Production Chef Apprentice

Summary

Working across two busy cafes within a World Heritage Site in the heart of Derbyshire, this is a great opportunity to join our hard-working team at Cromford Mills. With exciting new developments on the horizon, the Production Chef Apprentice will play a part in taking the catering offer to the next level.

Wage

£15,704 for your first year, then could increase depending on your age

National Minimum Wage rate for apprentices

Check minimum wage rates (opens in new tab)

Quarterly tip share. Paid lunch break.

Training course

Production chef (level 2)

Hours

Working 5 days out of 7 which will include weekends and occasional evenings. Usual working hours 9am- 5pm or 8:30am- 4:30pm, with a 30 minute paid lunch break.

40 hours a week

Start date

Monday 1 September 2025

Duration

1 year 6 months

Positions available

1

Work

Most of your apprenticeship is spent working. You’ll learn on the job by getting hands-on experience.

What you'll do at work

Predominantly working alongside one of our experienced cooks, the ideal candidate will be serving breakfast and lunch for our guests, preparing homemade soups, quiches, and scones, and helping to deliver our afternoon tea menu, launching this Autumn.
There will be opportunity to experience everything that a busy day-visitor attraction has to offer, including ordering and monitoring stock, learning about and developing vital skills in health and safety and hygiene, customer service skills, general cleaning duties, and touching on menu development and pricing. We play host to numerous conference and banqueting functions, and help deliver external catering for our wide-ranging and diverse events such as Comic Con, The Dog Show, Cromford Builds (Lego), and Our Famous Beer Festival. There is always something to look forward to at Cromford Mills!

Duties will include;

Produce dishes using fresh and pre-prepared ingredients
Prepare soups and menu items for the day
Assist to complete hand over notes, and ensure enough stock is prepared for the next day
Help to gather stock lists for supplier orders
Ensure food stock is stored correctly and used in rotation
Work effectively as part of a team
Communicate with the internal team and with customers
Follow standard operating procedures
Take responsibility for own development whilst observing professional standards
Use equipment safely and effectively
Adhere to site specific risk assessments, fire regulations, health and safety and food safety legislation, and undertake due diligence
Adapt and produce dishes to meet special dietary, religious and allergic requirements
Observe equality, diversity, inclusion and wellbeing guidelines, and contribute to a supportive, inclusive and motivational environment

Where you'll work

CROMFORD MILL
MILL ROAD
CROMFORD
MATLOCK
DE4 3RQ

Training

Apprenticeships include time away from working for specialist training. You’ll study to gain professional knowledge and skills.

College or training organisation

UNIVERSITY OF DERBY

Your training course

Production chef (level 2)

Understanding apprenticeship levels (opens in new tab)

