Employment contract for a chef

Chefs work the longest hours in hospitality, in a kitchen where the food safety and allergen rules are the employer's liability and the chef's responsibility, with menus and recipes that somebody owns and knives and whites that somebody pays for. The contract has to set hours within the working time rules with the opt-out most kitchens rely on, pay the kitchen its share of tips under the tips law, carry the food safety responsibilities, decide who owns the menu, and authorise only the deductions the minimum wage allows. I draft that contract for the employer for a fixed fee of £595, delivered in five working days, as a template for the grade.

Who this is for

Restaurants, hotels, pubs, caterers and contract catering businesses in England and Wales employing head chefs, sous chefs, chefs de partie and kitchen staff.

What matters in a chef's contract

Hours, split shifts and the working time opt-out

Hours and the pattern (split shifts, double shifts on service days, days off) should be stated, with rest breaks and daily and weekly rest under the Working Time Regulations 1998 with compensatory rest where service makes breaks impossible, and the forty-eight hour average with the opt-out, which must be the chef's individual written agreement, signed separately, revocable on notice, and never a condition of the job; a kitchen that relies on sixty-hour weeks without a valid opt-out is in breach, and a chef who signs one under pressure has signed nothing.

Pay, tips and the kitchen's share

The contract should state the salary or hourly rate at or above the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 rate for all hours worked (a salaried chef working long hours can fall below the minimum, and the employer should check the arithmetic), and should refer to the tips policy under the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023, which requires tips and service charges to be passed on in full and allocated fairly, with kitchen staff included where the policy provides; a tronc arrangement, where used, should be described and operated as the Act and HMRC's rules require.

Food safety, allergens and the chef's responsibilities

The contract should state the chef's responsibilities under the employer's food safety management system, the Food Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013, the allergen information requirements of the Food Information Regulations 2014 (including the written allergen information for prepacked for direct sale food), training and supervision of kitchen staff, temperature and record keeping, fitness-to-work reporting, and the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 duties for a kitchen; the employer carries the liability and the chef carries out the system, and a breach of food safety rules should be stated as misconduct.

Menus, recipes and intellectual property

So far as copyright protects them, menus, recipes, dishes and photographs a chef creates while employed are the employer's under section 11 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988; the contract should record that ownership, deal with recipes and dishes the chef brought from previous roles (licensed to the employer or kept out), state the position on the chef's name and image in the employer's marketing during and after employment, and require confidentiality about recipes, suppliers and costings; a restaurant that has built its reputation on a chef's dishes should know whether it may keep serving them when the chef leaves.

Knives, uniforms and lawful deductions

Deductions for knives, whites, breakages or shortages are lawful only with a contractual term or written consent under section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, and deductions for items the employer requires reduce pay for minimum wage purposes under the National Minimum Wage Regulations 2015; the contract should state what the employer provides, what the chef provides, and the deductions the chef consents to, limited so that pay never falls below the minimum, with the chef's own knives remaining the chef's property.

Notice, covenants and the particulars

The written statement section 1 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 requires from the first day is built into the contract, which also sets probation, a notice period above the section 86 minimum (longer for a head chef, with garden leave), confidentiality that survives, a non-solicitation of kitchen staff for a stated period for senior chefs and no non-compete for most roles, together with holiday, sick pay, auto-enrolment under the Pensions Act 2008 and the kitchen's disciplinary and grievance procedures; where accommodation is provided, the accommodation offset and the position on leaving should be stated.

What it costs

Employment contract, £595. One template you can reuse for a grade of staff. Five working days.

Staff handbook and core policies, £995. Five working days.

Buying online forms the engagement on payment. The scope is what the employment contracts and handbooks page describes, you accept the Terms of Service at checkout, and I email you within four working hours to get started. If you would rather ask something first, email me.

What you get

• A bespoke contract drafted for how you employ people
• Restrictive covenants drafted at a scope a court will uphold
• Confidentiality and intellectual property provisions that put ownership where it belongs
• The statutory particulars, so the document does the job section 1 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 requires it to do
• Flexibility clauses where you genuinely need them, drafted to survive challenge
• Core policies: disciplinary, grievance, sickness absence, equal opportunities, data protection and, increasingly, AI use
• One round of amendments

What is not included

• Acting for employees
• Employment tribunal representation
• Payroll, pensions auto-enrolment and tax
• Immigration and sponsor licence work
• Day to day HR handling, disciplinaries, grievances and redundancy processes

Questions I am often asked

Can we make the working time opt-out a condition of the job?

The opt-out cannot be a condition. It must be the chef's free written agreement, revocable on notice, and a refusal cannot be held against them. The contract provides it as a separate signature.

Who owns the menu our head chef created?

The employer, so far as copyright protects it, as work created in employment, and the contract confirms it. Dishes the chef brought from elsewhere are addressed separately.

Does the kitchen get a share of the tips?

If the tips policy allocates to kitchen staff, which the Act permits and many policies do. The contract refers to the policy, which must allocate fairly and pass tips on in full.

Related guidance and services

• Employment contracts and handbooks, £595, the service this page describes
• Consultancy and contractor agreements, £595
• Settlement agreements for employers, £795
• Employment contract for restaurant and hospitality staff
• Shareholders agreement for a restaurant or bar

This page is general guidance for businesses in England and Wales, not advice on your own circumstances. Last reviewed: October 2026. Email geoffrey@caesar.co.uk.