Job Description

That's not a typo, and it's not the fine print - it's the point. This is a genuine Monday-Friday role. Early starts, hard graft, real ownership from 5am - and then your weekends are yours. In an industry that runs on Saturday nights and Sunday brunches, roles like this almost never come up. This one just did.

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THE OPPORTUNITY

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HomeTeam is opening two brand-recent venues side by side at 70 Eagle Street - LuLou, a café and tapas bar, and SweetLeaf, a unique online only feel good food on the go - alongside our established venues MAS Espresso and ELAN. You'll run LuLou's kitchen: a fully-fitted, brand-new space built from the ground up, with none of the tired equipment or inherited bad habits that come with taking over someone else's kitchen.

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This isn't just a single-venue Head Chef role. LuLou's kitchen is being built as the production hub for the group - your kitchen supplies food to SweetLeaf, MAS Espresso, ELAN, office catering as well as running LuLou's own service. You lead the LuLou brigade directly; a dedicated logistics function handles getting the food out the door. Your job is to build a kitchen that runs like clockwork across four venues' worth of demand, every single day.

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WHAT YOU'LL BE DOING

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Leading and building the LuLou kitchen team from scratch - recruiting, training and running the brigade in a brand-new space

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Designing and opening LuLou's menu, with genuine input into systems, prep flow and kitchen setup - a true ground-floor role, not a handover

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Structuring production and prep schedules so LuLou's kitchen reliably supplies SweetLeaf, MAS Espresso and ELAN alongside its own service

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Owning food cost, quality and consistency across everything that leaves the kitchen, for four venues, five days a week

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Working closely with ownership through the lead-up to launch - supplier setup, equipment, compliance and opening systems - and beyond

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Implementing the kitchen operations manual, production systems, HACCP program, allergen controls and food safety procedures

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Establishing supplier relationships, ordering systems, stock controls and receiving and storage procedures

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Reviewing sales, production and wastage information to continuously improve menu performance and kitchen efficiency

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WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

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Proven experience running a multi-site, central or production kitchen - you've done the logistics of "one kitchen, many mouths" before and you know where it gets hard

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Strong organisational and planning skills - this role lives and dies on structure, not just knife skills

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Comfortable opening a brand-new venue and building systems from a blank page

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Certificate III in Commercial Cookery (or equivalent), current Food Safety Supervisor certificate

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Demonstrated ability to manage food cost, recipe compliance, stock, labour, yields and wastage

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Confident recruiting, training and developing a kitchen team

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Strong knowledge of HACCP allergen management and Australian food safety requirements

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Genuinely fine with a 5am start, five days a week - every week

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WHAT'S ON OFFER

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$85,000-100,000 + super, commensurate with experience

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A brand-new kitchen - properly fitted out, no compromises

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Real input into opening menus and kitchen systems from day one

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A true Monday-Friday roster - no weekend shifts

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Career growth within HomeTeam as the group continues to expand

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TIMING

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LuLou and SweetLeaf planned opening mid October 2026. We're looking for our Head Chef to start early-to-mid September, giving you time to build menus, set up suppliers and hire your team before doors open.

📌 Head Chef (Queensland)
🏢 HomeTeam
📍 Queensland