What you'll learn

Course contents

Prepare and cook pre-portioned fresh and frozen meat, fish, and poultry to business standards.
Prepare and cook fresh and frozen fruit and vegetables to business standards.
Prepare salad vegetables to business standards.
Cook poached, simmered, steamed, boiled, braised, stewed, baked, grilled, and fried dishes.
Regenerate dried and frozen ingredients and dishes.
Undertake stock control, storage, and rotation.
Communicate professionally with colleagues, line managers, stakeholders, and customers.
Work as part of a team to support service delivery.
Follow specifications to produce, portion, and present food.
Manage own time to ensure allocated tasks are completed.
Use techniques for maintaining good mental health and wellbeing to support self and others, including asking for and giving help with daily tasks.
Use feedback to improve own performance.
Prepare and close down an area for service.
Use problem solving techniques to resolve routine and non-routine issues within scope of own role.
Maintain prep and par levels according to business need.
Clean and maintain manual and electrical food-preparation and cooking tools, equipment, and technology.
Follow standard operating procedures to select and safely use appropriate knives and boards for the task, for example red handled knife and red board for raw meat.
Monitor and record food temperatures and manage allergens during preparation, cooking, holding, and serving.
Apply hygiene management techniques to maintain a safe clean work environment, for example COSHH, personal hygiene, and uniform.
Reduce the waste of resources, acting to measure and reduce plate waste, exercise portion control, and maximise yield.
Comply with health and safety legislation, regulations, guidelines and procedures, including stress management.
Follow equity, diversity, and inclusion legislation and organisational policies.
Deliver to key performance indicators to support the production, performance, and budget within own area of responsibility.
Use manual and electrical food-preparation and cooking tools, equipment, machinery, and technology.
Prepare and cook pre-portioned fresh and frozen meat, fish, and poultry to business standards.
Prepare and cook fresh and frozen fruit and vegetables to business standards.
Prepare salad vegetables to business standards.
Cook poached, simmered, steamed, boiled, braised, stewed, baked, grilled, and fried dishes.
Regenerate dried and frozen ingredients and dishes.
Undertake stock control, storage, and rotation.
Communicate professionally with colleagues, line managers, stakeholders, and customers.
Work as part of a team to support service delivery.
Follow specifications to produce, portion, and present food.
Manage own time to ensure allocated tasks are completed.
Use techniques for maintaining good mental health and wellbeing to support self and others, including asking for and giving help with daily tasks.
Use feedback to improve own performance.
Prepare and close down an area for service.
Use problem solving techniques to resolve routine and non-routine issues within scope of own role.
Maintain prep and par levels according to business need.
Clean and maintain manual and electrical food-preparation and cooking tools, equipment, and technology.
Follow standard operating procedures to select and safely use appropriate knives and boards for the task, for example red handled knife and red board for raw meat.
Monitor and record food temperatures and manage allergens during preparation, cooking, holding, and serving.
Apply hygiene management techniques to maintain a safe clean work environment, for example COSHH, personal hygiene, and uniform.
Reduce the waste of resources, acting to measure and reduce plate waste, exercise portion control, and maximise yield.
Comply with health and safety legislation, regulations, guidelines and procedures, including stress management.
Follow equity, diversity, and inclusion legislation and organisational policies.
Deliver to key performance indicators to support the production, performance, and budget within own area of responsibility.
Use manual and electrical food-preparation and cooking tools, equipment, machinery, and technology.

Your training plan

Apprentices will attend weekly on-campus activity days alongside training in the workplace both on and off-the-job. A college instructor-mentor will visit apprentices in the workplace regularly to complete observations, professional discussions and discuss progress.

More training information

Training in the workplace will be delivered by an experienced team of cooks, training will include:

Food safety
Stock management
Customer service
Hygiene and cleaning
Knife skills
Menu development
Team work
Allergen awareness
Baking and much more

Requirements

Desirable qualifications

GCSE in:

English (grade 4 or above)
Maths (grade 4 or above)

Let the company know about other relevant qualifications and industry experience you have. They can adjust the apprenticeship to reflect what you already know.

Skills

Communication skills
Attention to detail
Organisation skills
Customer care skills
Problem solving skills
Logical
Team working
Creative
Reliable
An interest in the industry
Ability to learn from peers
A desire to learn
Calm under pressure

Other requirements

Although transport links are good to Cromford, candidates should ensure they are able to travel to and from work at the appropriate start/finish times. Some lifting and carrying will be required. Some outdoor work may be required for certain events. Sensible footwear and clothing should be worn in transit as we are a countryside site susceptible to adverse weather conditions. Chefs uniform will be provided should it be required.

About this company

At Cromford Mills, we believe in being a supportive, teamwork driven workplace, where working together creates the best experience for our visitors. We are a large site with a business centre, a busy events and conferencing programme throughout the year. We operate guided tours of the mill which includes our visitor centre and the Arkwright Experience, telling the story of Sir Richard Arkwright who established the world’s first successful water powered mill here at Cromford in 1771. We have an award-winning educational offer for schools and a very enthusiastic and involved volunteer team who help deliver the visitor heritage offer. Part of the Derwent Valley Mills UNESCO World Heritage Site; all these activities create a beautiful, unique and vibrant place to work.

http://www.cromfordmills.org.uk (opens in new tab)

Company benefits

Free parking. Free meals on shift. Health and wellbeing program. Predominantly day-time hours.

After this apprenticeship

Potential for permanent work at Cromford Mills
Career growth within the department
Gain essential skills to work across a broad range of hospitality operations

Ask a question

The contact for this apprenticeship is:

UNIVERSITY OF DERBY

Apprenticeships Team

feapprenticeships@blc.ac.uk

08000740099

The reference code for this apprenticeship is VAC1000330818.

Apply now

Closes in 21 days (Thursday 31 July 2025)

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