Head Pastry Chef

Role purpose

Multi-brand development and project support

• Lead menu development and create recipe packs, costing sheets, plating guides, prep guides, and pastry SOPs.
• Develop signature, seasonal, and scalable pastry products while ensuring consistency across brands and respecting each concept's identity.
• Support concept development and brand build-up; review back-of-house layouts, workflows, and site plans.
• Advise on equipment specifications, procurement, and production planning; attend fit-out reviews and site visits.

Pre-opening and mobilization

• Lead pastry execution for new-site pre-openings and ensure dessert and bakery ranges are launch-ready on time.
• Recruit, train, and support pastry teams, embedding technical standards, presentation, and production discipline.
• Deliver product training, demonstrations, recipe rollouts, and pastry service guidance.
• Support soft openings and early trading, adjusting products, prep systems, and team capability as needed.

Commercial, quality, and governance

• Cost pastry items against target GP, pricing strategy, and ingredient availability; monitor waste, portion control, efficiency, and product mix.
• Coordinate with procurement and suppliers to secure suitable sourcing, consistent quality, and cost-effective ingredients and materials.
• Maintain pastry quality, taste, finish, consistency, and presentation across sites.
• Ensure food safety, hygiene, HACCP, and kitchen cleanliness; support audits, compliance checks, and internal governance.
• Maintain version control of recipes, development trackers, testing records, and product updates.

Team and cross-functional leadership

• Lead, coach, and develop multi-site pastry teams and support hiring, team assessments, and capability planning.
• Build training structures to maintain standards across brands and support succession capability.
• Collaborate with Operations, Culinary, Brand, Procurement, PMO, Marketing, and training teams.
• Support menu integration into POS systems, training manuals, launch materials, and product communications.
• Contribute to product presentations, photography support, seasonal menus, product refreshes, and pastry innovation.

Requirements

• Minimum 7–10 years of pastry experience in premium hospitality, luxury dining, lifestyle cafés, or high-quality restaurants.
• Strong senior pastry leadership, ideally across multiple outlets, brands, or properties.
• Proven experience in pastry development, recipe structuring, costing, standardization, and operational rollout.
• Experience in pre-openings, menu mobilization, and pastry training for new sites.
• Commercial awareness of GP, cost control, portion management, and labor productivity.
• Design, fit-out, procurement, or project-team experience during kitchen development is an advantage.
• UAE or GCC experience is preferred.
• A diploma or certification in Pastry Arts, Culinary Arts, Baking, or a related discipline is preferred.

Skills and competencies

• Combines strong pastry craftsmanship with commercial discipline.
• Can lead multi-site pastry operations consistently and systematically.
• Strong planning, documentation, and organizational capability.
• Hands-on and accountable during launches and early trading.
• Collaborates effectively with culinary, operational, and project stakeholders.
• Flexible and resilient when building systems and teams in a growth-stage environment.

Working environment

• Works across multiple brands, concepts, kitchens, and simultaneous live projects and openings.
• Requires flexible hours, including evening and weekend support during build-up, pre-opening, and mobilization.
• Requires ownership, adaptability, and field presence during launch and stabilization; it is not a fixed-hours, single-location role.

Employment

• Employment type is full-time.