Prep Chef

✨Job Title: Prep Chef

📍Location: Oxygen House, Exeter, and the Five Bells (one Sunday per month)

✨Contract: Fixed-Term (6 Months), with the possibility of extension or a permanent role

⏰Hours: 40 hours per week, primarily Monday to Friday (7:00am to 3:30pm or 9:00am to 5:30pm), plus one Sunday per month

💷Salary: £28,000 per annum plus generous company benefits

📅Start date: Early December 2026

📅Closing date for applications: 30th October 2026

Join a Kitchen That Puts Vegetables First!

Oxygen House Kitchen is an organic, vegetable-led kitchen serving the Oxygen House community. We create fresh, seasonal food with a focus on quality, sustainability and thoughtful cooking.

We're looking for a skilled and enthusiastic Prep Cook to join us on an interim six-month contract. This is an excellent opportunity for someone with solid kitchen experience, strong knife skills and a genuine interest in cooking with vegetables. You'll play a key role in preparing ingredients, supporting food production and helping us deliver consistently excellent food every day.

Once a month, you'll also support Sunday service at the Five Bells, our community pub, helping to deliver a welcoming and memorable dining experience.

What You'll Be Doing

• Preparing vegetables, grains, pulses, sauces, dressings and other ingredients to the standards and quantities set by the Senior Kitchen Team.
• Supporting the preparation and cooking of dishes for breakfast, lunch and other services, following recipes and specifications
• Assisting with Sunday lunch service at the Five Bells once per month
• Working from daily prep lists and production plans, highlighting shortages or issues proactively
• Following food safety procedures, including allergen management, labelling, date rotation and temperature monitoring
• Maintaining a clean, organised and efficient section throughout your shift
• Receiving, checking and storing deliveries correctly
• Minimising food waste through careful preparation, good stock rotation and thoughtful use of ingredients
• Working collaboratively with the wider kitchen and front-of-house teams
• Supporting the senior kitchen team with other reasonable duties as required

About You

We're looking for someone who:

• Has previous experience working in a professional kitchen
• Demonstrates confident, safe and efficient knife skills
• Has a good understanding of kitchen hygiene, food safety and allergen management
• Is reliable, organised and able to remain calm under pressure
• Communicates well and enjoys working as part of a team
• Takes pride in producing consistent, high-quality work
• Is enthusiastic about vegetable-led cooking and sustainable food practices
• Is available to work the required shift pattern, including one Sunday per month

Desirable

• Level 2 Food Safety & Hygiene Certificate (training can be provided for the right candidate)
• Experience in a vegetable-led, plant-based or seasonal kitchen
• Experience with batch cooking.
• An interest in seasonality, reducing food waste and responsible sourcing

If you're passionate about cooking, enjoy working with seasonal produce and want to be part of a purpose-driven food community, we'd love to hear from you.

Why Join Us?

We are very fortunate to have a wonderful working environment, providing us with holistic work perks such as freshly cooked plant-based food served daily by our talented catering team, regular energising gym classes, and a relaxing kitchen garden to rest and socialise in.

On top of this you will have the opportunity to participate in our broad and extensive range of company benefits, these include:

• 🏡Family and Finance Benefits - Enhanced parental leave, Contributory pension (matched up to 5%), Group life assurance, Employee assistance programme
• 🩺Health Benefits - Private medical insurance, Private dental insurance, Virtual GP, Eyecare vouchers, Flu Vaccinations
• 🌳Green Benefits - Green travel incentive, Cycle to work scheme, Electric car scheme and charging
• 🏖️ Annual Leave - 25 days’ holiday, rising by 1 day per year to a maximum of 30 days
• Oxygen House is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all suitably qualified persons regardless of their race, sex, disability, religion/belief, sexual orientation, or age.
• At Oxygen House Limited, we are committed to cultivating an inclusive and equitable environment where all individuals can thrive and make an impact.
• Applicants must have the legal right to work in the UK without sponsorship.