Production Chef Apprentice
THE HIDEAWAY CAFE PLYMOUTH LTD
Plymouth (PL4 0ST)
Closes in 13 days (Wednesday 1 October 2025 at 11:59pm)
Posted on 17 September 2025
Contents
Summary
As a Production Chef Apprentice, you will work towards a nationally recognised apprenticeship standard at a nationally recognised college while gaining hands-on experience in a busy café kitchen. You will learn to prepare, cook, and present consistently high-quality dishes in line with food safety, allergen awareness, and hygiene regulations.
- Wage
-
£11,778 for your first year, then could increase depending on your age
National Minimum Wage rate for apprentices
- Training course
- Production chef (level 2)
- Hours
-
Shifts start from 7am Monday-Thursday and from 630am on a Friday. Weekend work also available.
30 hours a week
- Start date
-
Tuesday 14 October 2025
- Duration
-
1 year
- 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
- Support the preparation and cooking of breakfasts, lunches, buffets, and children’s meals
- Learn and follow recipes carefully, paying close attention to portion sizes and presentation
- Assisting with both hot and cold food for service and takeaway
- Comply with all Health & Safety and Food Hygiene regulations at all times, including HACCP, COSHH, and allergen procedures
- Maintaining a clean and safe working environment is essential, so you will be required to follow “clean as you go” practices, adhere to sanitisation procedures, and ensure food is stored, rotated, and labelled correctly in line with FIFO principles
- Working effectively as part of the kitchen team is key, and you will be expected to communicate clearly with front-of-house staff to ensure smooth service
- Upholding The Hideaway Café’s values of honesty, respect, loyalty, quality, and cleanliness, you will contribute to a positive and respectful workplace culture
- Provide support for café events, buffets, and children’s party catering when required
Where you'll work
25 Faraday Mill Business Park
Faraday Road
Plymouth
PL4 0ST
Training
Apprenticeships include time away from working for specialist training. You’ll study to gain professional knowledge and skills.
Training provider
CITY COLLEGE PLYMOUTH
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.
Training schedule
Once a week, college attendance is required; the rest of the training will be in the workplace.
Requirements
Essential qualifications
GCSE in:
Desirable qualifications
GCSE in:
Share if you have other relevant qualifications and industry experience. The apprenticeship can be adjusted to reflect what you already know.
Skills
- Communication skills
- IT skills
- Attention to detail
- Organisation skills
- Customer care skills
- Problem solving skills
- Presentation skills
- Administrative skills
- Number skills
- Analytical skills
- Logical
- Team working
- Creative
- Initiative
- Non judgemental
- Patience
- Physical fitness
About this employer
The Hideaway Café is a family-friendly café at Faraday Mill, Plymouth. We are known for our freshly prepared breakfasts, lunches, buffets, and children’s meals, alongside a welcoming community atmosphere and high standards of cleanliness and customer care. We value Honesty, Respect, Loyalty, Quality, and Cleanliness in everything we do.
After this apprenticeship
Progression would be potentially supported through the Level 3 apprenticeship or employment within the company, should the business require it at the time.
Ask a question
The contact for this apprenticeship is:
CITY COLLEGE PLYMOUTH
The reference code for this apprenticeship is VAC1000342440.
Apply now
Closes in 13 days (Wednesday 1 October 2025 at 11:59pm)
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