Jesse White
Summary
A passionate, hard working and driven person who has worked in multiple venues across Australia, through many different roles. I am now looking to move overseas to grow and develop into a better chef and continue learning and improving my abilities. Having worked and been in charge at some of the top restaurants in South Australia whilst honing my skill set has allowed me to focus on refining my own style and direction of cooking, I am looking to learn new and different techniques and to take on as much knowledge as possible. I am passionate about food and the beauty and joy it brings to people.
Overview
10
10
years of professional experience
Work History
Head Chef
Mount Lofty Ranges Vineyard
03.2022 - 06.2024
- Won Gourmet Traveller destination dinning restaurant
- Monthly hyper seasonal menu change
- Developing new cooking techniques
- Training and teaching both kitchen and back of house staff,
- Administration/rostering
- Ordering/stocktake dealing with local farmers and producers
- Budgeting/maintaining agreed profit margins and KPI targets
- Maintaining high levels of service and food quality
Sous Chef
Mount Lofty Ranges Vineyard
08.2020 - 03.2022
- Staff training
- Running service and kitchen operations
- Organising and planning weddings
- Maintaining high quality standards
- Ordering/communicating with local suppliers
- Helping to design monthly menu change
- Organised foraging trips/harvesting produce
Junior Sous Chef
Mount Lofty House, Hardy's Verandah
04.2020 - 03.2022
- In charge of all ordering for kitchen
- Menu development and design
- Running grill and pass sections
- Trained all staff both boh and foh
- Serving customers in the restaurant
- Maintaining high levels of quality
- Oversaw cleanliness of each station in kitchen.
Executive Chef
Victors Place
08.2017 - 04.2020
- Opened the restaurant/designed menu organised suppliers
- Hired and trained staff
- Ran all kitchen and front of house operations (while no restaurant manager in place)
- Built kitchen gardens and vegetable patches
- Hosted collaboration dinners with multiple chefs
- Redesigned restaurant direction from casual dinning to fine dinning
- Introduced degustation menu/tasting menu
- Kept kitchen operations within set KPI and profit margins
Sous Chef
The Duck Inn
02.2015 - 08.2017
- Trained multiple apprentices and other kitchen staff across multiple venues
- Maintained a clean well-run kitchen operation
- Menu planning
- Ran all sections Larder, pastry, pass, grill, pans
- Acted as head chef when required to maintain smooth service and retaining quality
4th Year Apprentice
The Duck Inn
04.2014 - 02.2015
- Ran multiple sections with staff apprentices and chefs underneath
- Maintained a clean organised sections
- Helped develop dishes for the menu
Education
Skills
- Food Safety and HACCAP protocols
- Kitchen Management/training all staff
- Menu development including hyper seasonality
- Special Event Catering; weddings, collaborations, events
- Seasonal Menu Planning
- Leadership Qualities
Accomplishments
- 14 AGFG score (2 hats) 2024 MLRV
- Best regional restaurant – Gourmet Traveller 2023 MLRV
- 13 AGFG score (2 hats) 2023 MLRV
- Best winery restaurant Australia – Great Wine Capitals MLRV
- 12 AGFG score (1 hat) 2020 Victors Place
- Apprentice of the year (Canberra) 2012
References
- Sharon Nicholas-Pearson, Owner, MLRV, sharon@mtloftyranges.com.au
- Amber Flavell, General Manager, MLRV, amber@mtloftyranges.com.au
- Alan Varney, Owner, Victor's Place, alan@varneywines.com.au
Timeline
Head Chef
Mount Lofty Ranges Vineyard
03.2022 - 06.2024
Sous Chef
Mount Lofty Ranges Vineyard
08.2020 - 03.2022
Junior Sous Chef
Mount Lofty House, Hardy's Verandah
04.2020 - 03.2022
Executive Chef
Victors Place
08.2017 - 04.2020
Sous Chef
The Duck Inn
02.2015 - 08.2017
4th Year Apprentice
The Duck Inn
04.2014 - 02.2015
Work Availability
monday
tuesday
wednesday
thursday
friday
saturday
sunday
morning
afternoon
evening
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