Are you an experienced care home chef in Preston looking for flexible opportunities as a Care Home Chef Jobs Preston?
ASL Catering Agency Ltd is expanding our network of experienced chefs to support care homes, residential homes and nursing homes across Preston and surrounding areas of Lancashire.
This recruitment campaign is specifically for chefs who already have substantial experience working within care-home kitchens. Care Home Chef Jobs Preston
Previous care-home chef experience is essential.
Applicants must also have their own reliable transport, as assignments can be located at different care establishments and working hours may make public transport unsuitable.
ASL engages our chefs on a PAYE basis rather than as freelance or self-employed chefs.
If you have the specialist experience, reliability and professional approach we’re looking for, we’d like to hear from you.
Join Our Chef Network – ASL Catering Agency
Why Experienced Care Home Chefs Are Different
A chef can have many years of excellent hospitality experience and still be unfamiliar with the additional responsibilities involved in care-home catering.
Within a care environment, food provision can be closely connected with a resident’s health, safety, nutrition, hydration, dignity and quality of life.
A care-home chef may need to prepare meals for residents with requirements involving:
- Dysphagia and texture-modified diets
- Different IDDSI levels
- Food allergies and intolerances
- Fortified meals
- Modified portions
- Dementia-related eating difficulties
- Vegetarian requirements
- Cultural and religious diets
- Individual food preferences
- Additional nutritional requirements
The chef must be able to follow the resident information and dietary instructions provided by the home accurately.
That’s why this particular campaign is aimed at experienced care-home chefs, rather than general hospitality chefs wanting to try care catering for the first time.
You can read more about ASL’s specialist care-sector recruitment here:
Care Home, Residential & Nursing Home Chef Recruitment
What We’re Looking For in Preston
We’re looking for professional chefs who can provide reliable support to our clients while maintaining the standards expected within a care environment.
Substantial Previous Care Home Chef Experience
Applicants should have substantial previous practical experience working as a chef in a care home, nursing home or residential home.
This is an essential requirement.
Restaurant, hotel, pub, event or general contract-catering experience can be valuable, but on its own it doesn’t provide the specialist care-home experience required for these particular assignments.
Your Own Reliable Transport
Own reliable transport is essential.
Our assignments can be located across Preston and surrounding areas, so chefs must be able to travel independently to the assignments they agree to undertake.
Care-home kitchen shifts can also begin early or finish at times when public transport isn’t practical.
Enhanced DBS
Applicants should have an appropriate current Enhanced DBS certificate, subject to ASL Catering Agency’s normal recruitment and compliance procedures.
If you’re an experienced care-home chef but aren’t certain about your current DBS position, provide the information you have when applying so it can be considered as part of the registration process.
Right to Work in the UK
Applicants must have the appropriate right to work in the UK and successfully complete ASL’s required pre-employment checks and documentation.
Reliability and Professionalism
When a care home books an agency chef because of sickness, annual leave, staffing shortages or another operational requirement, it needs that chef to arrive as agreed and be capable of taking responsibility for the kitchen.
We’re therefore looking for chefs who demonstrate:
- Excellent reliability
- Good punctuality
- Professional communication
- Strong food-hygiene standards
- Respect for residents and permanent staff
- Confidence working independently
- Ability to follow individual site procedures
- Good organisational skills
- Calmness under pressure
- A professional approach to every assignment
Further information about working with ASL is available here:
Relevant Training for Care Home Chefs
Previous care-home experience is central to this campaign, but relevant training is also important.
We’re particularly interested in chefs with current training covering:
✔ Food Safety & Hygiene Level 2
When applying, please tell us which relevant certificates you currently hold.
Food Safety & Hygiene Level 2
Care-home chefs need appropriate food-safety knowledge and must follow safe working practices throughout the kitchen.
This includes areas such as personal hygiene, food storage, temperature control, cleaning, safe food handling and reducing contamination risks.
Relevant online training is available through FlexiLearnHub:
Food Safety & Hygiene Level 2 – FlexiLearnHub
Dysphagia Awareness & IDDSI
Some care-home residents may have swallowing difficulties and professionally assessed requirements for texture-modified food or drinks.
Where an individual resident has been assigned an IDDSI level, their food must be prepared according to the information and instructions supplied by the care provider.
A chef working within this environment therefore needs an appropriate understanding of dysphagia and the IDDSI Framework.
Relevant specialist training is available here:
Dysphagia Awareness & IDDSI Training – FlexiLearnHub
You can also find further information about IDDSI here:
IDDSI & Dysphagia Awareness Training
Food Allergen Awareness
Care-home kitchens may cater for numerous individual dietary requirements at the same service.
