Executive Head Chef - Multi-Site Premium Casual Dining Group

We are hiring an Executive Head Chef to take senior culinary leadership of a multi-site premium casual dining group across South Africa, based in either Johannesburg or Cape Town. This is a head office role covering an estate of restaurants in Gauteng and the Western Cape, not a single kitchen. Our client is an established, design-led premium casual hospitality group with a portfolio of restaurant brands across South Africa and internationally, known for beautiful spaces, genuinely fresh food, and long staff tenure. The group is in an active growth phase in its home market, so the role carries new store openings alongside a substantial trading estate, and the culinary function is central to how the brand is protected.

The role reports to the Regional Director for South Africa, with dotted line reporting into the group culinary department covering culinary direction, back of house operations, and culinary training. It owns all back of house operations for the region: two regional Head Chefs report in directly, one for Gauteng and one for the Western Cape, together with a central support team. We are looking for a highly organised, strategic culinary leader who can hold standards and cost across many sites, build chef leaders beneath them, run several projects at once, and still bring genuine creativity to the plate.

Responsibilities

• Oversee all back of house operations across South Africa, setting regional culinary priorities aligned to group strategy.
• Directly manage and mentor two regional Head Chefs and the central culinary support team, with clear accountability structures across all stores.
• Lead performance reviews and development planning for culinary leadership across the region.
• Protect and enforce brand standards across all concepts, conducting structured culinary audits and tastings across locations.
• Ensure menu rollouts are executed flawlessly and on time, escalating and resolving any deviation from brand standards.
• Maintain regional food cost performance within approved targets and oversee waste management strategies and corrective actions.
• Work closely with the Regional Director on standard operating procedure adherence, and ensure procurement alignment and product consistency.
• Drive efficiency improvements across kitchens.
• Develop structured leadership pipelines and identify high potential chefs, creating advancement pathways in line with franchisee involvement.
• Ensure structured onboarding and training in collaboration with the group head of culinary training, fostering a culture of discipline, ownership, and professional pride.
• Partner with the Culinary Director on regional menu feedback and innovation that is aligned to brand identity and operationally feasible.
• Feed regional insight into group development and the research and development calendar, and present regional culinary performance reports quarterly.
• Support franchisee alignment and expectation management where applicable.

Requirements

• Substantial senior culinary experience, including a period of accountability for several kitchens at the same time, ideally at regional, group, or cluster executive chef level.
• Proven multi-site leadership of chefs: managing Head Chefs and Sous Chefs, running performance reviews, and building succession into the team.
• Demonstrable brand standards and quality control experience, including structured audits, tastings, and menu rollouts delivered on time across multiple locations.
• Strong commercial and financial control: food cost management to target, waste reduction, procurement alignment, and efficiency improvement, with the numbers to evidence it.
• Experience in premium casual or premium dining, with the standards discipline that segment demands.
• New store opening and project management experience, with the ability to run multiple projects in parallel.
• Formal culinary training and food safety certification such as HACCP or equivalent.
• Genuine creative ability in menu development, balanced against brand identity and operational feasibility.
• Fully fluent written and spoken English.
• Willingness to travel between Gauteng and the Western Cape as the role requires.
• Must already hold the right to work in South Africa, or be able to secure it.

Benefits

• Salary: ZAR 65,000 to 70,000 gross per month, depending on experience.
• A 13th cheque.
• Transport allowance of ZAR 5,000 per month, company food allowance of ZAR 3,000 per month, and a cellphone allowance.
• Uniform provided.
• Further benefits to be confirmed during the recruitment process.

Additional Information

This is a full time, permanent position working 5 days per week, including two weekends per month and two night shifts per month, with longer hours expected during new store openings. The role reports to the Regional Director for South Africa with dotted line reporting into the group culinary department. The target start date is 1 November 2026, and our client is reviewing strongly matched candidates on a rolling basis, so early application is advised. Candidates must hold the right to work in South Africa, or be able to secure the right to work in South Africa. The role can be based in either Johannesburg or Cape Town, and regular travel between the two provinces is part of the position. Applications from candidates currently based outside South Africa will be considered.

Disclaimer

We appreciate your interest in this vacancy. Due to the high number of applications we receive, only candidates

selected to move to the next stage of the recruitment process can be contacted. Radiant does not charge any fee to

candidates.