At the Waitrose Cookery School, we cater for beginners and seasoned cooks alike, with courses to suit every palate. Whether you’re at the Waitrose & Partners Cookery School for an hour, an evening or a full day, our talented chefs will inspire you to get creative with quality Waitrose & Partners ingredients.
There’s plenty of choice and opportunities available at our cookery school, from street food to Italian classics and bread-making to perfect pastry. Children can get involved too, with a range of entertaining workshops.
Each of our three cookery schools has its own distinctive flavour, Finchley Road and King’s Cross in London and Salisbury in Wiltshire. Our chefs come from some of the best professional kitchens in the country, such as Marcus Wareing’s Tredwell’s, The famous Ritz in London, Scott’s in London, Pierre Koffmann in London and Harrods.
Outside our cookery courses, we also run Good Food Guide Supper Clubs, Food and Drink master classes with suppliers, guest Chef events as well as press and blogger events.
If you have a passion for all things food, from menu design to flavours, excellent communication skills and the desire to challenge yourself then a Head Chef or a Cookery School Chef Tutor (Sous Chef) role will be perfect for you. With a wide range of cookery school jobs available, decide which one suits you best.
If you’ve got 5 years of hospitality experience and want a new challenge in which you will lead and be responsible for the Cookery School’s entire operation, the Waitrose Cookery School Manager role would be a perfect step for you to take. You’ll be responsible for the Cookery School budgets, costings and margins, financial performance and reporting to the general manager your progress and success.
As well as the backroom roles, you’ll be instrumental in the design and conception of the Cookery School’s recipes and execution while maintaining the high standards that Waitrose Cookery School requires. You will need to build and develop relationships with branch partners, specialists, and head office – while knowing how to manage a large team and have budget management experience.
If teaching and cooking is your passion and you want a hands-on approach, then becoming a Chef Tutor is the job for you. As a Chef Tutor you will be responsible for the daily teaching of our Waitrose Cookery School courses, as well setting up the food preparation, keeping all areas of the Waitrose Cookery School to a high cleanliness standard. You will be crucial in supporting the Cookery School Manager with the development of seasonal Cookery School programme which includes the creation of recipe content.
Your success will be measured in your ability to put on engaging content for your customers, with positive feedback a good indication. Waitrose Cookery School courses need to be delivered within budget, on brand and on time. If you have proven hospitality experience (3 years preferably), a good understanding of kitchen operation and the experience and knowledge of a wide range of cuisines, sweet and savoury baking, and various cooking techniques, a Chef Tutor job could be for you.
At Waitrose Cookery School, customer service is at the forefront of what we do. Ensuring our valued customers and visitors have the best experience they can, is what you will do. This will consist of ensuring that all bookings and sales are properly allocated, warmly welcoming customers and by acting as a brand ambassador for Waitrose Cookery School. From beginning to end, supporting customers with any questions or queries that they may have throughout their experience is a key aspect of the Customer Service Managers job.
Other responsibilities will include liaising with the Cookery School Manager to ensure that all planned activities are aligned, with the responsibility of executing these often-bespoke events. An innovative and creative mindset will help you deliver an above and beyond customer service experience at Waitrose Cookery school. If you have an outgoing service led personality with an eye for detail and around 5 years of Customer Service experience, a Customer Service Manager job could be the one for you.
If you’re missing the experience required for a Customer Service Manager job, or looking to take your first step into the world of hospitality – then applying for one of our Customer Service Assistant jobs at Waitrose Cookery School is the best way to further your aspirations. By ensuring the daily customer journey is consistent and meets the required standards, you will continue to represent Waitrose and its cookery school’s values as a brand ambassador. You will need to maintain the high cleanliness standards that Waitrose Cookery School prides itself on and have a thorough knowledge of courses and recipes to help assist the various roles that we have.
We are looking for someone with: • A passion for food and wine • Confidence in a customer-facing role • Excellent written and verbal skills • The ability to multitask in a fast-paced environment • A desire to further your hospitality career goals.
Looking to start a career in cookery or become a chef? Everyone starts somewhere and with Waitrose Cookery School, you will learn the ropes while assisting others in a kitchen and customer-facing environment. As a Kitchen Assistant, you’ll be responsible for ensuring that all the equipment is washed and readily available for customers and chefs to use as well as supporting the chefs with shopping, food preparation, customer trays and setting up the cookery school course itself. If necessary, you will also provide front of house support to other teams to guarantee that the customer’s experience is what is to be expected from the Waitrose Cookery School.
We are looking for someone with: • A passion for food and wine • Strong written and verbal communication skills • Good IT skills • Experience and confidence in a kitchen or restaurant A desire to further your hospitality career goals.
We encourage all our Partners to tap into their potential through training and development, so if you’re keen to build your skillset further, we can help facilitate this through additional support.
As a Partner in our business, you will also enjoy the perks of being part of something unique as our business is an open, honest and transparent place to work as we are all co-owners. This means you’ll receive unrivalled benefits including a Partnership discount, an annual bonus and ticket subsidies.