Chefs need to understand allergen risks, ingredient information, cross-contact controls and the importance of following the dietary information supplied for individual residents.
Relevant online training is available through FlexiLearnHub:
Food Allergen Awareness Training
Experienced Care Home Chef but Need to Update Your Training?
If you’re an experienced care-home chef who meets our other requirements, don’t automatically rule yourself out because one of your training certificates needs updating.
ASL Catering Agency works alongside FlexiLearnHub, our specialist online training platform for care and catering.
For suitable experienced chefs, ASL may be able to assist with completing or updating relevant training through FlexiLearnHub.
Tell Karen which certificates you already hold and anything that may need updating when you apply.
View FlexiLearnHub Online Courses
Care Home Chef Opportunities Across Preston & Surrounding Areas
We’re expanding our network across Preston and surrounding parts of Lancashire so we can respond when care-sector clients require additional kitchen support.
Depending upon client demand, location, experience and individual availability, assignments may include:
- Relief chef work
- Temporary care-home chef assignments
- Annual-leave cover
- Sickness cover
- Weekday shifts
- Weekend shifts
- Short-notice requirements
- Emergency chef cover
- Longer-term temporary placements
The amount and type of work available will vary according to client demand.
Registration with ASL Catering Agency doesn’t guarantee assignments, shifts or a particular number of working hours.
Stepping Into an Unfamiliar Care Home Kitchen
Experienced relief chefs often need to become operational quickly when arriving at a kitchen they’ve never worked in before.
But working quickly should never mean making assumptions.
Every care home has its own residents, procedures, records, menus and working practices.
Establish the Essential Information First
Before starting meal preparation or service, an experienced chef may need to establish information concerning:
- Resident dietary requirements
- Allergies and intolerances
- Dysphagia requirements
- IDDSI levels
- Current menus
- Meal and service times
- Portion requirements
- Fortification requirements
- Food-temperature procedures
- Cleaning arrangements
- Stock availability
- Deliveries
- Kitchen records
- Relevant handover information
This ability to enter a new kitchen, ask the right questions and establish the relevant information is one reason previous care-home experience matters so much in relief catering.
Remember the Individual Resident
A care-home kitchen may prepare dozens of meals during a service, but each plate is being prepared for an individual person.
One resident may require a particular texture because of swallowing difficulties.
Another may have a serious food allergy.
Another may need a fortified meal or modified portion.
Another may have preferences that are important to their dignity, independence and enjoyment of food.
The professional care-home chef needs to recognise those differences rather than treating every meal as simply another plate leaving the kitchen.
Why Work With ASL Catering Agency?
ASL Catering Agency Ltd specialises in catering recruitment and support for the care sector.
We work with care homes, nursing homes and residential homes requiring professional chefs for relief, temporary and other staffing requirements.
Our specialist approach recognises that providing a chef for a care establishment involves more than confirming that someone can cook.
The chef also needs the appropriate experience, reliability, knowledge and professional attitude for the environment in which they’re working.
That’s why we’re continuing to build our network of experienced care-home chefs across Preston and the wider areas we support.
Experienced Care Home Chef in Preston? Apply Today
If you’re an experienced care-home chef living in Preston or within reasonable travelling distance, we’d like to hear from you.
What to Include With Your Application
Please provide:
- Your current CV
- Details of your previous care-home chef experience
- Your home area or postcode
- Your current availability
- Confirmation that you have your own reliable transport
- Your Enhanced DBS status
- Details of your Food Safety & Hygiene Level 2 training
- Details of your Dysphagia/IDDSI training
- Details of your Food Allergen Awareness training
If one of your relevant training certificates needs completing or updating, tell us when you apply.
Contact Karen Richards
Please send your CV and details to:
Karen Richards
ASL Catering Agency Ltd
You can also find further registration information here:
Join Our Chef Network – ASL Catering Agency
Care Home Chef Jobs Preston – Join Our Network
ASL Catering Agency is looking for experienced care-home chefs in Preston and surrounding areas who understand the specialist responsibilities involved in catering for people receiving care.
We’re looking for professionals who combine practical kitchen skills with reliability, attention to detail, food-safety awareness and an understanding of individual resident needs.
If you have substantial previous care-home catering experience, your own reliable transport and the professional approach we’re looking for, we’d be pleased to hear from you.
ASL Catering Agency Ltd — Specialist Chefs for Care Homes.