Baker / Chef – Japanese Bakery & East Asian Dining Concept

£13.00 per hour + Profit Share Scheme | 30–35 Hours per Week | Independent Hospitality Business

We're looking for a baker, chef, or someone with experience across both disciplines to join an independent Japanese-inspired bakery and emerging East Asian dining concept.

This is not a high-volume kitchen focused on maximising covers and chasing profits. We're building something thoughtful, community-focused and quality-driven, and we're looking for someone who wants to play a genuine role in shaping its future.

If you enjoy experimenting with flavours, contributing ideas, refining recipes and helping build a concept from the ground up, we'd love to hear from you.

About the Opportunity

Our daytime business is built around artisan bakery products, Japanese milk breads and a café offering that has developed a loyal local following.

We're now preparing to launch an intimate evening dining concept inspired by the flavours and techniques of East and Southeast Asia, drawing influence from:

• Japanese cuisine
• Malaysian cuisine
• Cantonese cooking
• Sichuan cuisine
• Filipino cuisine

The person who joins us will play a key role not only in daily operations, but also in helping develop and shape this exciting new chapter of the business.

This role would suit:

• A baker looking to broaden their kitchen and menu development experience.
• A chef with an interest in baking and fermentation.
• Someone with experience in East or Southeast Asian cuisine.
• A versatile food professional who enjoys both baking and cooking.
• Someone seeking more creativity and ownership than a traditional kitchen role can offer.

We're open-minded about backgrounds and experience. If you're particularly strong in either baking or chef work, we'd still love to hear from you.

What You'll Be Doing

Daytime Bakery & Café Operations

• Daily bread production
• Learning and mastering our signature milk bread products
• Ingredient preparation
• Sandwich and lunch service preparation
• Maintaining quality and consistency across all products

East Asian Evening Menu Development

As we launch our evening concept, you'll be involved in:

• Recipe development
• Menu design
• Testing and refining dishes
• Researching ingredients and techniques
• Delivering evening service
• Contributing ideas and suggestions

Creativity isn't a bonus in this role—it's an expectation.

We're looking for someone who wants to help build menus rather than simply follow them.

The Food

The daytime business centres around artisan baking, Japanese milk breads and café-style dishes.

The evening concept will be a small, chef-led dining experience with regularly evolving menus inspired by East and Southeast Asian food cultures. We want to create exciting, thoughtful dishes that celebrate flavour, technique and seasonality, with plenty of scope for experimentation and creativity.

What We're Looking For

You'll ideally have:

• 1–3 years' experience within a bakery, café, restaurant or kitchen environment
• Food Safety and Hygiene knowledge
• Strong attention to detail
• Pride in producing consistently excellent food
• A genuine passion for learning and developing your craft
• An interest in East and Southeast Asian cuisines and flavours

More importantly, you'll be:

• Humble and collaborative
• Comfortable communicating openly and respectfully
• Able to work independently
• Confident sharing ideas and opinions
• Curious, creative and proactive
• Excited to help build something rather than simply follow instructions

Hours

Initially:

• 30–35 hours per week
• Wednesday to Sunday
• Early starts required
• Typical shifts around 7:00am–4:00pm

As the evening concept develops, additional evening shifts will be introduced, likely on Wednesday and Friday evenings.

Pay & Benefits

• £13.00 per hour
• Profit Share Scheme following successful probation
• Annual profit-share payment
• Direct influence on menu development and business growth
• Opportunity to work closely with the founder
• Significant creative input and autonomy
• Long-term progression opportunities as the business expands

Why Join Us?

This is a rare opportunity to join a small, ambitious business at an exciting stage of its journey.

You'll have the chance to:

• Help launch and shape a brand-new East Asian dining concept
• Create and develop dishes alongside the founder
• Work with a broad range of Asian flavours, ingredients and techniques
• Learn new skills across both baking and cooking
• Have genuine influence over the direction of the food offering
• Grow with a business that has ambitious plans for the future

We're not looking for someone to simply do what they're told.

We're looking for someone who wants to build something with us.