WE ARE HIRING!

Job Title: Front of House Manager

Location: Knepp Wilding Kitchen & Shop, Knepp Estate, Dial Post

Salary: £32,500 pa plus share of gratuity.

Job Type: Permanent/Full Time – Approximately 40 hours across five working days.

Background:

The Knepp Rewilding Project:

Knepp is a 3,500 acre estate devoted to nature conservation based pioneering rewilding principles. Using grazing animals as the drivers of habitat creation, and with the restoration of dynamic, natural water courses, the project has seen extraordinary increases in wildlife.

The estate attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors a year and is the subject of a best-selling book, many newspaper articles and now a major film, released at the London Film Festival, nationwide in cinemas and now available to stream online.

The Knepp Wilding Kitchen:

The brand new, £4m Wilding Kitchen & Shop combines a restaurant and shop in some beautiful farm buildings on the estate and acts as a gateway for visitors who are coming to visit.

The site is primarily daytime only (breakfast and lunch, seven days a week), with occasional evening events, mainly in the summer.

Knepp has created a butchery, producing award-winning beef, venison and pork. As part of this new venture, the restaurant is able to showcase the best quality, wild range, organic meat, as well as produce from our new 3-acre organic market garden. Our aim is to create one of the most exciting and sustainable culinary locations in Britain, with a dedicated local and national following.

The Knepp Wilding Kitchen was named runner up as the most sustainable restaurant at the National Restaurant Awards in it’s first year of opening and will shortly (hopefully!) be listed in the Good Food Guide.

The Role:

The core part of the job is to be part orchestra conductor; part sergeant-major overseeing service and ensuring everything goes smoothly. Have we welcomed guests at the door; sat them down; served them (billed them!) and being an unflappable pair of hands to deal with any problems so all guests leave happy and want to return.

We want a hospitality professional to help lead our fully-staffed and motivated team. You will have oodles of admin support from our Events Manager and your line manager (the site Assistant General Manager) so we’re looking for someone who understands and enjoys service and dealing with the public.

This is a fantastic opportunity for a dynamic, enthusiastic, talented and passionate manager looking for a new challenge and to make a difference to the planet. Working alongside a team of expert chefs, growers, butchers, stockmen and ecologists they will lead the creation of a unique restaurant at the heart of one of the UK’s pioneering rewilding projects, establishing it as a trusted and revered food destination.  

Responsibilities:

People:

• To oversee service in the Knepp Kitchen, ensuring a smooth, efficient service with high customer satisfaction.
• To support the Assistant General Manager in preparing and organising for the above.
• To develop, train and coach the FoH team through appraisal and ‘learning & development’
• To be responsible for the health and safety and regulatory adherence within your team.
• To contribute to the management process to continually improve our offering and our efficiency.
• To engage with the wider Estate team in the delivery of events
• To understand the rewilding mission of the Estate and help communicate this to the team and our customers

Job Requirements:

• Ideally two years management experience in hospitality
• Full driving licence (we are in a rural location just south of Horsham)
• Legal to work in the UK
• To work weekends

Employee perks benefits:

• Staff discount
• Estate pension plan
• Wine training/tastings
• Team trips, safaris of the rewilding project, and annual parties
• Share of tips
• Primarily day time hours (9am-5pm)
• Bonus possibility