Sous Chef | Crowne Plaza Christchurch

About us

Crowne Plaza Christchurch is located in the heart of downtown Christchurch, right opposite Victoria Square and just a short walk from major attractions, including the Avon River, Town Hall, Art Gallery, Te Pae Conference Centre and the modern dining and shopping precincts. 

Our Kitchen department is the heart and centre of the hotel, and you could be joining this great team as a Sous Chef with us!

This is an opportunity for a creative and strategic leader to be involved in a large culinary operation and lead the development of innovative and market-leading dining concepts. This is your chance to truly shape the narrative of upscale dining.

Every day is different, but you’ll mostly be: 

• Leading kitchen operations during service, ensuring smooth and efficient execution while making operational decisions in the absence of senior leadership.

• Maintain exceptional culinary standards by overseeing food preparation, cooking, plating, and quality control to ensure consistency in presentation, portioning, and taste.

• Drive team performance and development through training, mentoring, and coaching staff, fostering a culture of accountability, promoting professionalism, mutual respect and continuous improvement.

• Manage kitchen resources effectively, including stock control, ordering, labour utilisation, portion control, and waste minimisation to achieve food cost targets.

• Champion food safety, cleanliness, and workplace safety, ensuring full compliance with food safety regulations, hygiene standards, and health & safety policies in accordance with HACCAP.

• Contribute to menu innovation and guest satisfaction by developing dishes and specials, accommodating dietary requirements, and delivering memorable dining experiences, under the directions of our executive chef.

What we need from you:

• You’ll be a hands-on leader with the ability to positively coach and motivate the team to succeed and develop them towards their goals.

• Ideally you will have at least 5 years’ experience in a professional kitchen environment with minimum 2+ years in a Chef de partie or sous chef position. Experience in a hotel kitchen would be advantageous.

• Excellent organisational and time-management abilities, with a strong focus on planning and delivering consistent results under pressure.

• You also need to bring great communication skills, a proven track record of working autonomously and a positive approach. 

• You’ll be a motivated team player with strong culinary skills and a real passion for food. 

• You’ll be available to work a rotating 7-day roster including mornings, evenings, weekends and public holidays. 

• You must have the right to live and work in New Zealand.

What we offer

You’ll be rewarded for your hard work with a suite of benefits that supports you and your family’s wellbeing, including:

• paid birthday leave

• daily laundered uniform

• additional parental leave benefits

• flexible work options

• proactive health days

Your career journey will be supported through our lifelong development program, IHG career milestone celebrations, and transfer of entitlements as you move and grow with IHG. In addition to the always-popular hotel perks like accommodation and food & beverage discounts, our discount retail platform makes your pay go even further. We are proud to be IHG and we know you will be too.

So, join us and you’ll become part of our ever-growing global family. 

Please note that we will only consider candidates who can prove their valid rights to live and work in New Zealand.