Gleneagles Townhouse
Join the team

Chef jobs at Gleneagles

Are you ready to serve up a portion of excellence along with a side of talent, a helping of motivation, a glug of hard work, a dollop of humour and a good grind of camaraderie? If so, apply for one of our culinary and chef jobs at Gleneagles.

See Vacancies

What’scooking?

Do you know your beurre noisette from your beurre blanc; your charcuterie from your cartouche, and your Tandoor from your tartare? Gleneagles offers unrivalled opportunities across many chef roles and positions at all career stages.

GleneaglesChefs

Our kitchen brigade of over 100 chefs and 40 stewards led by our Executive Chef, Darron Bunn, are a talented, dedicated and ambitious team who innovate, inspire and delight through their menus.

They cater for approximately 1000 covers a day across three restaurants, three bars, two cafés and an afternoon tea lounge. They are also responsible for the room service operation to 233 guest bedrooms, plus private dining service across 10 different event spaces, and the staff restaurant which feeds 1300 hungry employees daily.

The Culinary Academy at Gleneagles

The Culinary Academy at Gleneagles is an industry-leading learning and development support community. A unique blend of technical masterclasses, competency assessments and personal development workshops, it offers a powerful combination of education and professional certification.
FIND OUT MORE

Famous dinners

Many well-known faces have enjoyed the unique culinary experiences at Gleneagles. From Vivien Leigh and Sir Lawrence Olivier to Sir Sean Connery and John Travolta, generations of diners have tucked into the finest fare in our restaurants.
Find Out More

Meet our chefs

Vichie Andrian Del Mundo
Chef de Partie
 Darron Bunn
Executive Chef
 Richard Dalgleish
Estate Executive Sous Chef
 Smedley Chhabra
Sous Chef
Chef de Partie

Vichie AndrianDel Mundo

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been in love with food and cooking. As a child growing up in Manila in the Philippines, I’d watch my grandmother and both my parents making wonderful food for us all to eat. This sparked my passion and, as I got older, I wanted to taste all the flavours and different types of cuisine in the world.

FIND OUT MORE
Executive Chef

DarronBunn

This career has given me everything. It’s never felt like a job; it’s been my life.

I’ve had a really varied career path, from working in three Michelin-starred restaurants and five-star hotels to setting up my own ventures and gaining a Michelin star of my own (twice!), but as a youngster, I’d never have believed a culinary career could be so exciting.

FIND OUT MORE
Estate Executive Sous Chef

RichardDalgleish

I support our Executive Chef to oversee the entire culinary operation.  From recruiting new chefs and advising on training and development, to menu development, special projects, future planning and supporting the head chefs to run their kitchens, it’s a varied role.

FIND OUT MORE
Sous Chef

SmedleyChhabra

As a Sous Chef in Private Dining, my role is to assist the Executive Sous Chef in running the Private Dining kitchen

Private Dining refers to any dining experience that happens outside our restaurants. That could be a picnic in the gardens, a barbeque at the Shooting Lodge, a lunch at the top of a mountain, or any of the parties, celebrations and weddings that take place in our event spaces.

FIND OUT MORE

More about Gleneagles

From Field to Fork

Gleneagles is surrounded by some of the most spectacular scenery and wildlife in the world, and it’s this rugged Perthshire countryside that provides such a bountiful supply of fresh, delicious and seasonal produce.

Every cut of meat or fish, each piece of fruit or vegetable, and every dram of whisky that goes into our dishes is carefully selected by our chefs, and can be traced back to the animal, moorland, river, distillery, farm or field, to ensure the highest animal welfare, environmental and ethical standards.

We value our relationships with those suppliers enormously and our chefs are encouraged to make regular visits to the local farmers, fishermen and producers whose exceptional ingredients feature on our menus

Our Restaurants

Gleneagles’ restaurants cover the full culinary spectrum.

Whether it’s sharing bites in Auchterarder 70, a hearty Tandoor feast in The Dormy, a decedent afternoon tea in The Glendevon, a sizzling porterhouse from the grill in The Birnam, or a glamorous four-course dinner in The Strathearn, our eight bars and restaurants present a culinary adventure to savour and offer unsurpassed career development opportunities.
A wides hot of the glamorous Strathearn restaurant

The History

Gleneagles has been one of the world’s leading culinary destinations for nearly a century.

On first opening in June 1924, there was much media fascination that, in The Dining Room’s kitchen, all the cooking was done by electricity, there was equipment for washing 4,000 dishes and hour, an automatic potato peeler and egg boiler, and a huge tank contained a supply of fresh trout.

