Head Chef — ONA Coffee
We're looking for a Head Chef who leads with purpose, precision, and passion to own our kitchen operations and elevate our café food program.
At ONA Coffee Group, we do things with intention — from coffee, to food, to people. The kitchen is a core pillar of our business, and this role is built for someone who thrives on leadership, operational excellence, and delivering a high-end, high-volume service with consistency across every plate.
What this role is all about
• Leading from the front in a boutique-style, high-production café kitchen
• Creating structured systems that support automation, standardisation, and portion control
• Owning kitchen KPIs and operating in alignment with business targets
• Training, mentoring, and building an A-team of chefs and kitchen hands
• Maintaining excellence in quality, speed, presentation, and guest experience
Key Responsibilities
• Full ownership of BOH operations including prep, plating, service and menu execution
• Managing food cost %, waste reduction, COGS, and ordering
• Delivering on weekly and monthly targets for Kitchen turnover, food cost %, labour cost %, prep efficiency, menu optimisation
• Creating and maintaining SOPs for kitchen workflows
• Conducting structured trials, onboarding and training systems
• Weekly reporting on kitchen performance, team engagement, production efficiency, waste management
• Compliance with purchasing approval policy (>$1,000 requires approval from Operations/CEO)
Who we're looking for
Natural leader with emotional intelligence
Background in high-volume brunch / café / bistro environments
Values consistency, cleanliness, structure
Can recruit, train, retain A-Players
Balances quality with profitability
Leads through systems, not chaos
Experience & Skills
• 2+ years as Head Chef or Senior Sous Chef
• Strong understanding of COGS, cost analysis, KPI reporting
• Experience building kitchen systems & SOPs
• Ability to execute/design menu aligned to pricing, workflow, customer expectations, business KPIs
• Food safety, compliance and leadership development
Why join ONA Coffee Group
• One of the most respected specialty café & roastery groups
• Operational support + ability to innovate in food program
• Competitive salary + performance incentives
• Growth focused leadership culture
What success looks like
• Dishes exit the pass identical every time
• Team is structured and motivated
• Kitchen KPIs hit targets consistently
• Training is documented and scalable
• BOH operates profitably without compromising quality