Peer Group Hospitality, Melbourne. Join us as Group Head Chef.
About the role
This is a creative, senior role with genuine influence over the menu direction across Peer Group Hospitality's growing group of venues. You will work across Dame Melbourne, EARL Canteen & EARL Catering, bringing together creativity, consistency, commercial smarts, strong kitchen leadership and team building.
EARL is an established and much-loved food concept with scale across Melbourne CBD and Australian airports. We're looking for someone who understands how to keep a successful offer relevant, seasonal and commercially strong while maintaining the consistency our customers expect.
Dame is that exciting balance between creativity and the buzz of a busy CBD venue where quality, speed and consistency are equally key.
Key responsibilities
Creative direction of the all-day menu and events menus at Dame Melbourne, an established full-service 100-seat Collins St cafe
Developing quarterly, seasonal menus for Dame that are sophisticated and appropriate for our fast-paced corporate clientele.
Driving operational success with targeted labour, COGS, and food safety benchmarks
Mentoring, training and developing our kitchen teams
Managing supplier relationships, balancing a strong focus on food costs and quality
Developing six-monthly seasonal evolution in the EARL range; made-to-order and ready-made breakfast, lunch & snacks and building on our established systems to deliver consistency, quality and scalability, while building on well-established favourites
Working alongside the EARL General Manager to review sales trends, customer behaviour and future menu opportunities
Developing menus and food concepts for corporate catering and events
Based predominantly at Collins Place with some time in our HQ in Cremorne, this is a hands‐on role leading and developing the kitchen teams,



while also taking responsibility for menu development, consistency and forward planning across the hospitality group.
About you
Significant experience as a Head Chef, Executive Chef or senior kitchen leader
Strong people leader who enjoys being hands‐on and motivating their teams
Demonstrated experience in menu development and costings
Ability to create a menu that is both creative and commercially successful
Excellent knowledge of food costs, margins, suppliers and kitchen systems
Comfortable analysing sales and using data to help inform menu decisions
Understanding of the importance of consistency when operating across multiple locations
Strong communication, organisational and forward‐planning skills
Confident developing systems, recipes and processes that can be successfully replicated by different kitchen teams
Strong understanding of food safety and legal obligations
About us
Peer Group Hospitality incorporates EARL Canteen, EARL Catering, Dame Melbourne & Golden Coffee Bar.
EARL, established in ****, is nationally recognised with 9 locations, 3 of which operate under licence in Australian airports and a stand‐alone catering and production kitchen. EARL is an industry leader in fast‐casual, healthful food, made in-store each morning.
Dame, established in ****, thrives as a busy all‐day dining venue in a prominent position on Collins St focused on elevated cafe classics.
Working across many teams, the Group Head Chef reports to the founding owners, Simon O'Regan and Jackie Middleton, who have decades of experience in the industry and work collaboratively with their leadership team.
This is a rare opportunity to work alongside experienced owner‐operators who understand the industry, genuinely value creative thinking and initiative, and have real input into the food direction of more than a dozen hospitality venues.
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📌 Group Head Chef (Melbourne)
🏢 Dame
📍 Melbourne