Over a century later, that excitement and world-class reputation lives on in our kitchens, and our team of 100 talented chefs are dedicated to creating exceptional culinary experiences for our guests using the finest locally sourced and seasonal ingredients.
An old black and white photo of Gleneagles

Responsible Custodians

Our brigade of chefs recognise the role they play in supporting Gleneagles to minimise its environmental impact.

To reduce our emissions, we’re using technology that calculates the carbon footprint of every dish on our menus. This helps our chefs understand the
impact of every ingredient, providing valuable insights into simple swaps, and recipe changes that can reduce emissions without compromising the taste and quality for which Gleneagles is famed.

To support our commitment to reducing food waste, we’ve also installed a food waste management system, Winnow, throughout our kitchens. This system uses scales, camera technology and artificial intelligence to monitor waste in real time, allowing us to make informed decisions and improvements.
1

Interested in becoming a Gleneagles chef?

If you’ve got the culinary passion and creative flair, get ready to roll up your sleeves, sharpen the knives and crank up the heat – it’s time to join us in the kitchen!

See Vacancies

Vichie Andrian Del Mundo - Chef de Partie

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been in love with food and cooking. As a child growing up in Manila in the Philippines, I’d watch my grandmother and both my parents making wonderful food for us all to eat. This sparked my passion and, as I got older, I wanted to taste all the flavours and different types of cuisine in the world.

When I finished school, I went to college to study Hospitality Management. My first job after graduation was an events coordinator role, where I was helping to organise everything from meetings and parties to weddings, ensuing all the catering, music and flowers were in place.

I enjoyed it, but I was drawn back to my first love of cooking so I moved to Dubai and secured a job as a commis chef. I spent over seven years there, building skills and working my way up the culinary career ladder at a number of luxury hotels.

I joined the Gleneagles team in 2023 because I knew it would be a great environment to help me develop and progress further as a chef. Gleneagles has lots of different restaurants, so there are a number of kitchens offering different culinary training experiences, from fine dining and casual dining to private dining and pastry.

Every day I come into work, I’m doing what I love. Being a chef is really fun – you’re taking different ingredients and turning them into a delicious meal, so you’re an artist and the plate is your canvas.

A chef de partie is in charge of one entire kitchen station – meat & sauce, fish, garnish, hot larder or cold larder. If you’re looking after fish, for example, you’re effectively in charge of every single seafood dish that’s served in the restaurant, so it’s a big responsibility. I thrive under that kind of pressure though. I find pressure exciting – it boosts my energy and makes me feel alive – I think you need to feel that way to be successful and happy in this job. You also have to be well organised, good at prioritising, good at focusing and have great attention to detail. It’s important you can adapt quickly to the unexpected too – whether that’s last-minute bookings or unusual dietary requirements that you weren’t expecting.

Culinary is a really fulfilling career. The skills you learn are universal so you can travel and work all over the world. You also have the opportunity to elevate the food offering and leave your trademark or legacy.

My favourite part of the job is the start of each new season when we’re creating new dishes for the menus. It presents the chance to work with new ingredients you might not have used before, the chance to pick up new techniques and work with exciting new flavours. You’re always learning something, so the job never gets boring and you’re getting better and better as a chef.

Sometimes I struggle with homesickness but Gleneagles is a very warm, supportive and welcoming place where you make lots of friends so you never feel alone. People here are very approachable and will always be willing to help you. There’s also true equality – be that gender, race, age or sexuality. People at Gleneagles are encouraged to be themselves and respected for who they are.

In terms of my future ambitions, in the short term I just want to work hard, keep learning and be fully focused on my current role so that I’m the very best I can be before I start thinking about what’s next. Longer-term, I’d like to own my own restaurant back in the Philippines one day. Learning about cooking food is one thing, but to achieve my ambitions, I know I have a big learning journey ahead of me to gain skills in business management and people leadership too.  I believe Gleneagles is the best training ground for me to achieve this.

Darron Bunn - Executive Chef

This career has given me everything. It’s never felt like a job; it’s been my life.

I’ve had a really varied career path, from working in three Michelin-starred restaurants and five-star hotels to setting up my own ventures and gaining a Michelin star of my own (twice!), but as a youngster, I’d never have believed a culinary career could be so exciting.

Growing up, I had no ambition to become a chef; it hadn’t even occurred to me that it was an option. I grew up in a council estate in Birmingham and most of my friends just followed in their fathers’ footsteps of working at the local factory. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I knew it wasn’t that.

The course of my life changed at a careers day at school where I met a chef from the local catering college who told me about the various courses they had.  I was curious, so I went along to the college open day and signed up there and then.

For the first few months of college, the learning was based in a classroom which didn’t really inspire me. Then we began cooking for service in the college restaurant and, all of a sudden during service one day, it hit me – this was my calling.

