Chef Recruitment Agency London | HTE Recruitment
Sourcing Chefs & Managers across London for a wide range of Hotels & RestaurantsChef Recruitment Agency for London’s Hotels, Restaurants and Bars. Helping your business to recruit permanent chefs and managers.
Welcome to one of London’s Chef recruitment agencies. If you are looking to recruit a Chef or Manager for your business in 2026, you have come to the right place. At HTE Recruitment, we are a trusted chef recruitment agency based in London, connecting professional chefs with some of the capital’s most exciting restaurants, hotels, private member clubs, and catering businesses. With over a decade of industry experience, we specialise in sourcing permanent chef and management candidates across all levels. It is really important to have the right Head Chef & Sous chef leading your kitchen team, that is why every year many London establishments contact Sam and Rick from our London team to support them in sourcing Head Chefs, Sous Chefs, Chef de parties and Managers.
Across London we recruit for 3, 4 & 5 star hotels, 1,2,3 Rosette restaurants, Michelin Kitchens, Private Members Clubs, New openings, Sushi kitchens and Gastro pubs across London. We support the London Hospitality industry recruit chefs at all levels and managers. Take a look at the London chef trends report from 2023 & how we have supported London Kitchens fill chef jobs fast. Every year we support new London Restaurants to open, if your trading already or have a new project, our team can support you. As well as London Chef Recruitment, our team also cover Hospitality roles and recently placed Restaurant Managers, Sommeliers and Coffee shop Manager.
Why Choose HTE Recruitment for Chef Recruitment?
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🧑🍳 London Hospitality & Catering Sector Specialists – this has been our bread and butter since 2007, for around 18 years we have helped many companies across the capital. Our team of recruiters include former chefs and managers, this means we have a great knowledge of the London Hospitality sector.
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🤝 Permanent Roles Only – We believe that we can offer a better service to our clients by only focusing on full time permement chefs and managers. This is why we only cover permanent positions and not Temps.
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📍 London-Hospitality Expertise – We understand the pace, expectations, and trends of London’s vibrant hospitality scene. Rick, our Director & founder, started his Hotel career at the Thistle Kensington Gardens Hotel in Bayswater as a Junior Trainee Manager and then worked up within F&B, living in the Paddington area.
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🕵️♂️ Database of Candidates – we have a large database of Head Chef, Sous Chef, Pastry Chef and Chef de Partie candidates in London looking for full-time permanent positions, this means once you give us a role to match on, we can work fast. All candidates are always registered before we send you the cv.
- 💼 Various recruitment packages available for your Hotel, Pub, Members club or Restaurant – Every business is different and we have therefore designed a range of packages at different price points with different rebate periods. Unlike some agencies, having a one-size-fits-all approach, we let you choose which will be the best package for your business.
If you are looking to recruit a Head Chef, Sous Chef, Pastry Chef or Chef de partie – please call 0203 542 6103 to have an informal chat on how we can help you or email [email protected].
Our London Hospitality & Catering Job Roles
Chef:
- Exec Head Chef
- Head Chef
- Head Pastry Chef
- Sous Chef
- Junior sous chef
- Chef De Partie
- Pastry Chef de partie
- Sushi Chef
Hospitality:
- Restaurant Manager
- Bar Manager
- Hotel Manager
- Restaurant Supervisor
- Sommelier
- Operations Manager
- Front of House Manager
Types of places:
- Restaurant
- Hotel
- Gastro Pubs
- Rosette Kitchens
- Michelin Kitchens
- Private Members Club
- Production Kitchens
- Event kitchens
Our Locations
London Recruitment Locations:
Our London Hospitality & Catering recruiters support the London Hospitality sector across the Capital. The team recruit Chefs & Managers in all areas and current jobs include roles in:
- Central London: Soho, Covent Garden, Fitzrovia, Marylebone, Bloomsbury, Westminster, St. James’s, South Bank, Mayfair, Knightsbridge
- North London: Camden, Hampstead, Highgate, Muswell Hill, Crouch End
- East London: Shoreditch, Canary Wharf, Hackney, Stratford, Walthamstow
- South London: Clapham, Wimbledon, Brixton, Dulwich, Greenwich, Battersea
- West London: Notting Hill, Shepherd’s Bush, Chiswick, Hammersmith, Richmond
London Hospitality & Catering Jobs Include:
Head Chef
£45k
Sous chef – weddings
£40-45k
Head chef
£45-50k
Chef de partie
£35k
Head Chef – Daytime
£43k
Sommelier
£45k
Head chef – weekday
£45-50k
Head Chef
£45-50k
Head chef
£45k
Sous chef
£43-45k
Chef de partie (Japanese)
£38k
Head Chef
£35-42k
London Client Feedback
Gary
Executive chef
Nicola
Group HR Manager
Luke
Our London Client & Candidate FAQs
Chef Recruitment in London – FAQs
here are a few answers to the normal fAQs, if you have any more, please call Rick or sam, in the London team on 0203 542 6103
What types of chef roles do you recruit for?
We recruit all permanent chef roles – If your looking to recruit a Head chef or sous chef to lead your kitchen OR if your looking for a chef de partie to run a section or a pastry chef to create some stunning pastry items, you have come to the right place.
Is it just permanent Chefs and Managers you cover?
Yes. We focus only on permanent recruitment. This allows us to match candidates and clients more effectively for long-term success.There are two types of agencies, some are more focused on Temp work and others (like us) are focused on permanent positions. Prior to 2019 we did cover both HOWEVER we found it is not possible to deliver a great service doing both & you reduce your service delivery. This is why in 2019 we decided to focus only on permanent Chefs and Managers.
Can you offer sponsorship
Currently, we are not working with any clients who have a sponsorship license; all candidates must have the right to work in the UK. If a company can offer sponsorship, this will always be listed on the advert however currently no client can.
Are your clients based across all of London?
Yes. We work with hospitality businesses throughout Central London, West End, East London, South London, and surrounding areas.
How quickly can you help us hire a chef?
Timelines vary based on the role and availability, but we aim to present qualified candidates within a few days of starting a search. It depends on the background of the Sous chef or Head chef you are looking for, if it is a very niche background, that can take longer. If it is more a general background, we can normally get CV’s within 1-2 working days. No CV’s are ever sent until we have spoken with the candidate and they are registered.
What do you charge clients to find a candidate
This depends on the service you opt for. We offer a traditional service which we charge a % upon finding a candidate who starts with you, the default rate is 12% for this service. The other service we offer is our HtE Partner service, which has a small engagement fee upfront of £500 to start the matching and this unlocks 7% rates for the position if under £45k or 8% or roles over 8%. We have launched this new product in 2025 & we are finding our Partner clients on average are already saving over £1000 on recruitment costs compared to the traditional route. Every company is different, this is why we offer two different services for clients.
Can you help with new openings?
Yes, every year we support many London Restaurants and Hotels with new openings. We offer the “HtE Partner” package for new openings or for clients with many vacancies, we offer a subscription service called “HtE Advantage”
When did the Agency start?
HtE Recruitment opened in Feb 2007 and in 2013 we launched our London division. Since 2013 we have supported so many kitchens across the capital. We are established and understand the market very well.
