Sous Chef

Love working with food, leading a team and getting every batch exactly right?

Fortuna Foods   is looking for a disciplined and dependable  Sous Chef to lead the day-to-day production. This is an opportunity to bring your culinary experience into a professional food-manufacturing environment where quality, consistency and food safety come first.

Fortuna Foods manufactures a wide range of high-quality products supplied to Woolworths. The business is passionate about delivering solid flavour while maintaining the highest standards of freshness, food safety and product quality.

Purpose of the Role

The  Sous Chef will co-lead the daily execution of a portion of Fortuna Foods production lines, consisting of the chopping, blending, cooking, combining and filling stations.

You will turn standardised recipes and operating procedures into consistent, food-safe products while supervising station cooks and ensuring that each batch meets the required specification.

Your purpose is to keep production running safely, efficiently and consistently without compromising quality. A core competency is overseeing the food handlers at each station to ensure they are following procedures, and coordinate scheduling and raw materials between stations.

Main Outcomes

In this role, you will be expected to:

• Produce consistent sauces, pastes and curries that meet the required recipe and quality standards.
  
• Ensure all production stations operate according to documented procedures without wasting resources.
  
• Lead, train and coordinate station cooks.
  
• Meet daily production volumes, schedules and quality targets.
  
• Identify and correct production deviations early.
  
• Maintain strict food-safety, hygiene and PPE standards.
  
• Minimise waste and support efficient use of ingredients and equipment.
  
• Complete accurate production, quality and traceability records.
  
• Take ownership of the food processing equipment (ensure they are used, serviced, and cleaned correctly).
  

Key Responsibilities

Production and Quality

• Follow recipes and SOPs.
  
• Oversee crushing, blending, cooking, combining and filling.
  
• Check key quality parameters and report any deviations.
  
• Maintain consistent product standards.
  

Team Supervision

• Assign staff to stations and monitor performance.
  
• Train and coach team members.
  
• Manage conduct, timekeeping and discipline.
  
• Maintain accountability and professionalism.
  
• Continuously improve their ways of working to achieve higher throughput
  

Food Safety and Hygiene

• Enforce food safety and hygiene standards.
  
• Prevent contamination and manage allergens.
  
• Apply FIFO/FEFO and maintain cleanliness.
  
• Ensure constant food safety audit readiness.
  

Materials, Equipment and Reporting

• Ensure accurate ingredient measurement.
  
• Operate and check equipment.
  
• Minimise waste and report issues.
  
• Complete records and update the Production Supervisor.
  
• Proactively manage all food processing equipment to prevent negligence and breakdowns
  

Requirements

Essential Requirements

• 35 years of experience as a cook/chef in a restaurant, catering or commercial kitchen environment.
  
• Formal culinary diploma or certificate.
  
• Previous supervisory or team-leader experience.
  
• Sound knowledge of food hygiene and food safety.
  
• Comfortable using commercial kitchen or food-processing equipment.
  

Advantageous

• Experience in high-volume catering, banqueting, institutional kitchens or contract catering.
  
• HACCP or another recognised food-safety qualification.
  

Benefits

• Comprehensive employee benefits package including provident fund, life insurance, funeral cover, disability cover and a primary health care policy.
  
• Hands-on leadership responsibility for an established cooking team.
  
• A stable, structured working environment with clear standards and expectations.
  
• The chance to contribute to premium food products supplied to Woolworths.