When you’re standing in a classroom, awkwardly learning to chop vegetables, it can feel pointless.  But once you start doing it during service, something changes; it gets under your skin. You find yourself in the middle of this great operation where everyone’s dedicated to the same goal and the whole kitchen is running like a well-choreographed dance.

I’ve been a chef for over 30 years and my role has evolved, but all these years later, being in a restaurant kitchen, surrounded by chefs working together during service continues to deliver that same buzz.  It’s infectious and addictive; there’s nothing like it.

After college, I worked with Nico Ladenis at Ninety Park Lane for two years and was there when he got his third Michelin star. From there, I got taken on by Marco Pierre White, and I trained under him for six years. I learnt everything I know from him. He was the biggest figure in the industry and at the peak of his powers – he’d just got his three Michelin stars and he was opening restaurants left, right and centre.  I’d bought his cook book when I was at college and he’d been an inspiration to me. I worked right by his side in the kitchen and that experience will stay with me forever – both the good and the bad. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d get the chance to be mentored by my culinary hero.

Being a chef has never been (and never will be) a 9-5, Monday to Friday job.  That’s not how hospitality works.  But businesses are now sympathetic to requests for flexibility. It’s entirely reasonable and healthy to say ‘I want to be a chef and work somewhere really good, and I want to have a life as well’.

Everyone needs food, so to work in a career where you get to serve that need every day is a joy and a privilege. At Gleneagles, we’re training our chefs from the earliest stage to develop an appreciation for ingredients – where they come from, when they’re in season, how they taste under different conditions – and to have the curiosity and knowledge to play with those ingredients to create something delicious, whether that’s a complex dish or a simple sandwich.

As a culinary destination for guests, what truly sets Gleneagles apart is its commitment to continual improvement.  We’re always enhancing and evolving the offering across our restaurants and dining experiences, and every single member of our kitchen brigade plays a part in that.

From an employer perspective, Gleneagles has made huge strides in the past five years to build a culture of care for employees through industry-leading initiatives which put the wellbeing of our people at the heart of everything we do.

We also provide aspiring chefs with a diverse training ground. We have ten different kitchens covering the whole spectrum of food.  There is a kitchen for every kind of chef here and you can move between them, building the diversity of your repertoire as you go, while maintaining continuity with one employer.

Being a good chef is all about attitude. What we’re looking for in candidates is people who can say ‘I really want to be here – I’m ready to learn and ready to work’. For any young person starting out in their culinary career, you can be taught cooking skills, but if you come in with that attitude, you’re already nine tenths of the way there.

Our approach to career development is supported by the Culinary Academy at Gleneagles, our learning and development support community which offers a powerful combination of education and professional certification through master classes, personal development workshops and assessment.

Anyone pursuing a culinary career knows they can come here to be nurtured, cared for and supported to reach their potential.

Richard Dalgleish – Estate Executive Sous Chef

I support our Executive Chef to oversee the entire culinary operation.  From recruiting new chefs and advising on training and development, to menu development, special projects, future planning and supporting the head chefs to run their kitchens, it’s a varied role.

After developing my career in roles at a range of five-star hotels and Michelin-starred kitchens including The Balmoral, Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons and Burj al Arab, I joined Gleneagles in 2019.

I’d heard it was on a journey of transformation to enhance its guest offering and I saw an opportunity to do something great, to be a part of that team that would help drive the change and shape the hotel’s culinary future. I also saw an opportunity to play a big role in building a new approach to culinary training, not just for Gleneagles but also for the industry.

I started my career as a kitchen porter in a restaurant in my local town and it was everything I’d hoped it would be; I fell in love with the camaraderie, the energy and the humour of the kitchen straight away. Later, once I built up my confidence, I fell in love with the cooking too.

I also loved that culinary had a really clear career path – that if you worked really hard, you could climb the ladder and gain the respect of your peers. Being able to hone your craft, expand your repertoire and build your confidence as you get better at the job is incredibly rewarding. Before you know it, you’re running a section, then you’re running a kitchen, and then you’re running a brigade – it’s a steady and structured path and allows you to step onto that next rung with confidence as you grow as a chef.

Another rewarding aspect of being a chef is that you’re working with natural produce, things that have been living and growing and cannot be manufactured or man-made – what other job in the world, especially in this age when we’re all attached to devices, do you get that opportunity?

But what’s kept me in the kitchen after all these years is the buzz that gets all chefs out of bed in the morning. Culinary is fast, furious and ferocious, but that’s the main draw for most of us – it provides an adrenaline kick which is completely addictive. It’s like you’re working on the stage and giving it your best performance every single night.

