Job: Chef, The Royal Air Force - Manchester

Overview

Chefs prepare food for our personnel, on RAF bases in the UK and overseas as well as on deployed operations and exercises. Like most people in the RAF, you’ll probably move jobs every few years, and each job is known as a tour. Most of your tours will be on RAF bases where you’ll work in our kitchens ordering, storing, accounting for and preparing food and helping to plan menus – both for everyday meals and for VIP occasions. Other roles for chefs include:

• preparation of in-flight meals;

• personal chef to a VIP or senior officer;

• catering instructor at RAF Halton; and

• participating in international and regional catering competitions.

Within your first few years, you’ll probably be detached overseas for anything from a few weeks to a few months. If facilities are limited, you’ll use deployed catering skills, and prepare food and beverages with field catering equipment. There are also opportunities to fulfil this role as a member of the Mobile Catering Support Unit – one of the spearhead units for UK forces, which sets up catering facilities for operations or exercises before other troops arrive.

For further details, please download full job description