Chef - Oriental Specialist

Company: dnata Catering UK

Location: Hounslow

Posted: April 11th, 2026

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dnata catering UK is one of the leading providers of inflight services to the worlds airline customers . We offer a comprehensive range of Inflight Catering, Onboard Retail and Logistics services across all of the UK’s major and regional airports. Our continual pursuit of innovation and excellence has secured the business of more than 80 of the industry’s biggest operators.…

The Role

As a Chef Specialising in Oriental Cuisine in our culinary team, you will have responsibility for preparing, cooking, and presenting a range of dishes, supported by the wider kitchen team. You will develop and produce meals for first, business and economy class for airline passengers and participate in food presentations to airline customers.

Who you’ll deal with:

Internal: Culinary team, Head Chef, colleagues from other departments, Support functions.

What you’ll be doing:

Completes daily food preparation and duties assigned by line manager to meet the standard and the quality set by company and its airline customer.
Coordinates daily tasks with the Sous Chef.
Responsible to supervise junior chefs or commis.
Estimates daily production needs, checking the quality of raw and cooked food products to ensure that standards are met.
Ensures that the production, preparation, and presentation of food are of the highest quality at all times.
Ensures highest levels of customer satisfaction, quality with minimal operating and food costs on an ongoing basis.
Needs to comply with all standard procedures and policies pertaining to food preparation, receiving, storage and sanitation, ensuring that team members also comply with the required standards.
Compliance with standard recipes, methods of production and presentation standards again ensuring the team comply.
Ensures the proper handling of all food products, temperature control and completion of due diligence documentation.
Operate and maintain all department equipment, reporting any hazards or malfunctions.
Ensures effective communication across the team with regular team briefs.
Establishing and maintaining effective inter-departmental working relationships.
Have excellent knowledge of meal creation, whilst maintaining quality and controlling costs in a volume food business.
Personally, responsible for hygiene, safety and correct use of equipment and utensils.
Ability to produce own work in accordance with a deadline and to assist and encourage others in achieving this aim.
Checks expiry dates and proper storage of food items in the section.
Consults with Sous Chef and Head Chef on the daily requirements and any last-minute changes.
Guides and trains the colleagues daily to ensure high motivation.
Prepare, cooking and presenting dishes within your specialty
Helping the sous chef and Head Chef to develop new dishes and menus
Ensuring you and your team have high standards of food hygiene and follow the rules of health and safety
Monitoring portion and waste control to maintain profit margin

This list is not exhaustive, accountabilities may vary dependent on locality or role complexity and may include any other duties considered reasonable by the line manager.

What you’ll have:

You must have either City & Guilds 706/2 or NVQ Level 4
You must have a RIPHH Intermediate Food Hygiene Certificate or equivalent
You must be fully knife trained
You will have previous catering experience as a Chef (essential). Previous airline catering experience is highly desirable.
You should be very familiar with authentic and conventional, as well as contemporary ingredients, with a detailed knowledge of, and experience in, preparing different cuisines.
You will understand airline specifications
Basic numeracy skills
You will demonstrate competence in adhering to Company compliance documentation.
You will need to be a self-disciplined person who takes a real pride in what they produce.

Seniority level

Seniority level
Mid-Senior level

Employment type

Employment type
Full-time