements
Provide menu development support and standards input across the other two venues
Work the pass during services, learning the venue, volume and team
About you
Proven experience running a kitchen - head chef, senior sous stepping up, or equivalent
Genuine ownership mentality; you set the standard and hold people to it
Solid commercial head: costing, GP, ordering,



waste, rostering to a budget
Ability to lead a small team in a high-volume, high-energy venue
Current food safety qualifications, or willingness to get them
Desirable: Low-and-slow BBQ experience, or genuine excitement about learning it
Desirable: Experience in a venue where food supports a strong bar business
About us
Splinter Group operates three venues in Canberra. Peacemaker Saloon (Braddon) is a saloon bar built around BBQ and bourbon, opened ****, with over 100 capacity plus covered outdoor seating. Won Best New Business at the Australian Business Champion Awards; shortlisted for Best Recent Bar and Best Whiskey Bar at the Australian Bartender Awards. Volstead Repeal (Braddon) is a whisky and cocktail bar, finalist in the Australian Bartender Awards whisky bar category three years running, and twice ACT Cocktail Bar of the Year. Devil You Don't (New Acton) is the newest cocktail bar, finalist for Best New Bar this year. We are a young ownership group. We move fast, we back our people, and we'd rather have one strong opinion in the kitchen than three polite ones.
$80,000-$95,000 + super
Real creative control, not just a menu handed down you have to follow
Title flexibility - for the right person this role can be titled Group Executive Chef
A clear path to broader group responsibility as we grow
Sponsorship considered for the right candidate
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📌 Head Chef (Canberra)
🏢 The Peacemaker Saloon
📍 Canberra