If you are looking for a hotel with something different and some history to work in, then The Odney Hotel, our Place by the River could be for you. This is a beautiful and unique John Lewis Partnership owned hotel, set in 130 acres by the River Thames in Cookham, Berkshire. It offers both character and charm to our guests. 

The guests can stay in one of 5 beautiful houses on the site, each maintaining the period look of it’s time with access to the picturesque grounds including a private stretch of river, water gardens, a pool and sports facilities. The main building Lullebrook Manor and it’s grounds are thought to have been the inspiration for the classic novel The Wind in The Willows bringing history along with relaxation.

Relaxation can be further achieved with a visit to our Serenity Spa, offering beauty treatments and massages or afternoon tea on the terrace, a drink in the bar or a meal overlooking the river. For any golfers, there is also our Partnership owned golf course Winter Hill down the road.
 

What you can expect in this role?

Working in the hotel, you’ll be surrounded by a team of passionate and dedicated hospitality Partners to give our guests the best experience whether they are with us for the day or a longer stay. What is different about our guests though, is that they are Partners, their friends and family.  As co-owners in the business, you’ll see this difference in the way your teammates and you approach your job and carry out your responsibilities. 

As a Chef De Partie, you'll be working as part of our friendly kitchen brigade to ensure the efficient day to day running of the kitchen and to assist in providing a consistently high quality dining experience while maintaining sales, reputation and profit of the kitchen as agreed by the Head Chef.

This role will give you the opportunity to demonstrate your real passion for food and allow you to invent, produce and present quality dishes in accordance with our hotel offer. You’ll also be providing guidance to the Commis chef, controlling stock and minimising wastage.

As the hotel offers a variety of dining and food options to our guests, you'll need to be flexible to work in different areas, if required, and adhering to all health and safety requirements at all times.

The Odney Club has a very close working relationship to the Partnership owned Winter Hill Golf Club and in this role, you'll also have the opportunity to be involved with menu planning and catering for regular events and members functions at the club depending on needs. 

The role will offer you opportunities to display your talent, people management skills and knowledge of running a successful kitchen through supervising the department when required. It will also provide you with development opportunities and the progression routes.
 

What can we offer you?

The Partnership puts it’s Partners first in every area of the business. Working at Odney, you will get to work in a beautiful location with some of the best views and countryside around. You’ll be entitled to the great benefits that our Partners receive such as paid holiday, discount in our Waitrose & John Lewis shops and many other benefits designed to allow our Partners a great work / life balance.

You’ll be working on a rota basis allowing you time to take advantage of the benefits. 

We will offer on the job training and investment in your skills, providing you with progression opportunities and an extra level of support and encouragement.

Uniform is supplied to you and you will receive free meals when on duty.

What do you need?

Hospitality is an ever changing environment with a real focus on great customer service and providing an experience for our guests. This is achieved through each Partner being motivated, creative and great teamwork.

• Ability to work under pressure

• Experience working in a professional kitchen

• Compliance of all food safety policies, procedures and practice

• Proactive

• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal

• Meticulous attention to detail.

What else could you bring? 

• City & Guilds 706 1 and 2 or NVQ equivalent

• Food Hygiene Certificate Level 2

• Competent in IT systems and able to use standard software

Additional Information:

We have a number of different ways to work flexibly so at your interview feel free to talk about what flexibility means to you. There are no guarantees, however, it may open the door to not only a new role but a new way of working.

Please review the advertised working hours and contract length to be certain that you can commit to these or we may not be able to progress your application.

As part of our application process you will be asked to complete a short online test, this is a questionnaire to find out if you are aligned to our unique way of working. Being a Partner is a unique experience, sharing the responsibility of ownership as well as its rewards. It will be a series of scenarios with multiple actions to take based on day-to-day activities of Partners to truly understand what it means to be a Partner and the difference of working in a co-owned business. They help us to understand how you’ll respond to a variety of challenges which you may encounter and assess your potential for the role. 

This is a mandatory part of the process and we are not able to consider your application without this step being done.

Please consider the following when making your application:

- We occasionally close vacancies early in the event we receive a high volume of applications. To avoid disappointment, we recommend you apply early.

- Print off the job description now if you require it.

- Ensure you have an up-to-date CV.