Once you reach a certain stage of your career, you start taking on more strategic responsibilities around budgets, planning and people, so you need to take a step back from the actual cooking. I miss that focus on the purely practical side sometimes, but the beauty of working in an executive role is that you can float across the full operation, providing help and support to others.

In young chefs coming into the industry, we’re looking for enthusiasm and determination.  Some young chefs have an innate ability to cook right off the bat, like they’re born with a natural gift. I didn’t have that, and most don’t have that, but that’s okay; we teach the cooking skills and we provide a safe space to make mistakes. The most important quality is having that hunger to learn from your mistakes and soak up knowledge from the people around you.

Aside from cooking great food, your responsibility as a chef is all about supporting the next generation and passing down your skills, and that applies no matter what level you’re at in your career. It’s a part of the job that all chefs need to take very seriously.

Gleneagles is an operation like no other. The level of detail that goes into each moment in the guest journey is incredible, and not just from a culinary perspective; there’s a focus on excellence across every space, every department, every activity, every experience. The whole operation showcases attention to detail at the most insane level.

Smedley Chhabra - Sous Chef

As a Sous Chef in Private Dining, my role is to assist the Executive Sous Chef in running the Private Dining kitchen.

Private Dining refers to any dining experience that happens outside our restaurants. That could be a picnic in the gardens, a barbeque at the Shooting Lodge, a lunch at the top of a mountain, or any of the parties, celebrations and weddings that take place in our event spaces.

Each event is unique, so we’re not creating the same menu over and over like you might in a restaurant. We did one anniversary event recently where the couple invited their friends to enjoy the exact same meal they’d been served at their wedding 10 years earlier. Our job in the kitchen was to recreate every dish to truly bring those memories to life.

As a school boy back home in India, I wanted to join the merchant navy, but because of eyesight problems, I had to abandon those plans. Instead, I chose to study hospitality management. It gave me exposure to all types of careers in hospitality, but I decided the kitchen was my calling.

I joined the Oberoi Hotel Group in India as a Commis, before progressing through the ranks quite rapidly to a Sous Chef. I relocated to the UK to take on a role in a five-star hotel in London because I wanted to broaden my horizons and widen my repertoire. I knew I needed to make that move to reach my potential as a chef. Living so far away from family is hard sometimes, but when you’re doing something you love, it’s worth it.

The kitchen environment makes me so happy. Unlike in other jobs, no two days are alike; each one presents a new adventure and you never get bored.

Kitchen careers have been romanticised in many ways by the media which isn’t helpful for the industry. The reality is you need to roll up your sleeves. You need to learn. You need to be prepared to grow and develop. You need to work really hard.  You need to keep at it. It is not as glamorous as the TV shows would have young people believe.

There’s also a lot of pressure in the kitchen, but ask any chef and they’ll tell you that’s what gives us the thrill. Sometimes things don’t go the way you had planned. Sometimes, especially in Private Dining, the menu can change right up until the event and unexpected requests can come in at the last minute. I thrive under that pressure. The adrenaline rush is incredible, but so too are the rewards. When you do a great job in the kitchen, your reward isn’t just the recognition you get from your employer; it’s the look of delight on the guest’s face, and that’s something that really inspires me.

The opportunity for growth here is outstanding. I’m enjoying working in Private Dining, but if I needed a change or wanted to build my skills in another area, I could move to so many other kitchens across the estate.  Other hotels cannot offer that – the opportunities here for learning are unsurpassed. We also have our own Culinary Development Partner, who is responsible for the training needs of all Gleneagles chefs. We’re encouraged to attend masterclasses – which might be in cutting fish, butchery, pickling and fermentation, or budgeting and food costs. They’re aimed at our most junior chefs, but they’re open for all levels and there’s participation at the highest level of chefs which reflects the strong culture for learning here.

Back in India, kitchens are very guest-centred spaces. Chefs will move heaven and earth to please their guests and are positioned at the heart of the dining experience. The guests want to meet and interact with their chef so the chef will come out of the kitchen to take the order. Guests will specify to the chef exactly how they want the dish to be prepared – for instance, they might ask you to make it how their grandmother used to, with certain extra spices or ingredients. I’ve been greatly influenced by that culture back home and it’s what fuels my drive to create those highly curated, personalised and bespoke dining experiences for people. It’s the reason why I chose to work in Private Dining.

Food has been an intrinsic part of my life since I was a child. In India, food is about emotion more than sustenance and it’s interwoven into every aspect of life, from daily experiences and religious celebrations to family gatherings. I’m delighted I’ve turned something that’s so important to me into my career.

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Please enter your forename.
Please enter your surname.
Please select a title.
Please enter a valid email address.

Lastly, tell us what you're interested in

Please select a mailing list.

We will use your data in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

* Required fields