Building the Founding Team for a New Fine Dining Concept in North Yorkshire

Achieve Hospitality placed a Head Chef and Bar Manager for a new fine dining concept in a town in North Yorkshire, completing both searches before the venue’s opening date. The Head Chef was placed on the first CV submitted. The Bar Manager search required just two CVs before the successful hire was made.

Both founding hires were secured in time to shape the concept from the ground up, working directly with the owner before the opening.

By starting with a brand new team, this means there was no inherited kitchen culture, or established drinks programme. Everything would be built from scratch, which made the founding hires all the more critical.

Two roles sat at the heart of the brief, which were:

Head Chef: The person who would define the food identity of the venue, set the culinary direction, and lead the kitchen – a chef who would put their own stamp on the venue.
Bar Manager: The person who would build a beverage offering that matched the ambition of the food menu, lead a team from day one, and establish the drinks programme as an equal part of the guest experience.

With an opening timeline already in motion, both hires needed to be in place early enough to contribute to the concept’s development, not simply arrive in time to put it into place.

The challenge was not just finding two strong candidates for a fine dining restaurant recruitment brief. It was finding the right two people, for a specific creative vision, in a location that would require relocation for most applicants.

Achieve Hospitality ran two focused, parallel searches for this fine dining restaurant opening, each tailored to a distinct but connected brief. The priority throughout was calibre and creative fit, not volume.

Head Chef Recruitment

The client wanted a Head Chef with a varied fine dining background who would bring genuine creativity to the role. They had a strong preference for experience cooking over open fires added a further layer of specialism to the search.

Given the rural location, willingness to relocate was a qualifying criteria, not a just a preference. Candidates who could not commit to the area were not the right fit, regardless of their culinary credentials.

The search focused on chefs who combined the technical fine dining pedigree the client required with the entrepreneurial mindset that a new restaurant opening demands.

Bar Manager Recruitment

The brief for the Bar Manager was equally considered. Fine dining experience was essential, as was the ability to lead a team from day one. The client needed someone who could build a drinks programme from scratch, shaping a beverage offering that would stand alongside the food as a defining feature of the venue.

The search focused on candidates with both the operational capability and the creative ambition to take full ownership of the roles from the outset.

With a Head Chef and Bar Manager in post well before opening, the client was able to do something many new restaurants do not have the luxury of, which is to build the concept properly.

The two founding hires have worked directly with the owner from the outset, developing the food and drinks menus together and establishing the working culture that the wider team would eventually join. The concept was not just handed to them, they helped to create it.

The placements also became a catalyst for further team-building. As the client expanded the wider team, they drew on the contacts and referrals of the candidates originally placed by Achieve Hospitality. Getting the founding hires right extended well beyond the initial two roles.

The relationship between the client and Achieve Hospitality has continued beyond this opening. The client has since returned for further recruitment support, a reflection of the trust built through a process that delivered exactly what was needed, when it was needed.

Planning a New Restaurant Opening?

The founding team of any new venue sets the tone for everything that follows. We can help you get those first hires right, on time and to the right standard. Achieve Hospitality works with fine dining operators, independent restaurants and hotels, and luxury hospitality groups to place the culinary and front-of-house leaders who define a concept. Whether you are planning a single critical hire or building an entire opening team, we work with the precision and pace that a launch demands.

Get in touch with Achieve Hospitality to discuss your recruitment brief.