Chef

Chef – North Devon District Hospital

Barnstaple

37.5 hours per week

£12.75 per hour

Are you passionate about creating nutritious, high‑quality food that truly makes a difference? Join our dedicated catering team at North Devon District Hospital, where your skills will directly support patients, staff, and visitors every single day.

This is more than a kitchen job — it’s a chance to use your talent to improve the hospital experience for thousands of people.

What You’ll Be Doing

As a Chef in our main kitchen, you’ll play a key role in delivering safe, delicious, and consistent meals across patient services, staff dining, and visitor catering. Your day‑to‑day responsibilities will include:

Preparing high‑quality, standardised meals in line with Food Safety and Health & Safety legislation

Producing meals for patients, including special diets and nutritional supplements

Supporting retail catering, including hot snack bar and carving duties

Maintaining excellent food quality, portion control, and presentation

Ensuring efficient kitchen operations, reducing waste, and promoting sustainability

Maintaining security of stores, equipment, and kitchen areas

Assisting with new starter “buddy” training

Working collaboratively with the catering team to deliver outstanding service

What We’re Looking For

You’ll thrive in this role if you bring

Essential:

Commercial food preparation experience

Ability to work effectively as part of a team

Strong organisational skills

Good numeracy and literacy

Excellent communication skills

Awareness of Food Safety & Health & Safety legislation

High standards of personal hygiene

City & Guilds / NVQ Level 3 or equivalent

Desirable: • Level 2 Food Hygiene Certificate

What Success Looks Like

Excellent patient satisfaction feedback

High PLACE food scores

5‑star Local Authority Food Safety rating

Strong compliance with safety and quality standards

Why Join Us?

Working in a hospital kitchen means your food has purpose. Every meal you prepare supports recovery, comfort, and wellbeing. You’ll be part of a friendly, supportive team that values quality, teamwork, and pride in what we do.

You’ll also benefit from:

A stable, secure role in a respected healthcare environment

Opportunities for training, development, and progression

A positive, inclusive workplace culture

Full uniform and training provided

About Sodexo

At Sodexo, our purpose is to create a better every day for everyone to build a better life for all. As the global leader in services that improve the Quality of Life, we operate in 55 countries, serving over 100 million consumers each day through our unique combination of On-Site Food and FM Services, Benefits & Rewards Services and Personal & Home Services.

We are committed to being an inclusive employer. We are a forces friendly employer. We welcome and encourage applications from people with a diverse variety of experiences, backgrounds, and identities. We encourage our employees to get involved with our Employee Networks such as Pride, Sodexo Parents & Carers, Sodexo Disability, Ability network, So Together, Generations and Origins.

We’re a Disability Confident Leader employer. We’re committed to changing attitudes towards disability, and making sure disabled people have the chance to fulfil their aspirations. We run a Disability Confident interview scheme for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria for the job.

Click here to read more about what we do to promote an inclusive culture.

Sodexo Disability, Ability network, So Together, Generations and Origins.

File Downloads

• Chef JD 2026.docx